Mel impact just the tonic for WBA

As the final whistle sounded on Monday night at the Hawthorns, the immediate emotion was relief; relief that Sylvain Distin’s last gasp flick into the net had been ruled out for offside.

There was also an element of encouragement of what we had witnessed as droves of fans exited the stadium and journeyed home. New boss Pepe Mel’s stamp on the team’s style of play was evident already, even if the starting XI selection had been slightly unexpected; you can’t imagine Youssouf Mulumbu and Billy Jones saw that coming.

The first signs of Mel’s reign taking effect were early on, as Steven Reid and Liam Ridgewell hugged the touchlines and the team as a whole pressed the visiting Toffees. Roberto Martinez was correct in the build up to the game by predicting that it was going to be a much more difficult match than anticipated.

The only absence was that of Gareth McAuley. A player of his stature missing at any point in the season for a team like us is bad news, but against the all-too-familiar Romelu Lukaku, I personally feared the worst.

The away side threatened on a number of occasions before they took the lead, and it was an incredibly sloppy opener on Diego Lugano’s part. After Lukaku won the aerial battle with Jonas Olsson, Lugano wasn’t alert to the danger Kevin Mirallas was posing, and the Belgian nipped in and handed his team the lead. Far too easy.

It was good to see Mel treating his debut game in a positive manner. He brought on the unit in the shape of Victor Anichebe at half time. Maybe it was the fact he was facing the club – and manager – that sold him to us in the summer, but it was the best performance he’s put in since he’s been here, replacing the ineffective Matej Vydra.

Nicolas Anelka also enjoyed a decent hour or so, showing that the recent media attention he’s been receiving clearly hasn’t fazed him. Chris Brunt excelled again, as did James Morrison and Claudio Yacob.

The signs are looking good and I for one cannot wait for the clash with Villa on Wednesday, where we’ll hope to see more of Mel’s tactics reflected onto the team that can earn him his first derby win as Albion boss. While Chelsea and Liverpool arrive at the Hawthorns in the coming weeks, we will also face Crystal Palace and Fulham; both opportunities to drag ourselves away from the rapidly growing relegation dogfight.

Boing Boing!

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