Sam Allardyce: "We deserved booing"

Everton manager Sam Allardyce has admitted that he agrees with fans who booed the side as they salvaged a point from their home encounter with West Bromwich Albion this afternoon.

The Baggies took an early lead through Jay Rodriguez and dominated for much of the contest, but Oumar Niasse rescued a point for the hosts after coming on in the second half of the contest, which was overshadowed by a horrific injury to James McCarthy.

After a bright start under Allardyce, the Toffees have stalled over the last month and are now winless in six league games - a run that leaves them in danger of getting caught back up in the relegation drama.

"[It's] more than a dip," Allardyce told Sky Sports News after the game. "I think it resonated through the whole team today. From our point of view, we picked up what was a very precious point in the end based on the performance. It wasn't West Brom's brilliant play, it was our nerves and our lack of confidence in our individual ability.

"We made so many poor passes. The only thing that come out of it today was we didn't lose, and we got a point, and we try and reinstill that confidence in the players for our next game. You win football matches you gain confidence, you looe football matches and it drains.

"I've got no problem with the fans booing us because we deserved booing. We didn't play very well and the fans showed their disapproval - they pay their money to come see us and if they don't like what they see they let you know."

Next up for Everton is a home encounter with Leicester City on January 31.