Sam Allardyce

[BlueToff]

Unfortunately, Sam isn't just for Christmas.

Since he arrived, we've beaten Huddersfield, Apollon, Newcastle and Swansea. On current form, none of these could be called difficult opponents - though it's hard to say whether the wins owed more to Dame Fortune or to Sam Allardyce. But our escape from Anfield with a draw was miraculous. Do miracles ever repeat themselves?

I agree that we are playing better - but we could hardly have played any worse. Which of these games could you say we actually played well in?

It seems that we will rise towards the 'best of the rest' without too much difficulty. Sam should not have too many sleepless nights. We are certainly not in a position to challenge the Top Six - but that is not Sam's fault.

I wonder when we can expect to enjoy the way we play. Or is there no point in making my trips to Goodison in the hope of seeing some educated football?

Fine, you can only beat what's in front of you.

I'm not saying he's perfect but he's what we need right now.

The problem earlier in the season was that we weren't beating sides such as the above, so the fact we now are is a good start imo.

 

[Stanley Parker]

This season is a honey moon period in my opinion and im sure we will bloody a few noses and finish close to the European spots maybe even sneak one. But the bigger challenge for him lies in the development of this club, rather then threading water and actually challenging for the champions league, that is the standard will succeed or fail on and the development of getting there or not.

I think Sam has been appointed to rescue us from the prospect of a relegation battle. I certainly hope that the future of the club has not been put in his hands.

We may learn a little more when we find out how much he has to spend in January - and see how he chooses to spend it. Assuming, of course, that transfers are his responsibility.

 

[Kenshin]

Well I've watched with my eyes and can see we're playing better and not just hoofing as you seem to think so.

We played 46% of our passing 'long' on Monday night.

In the game at S'ton the long pass rate was 65%

In Koeman's last game the long pass rate was 68%

They're from Opta. I can't share it as I have access because of the company I work for.

I have nothing against a 'long pass'. A long pass can be a 40-yard throughball like Rooney's at Anfield that opens up a team.

You seem to have a pre-conceived opinion that Sam is a hoofball manager. I can tell you categorically that many people who work in football say that is nonsense.

Now, I'm not saying Sam isn't a pragmatist or even a bit negative at times, but there's nothing wrong with that when it's needed.

We spent 45 minutes with our passing long though mate. All first half we hoofed it and only on about 3 occasions did we play it properly, one being the penalty.

 

[davek]

Didn't you hear the rumours from some of our fans dave? Supposedly Allardyce would have spoken to the players before the game, and this would have had some influence on them.Then he used a Jedi mind trick on the players from the stands, and these were the reasons we beat West Ham, so it's 5 games without loss for Allardyce mate.

And a view encouraged by the man himself. When he arrived, Allardyce accepted that the WHU result was down to Unsworth and that he had no intention of taking credit for the win. In every interview I've seen or read in the last two weeks he now includes it in his record here so far. It's needless and just creates ill feeling.

 

[BlueToff]

We spent 45 minutes with our passing long though mate. All first half we hoofed it and only on about 3 occasions did we play it properly, one being the penalty.

Well we didn't start off trying to hoof it though, which is the point I made all along.

Schneiderlin and Gana and Rooney were poor on the ball and the movement ahead was gash, meaning our short game went nowhere and our defenders resorted to hoofing it.

It wasn't 'the' tactic to hoof it.

 

[blueblue]

4 games. He wasn't in charge against West Ham.

I just don't agree that he had no influence on the West Ham game. At the very least I believe that his presence in the stand had a galvanising effect on players that were clueless before that game.

The real clincher for me was the role that Wayne Rooney played that night and has largely played since then. However , before that game he was used further forward by David Unsworth or in the last games before West Ham he wasn't used at all.

Everybody can have their own belief, mine is that Allyrdyce had a say in the picking of the team that night.

 

[LouReedwalkonthewildside]

And a view encouraged by the man himself. When he arrived, Allardyce accepted that the WHU result was down to Unsworth and that he had no intention of taking credit for the win. In every interview I've seen or read in the last two weeks he now includes it in his record here so far. It's needless and just creates ill feeling.

It's sad as well mate that some of our own fans feel the need to include the West Ham game in his win ratio.

The way I saw the West Ham game mate, it was a bunch of cowards who actually realised that they had let Unsworth down, so went out and put in a performance for him.

 

[davek]

I just don't agree that he had no influence on the West Ham game. At the very least I believe that his presence in the stand had a galvanising effect on players that were clueless before that game.

The real clincher for me was the role that Wayne Rooney played that night and has largely played since then. However , before that game he was used further forward by David Unsworth or in the last games before West Ham he wasn't used at all.

Everybody can have their own belief, mine is that Allyrdyce had a say in the picking of the team that night.

They'd just been routed by S'ton in the worst display any team had given in the PL this season. There was always going to be a reaction.

 

[Stanley Parker]

Fine, you can only beat what's in front of you. I'm not saying he's perfect but he's what we need right now.

The problem earlier in the season was that we weren't beating sides such as the above, so the fact we now are is a good start imo.

Right now, he is more than competent to take us to safety. He will see us finish comfortably towards the best of the rest.

But what then? Is he really the best manager to take Everton forward from there?

 

[davek]

It's sad as well mate that some of our own fans feel the need to include the West Ham game in his win ratio.

The way I saw the West Ham game mate, it was a bunch of cowards who actually realised that they had let Unsworth down, so went out and put in a performance for him.

Exactly. The S'ton performance was a shambles they knew they had to bounce back from. If SA had any effect it was incidental to that.

 

[truebluejersey]

And a view encouraged by the man himself. When he arrived, Allardyce accepted that the WHU result was down to Unsworth and that he had no intention of taking credit for the win. In every interview I've seen or read in the last two weeks he now includes it in his record here so far. It's needless and just creates ill feeling.

Apart from the matter that the west ham team/set up is almost identical to the subsequent teams Sam has picked that have acquired these points.

Not the utter shambles that unsworth put out previously.

By the way I like unsworth but it was a complete shambles and had he been appointed as the manager we would have gone down, in my opinion.

 

[MickA]

Well I've watched with my eyes and can see we're playing better and not just hoofing as you seem to think so.

We played 46% of our passing 'long' on Monday night.

In the game at S'ton the long pass rate was 65%

In Koeman's last game the long pass rate was 68%

They're from Opta. I can't share it as I have access because of the company I work for.

I have nothing against a 'long pass'. A long pass can be a 40-yard throughball like Rooney's at Anfield that opens up a team.

You seem to have a pre-conceived opinion that Sam is a hoofball manager. I can tell you categorically that many people who work in football say that is nonsense.

Now, I'm not saying Sam isn't a pragmatist or even a bit negative at times, but there's nothing wrong with that when it's needed.

Well I would question your stats as any team with a LB %age that high would be literally playing a different sport.

I would suggest your stats are the total number of long balls in a game. We didn't go over 80 all season until this manager arrived and already we've posted totals of 85 against Newcastle and 94 against Huddersfield. I would suggest Liverpool would have been higher too but they didn't allow us to have the ball too often.

The facts are there were more LB under DU than RK and more again under SA than DU. Of course numbers can suggest many things and I do agree at times it is the preferred option, so in this case look at his whole career which is a 1 in 3 manager playing percentages.

This is like the other 'facts' such as Martin O'Neill hasn't won more than Sam, Pardew's record isn't better than Sam's, it seems there's some parts of his make up and record people just seem to want to ignore/dispute. Maybe it's to soften the blow I don't know but it's downright weird. Support him all you like, it's your prerogative, but don't start making him out to be something he isn't.

 

[banno]

Regardless of his type of football we are now beating sides we expect to beat but were not before he arrived. Hopefully he is looking at a way to expand on our defensive displays and hopefully we see our footy become more pleasing to the eye whilst keeping a defensive solidity. If he can do that then he may well see a contract extension at the end of the season but if we play similar to what we are at the moment...even if it continues in a winning way I cannot see the fans or Moshira accepting it. What we can accept is building slowly but we also have to see a type of progress in the footballing style. If not we will not be a happy bunch of supporters and it would not help the library atmosphere witnessed on Monday.

 

[COYBL25]

Right now, he is more than competent to take us to safety. He will see us finish comfortably towards the best of the rest.

But what then? Is he really the best manager to take Everton forward from there?

Only time will tell mate, which I don`think he`s going to get. ( unless somehow he transforms us into Man City by the end of the season )

 

[LouReedwalkonthewildside]

I just don't agree that he had no influence on the West Ham game. At the very least I believe that his presence in the stand had a galvanising effect on players that were clueless before that game.

The real clincher for me was the role that Wayne Rooney played that night and has largely played since then. However , before that game he was used further forward by David Unsworth or in the last games before West Ham he wasn't used at all.

Everybody can have their own belief, mine is that Allyrdyce had a say in the picking of the team that night.

Would be interesting to know how many of those players were saying to themselves "Absolutely brilliant, we've got Sam Allardyce, a top, top, quality manager, I'm going to raise my game and put in a performance just for him"