Sam Allardyce

[Papa Shango]

Well I’ll tell you we could of took any of the top ten managers in the championship, all of who would serve us up better football and results that we are witnessing at the minute

Have just looked at the top 10....nah not having that!

 

[bluestevon]

I've noticed this line of argument from the Allardyce critics and it distorts the full picture. We appointed Allardyce on the day of the West Ham game (before the match was played) after just being taken apart by a mid table Atalanta side 5-1 at home, and being humiliated 4-1 by a poor Southampton. After the Southampton game when the club decided to act we had won just one in 7 under Unsworth, having lost 5 in 7:

"The growing sense of crisis surrounding Everton intensified as caretaker-manager David Unsworth experienced a fifth defeat in seven games since taking temporary charge of the Goodison Park club following the dismissal of Ronald Koeman."

At the time of the appointment (before the West Ham game) , i'm fairly sure we had one of, if not the worst defences in the league for goals conceded and were only 2 points above the drop.

"The Toffees are now winless in 15 Premier League away games - their second longest run in the competition having reached 19 between December 1996 and December 1997."

"Everton have now conceded 28 goals in the Premier League this season - their worst tally after 13 games since 1958-59."

Before the club made their decision, the situation was not improving and we were in crisis. That is the absolute reality of the situation which has been proven with the above quotes.

After Allardyce came in, we then won 3 in 4 before going unbeaten in 6 with tough games against Liverpool and Chelsea, keeping clean sheets in 4 of them. Something we had failed to do in the league from Stoke on the opening day, to the West Ham game.

Things weren't improving under Unsworth and they had to act and make a sensible decision for the short term and they did exactly that by appointing Allardyce who has pretty much secured survival in 4 or 5 games. It's also strange how people ignore that Unsworth had a very favourable set of fixtures in his short time in charge. Leicester, Watford, Palace, Southampton and West Ham whilst Allardyce has already had to play Liverpool, Chelsea and Man United.

Not quite telling the whole story though are you mate, did Allardyce take any training sessions with the team before West Ham - no, did he choose the team or make any in game decisions - no, did he give the team talk and decide on tactis - no, did he in fact have anything to do with that game besides for maybe a 5 min chat with players prior to the game - no.

that game was the effect of removing the uncertainty around the manager position - and would have been the result of hiring almost any permanent manager, because he had zero influence on anything in the game.

Unsworth had a favourable set of fixtures to Allardyce - errm really did he?
First games in charge - Chelsea (AWAY) Leicester (AWAY), Lyon (AWAY) an in form Watford (HOME), Palace (AWAY) Atalanta (home - dead rubber game for us) Saints (AWAY)

so lets remove a meaningless result in Atalanta - before West Ham he had 6 games, five of them away from home, 3 of those against teams who had recently changed manager, the only home game he had was against Watford who where in good form

Allardyce - 'tough' set of fixtures also included at the time we played them 4 teams in the bottom 2 on form at time of our game, Newcastle, Huddersfield, Swansea and West Brom

Trying to make out Unsworth had it easy though with 5 of his first 6 games being away when we hadn't won since i think February away from home is a bit off though

 

[Mikey_Fitzgerald]

Sam doesn't think he will be, he's already talking about next season.

He won't be here next season

Despite how he comes across sometimes, Moshiri isn't that stupid

He knows he's looking at a full on mutiny if Allardyce stays on

He's here to get us safe and then he'll be turfed

If I'm wrong then we all have cause for concern

 

[kenada_blue]

And Sigurdsson, Bolasie and Rooney would walk right into Palace's side. That's the only point that's being made here. There are of course players who play for sides below us who would improve our team, that goes without saying and will always be the case for every team in the league. Overall though, we have better attacking options than half of the league, that's why we've scored more goals than half of the league. People keep insisting that we have the worst team/worst attack etc etc but it's just melodramatic twaddle. The squad isn't as good as we hoped it would be, it's lacking in certain areas and certainly lacking in balance, but individually the players we have are pretty decent. The likes of Mirallas, Sandro and Lookman who can't even make our bench would unquestionably be playing regularly for a number of PL sides.

Which comes down to opinion as apart from Rooney, I don't rate any of those players.
Rooney has scored half our goals and our most creative player is Calvert Lewin.

Additionally I never said we've got the worst attack/side in the prem I've always said we've got an awful squad and there's a few teams below who I think have better squads than we do.

It generally goes back to the point of who we brought in as manager. Some feel we'd still be fine with a *insert anyone but Big Sam* due to our squad.

I personally don't believe that. The problems we have will still be here long into the summer regardless of who we get in IMO.

 

[Abraders]

The most baffling thing is that Sam dismantled the defence that was keeping clean sheets, during a run of games we really could've pinched all the points from with a bit of enthusiasm behind them.

Whilst it makes sense to integrate Keane back into the squad, I'm not sure doing it by throwing Jags next to him etc was the right way.

We've also seen a bunch of random players get minutes, which falls under what I've just said again, but doesn't really make sense when we needed to win games and were beginning to show some sort of consistency.

 

[Neiler]

I dont know why people are so hot and bothered. we were awful before he took over, our problems arent of his making and getting the 13 points needed to stay in the league is all that matters, we will comfortably do that.

I have no expectations for this season, im looking at it as preseason for next year if i am honest. Get players back, Coleman, MCCarhty, Bolaise and firing, fill a few of the gaping holes in the team from the debacle last summer, instill core fundamentals, bring some of the kids on in terms of experience and coaching.

Its the only progress we can realistically make.

 

[EFC78]

Not quite telling the whole story though are you mate, did Allardyce take any training sessions with the team before West Ham - no, did he choose the team or make any in game decisions - no, did he give the team talk and decide on tactis - no, did he in fact have anything to do with that game besides for maybe a 5 min chat with players prior to the game - no.

that game was the effect of removing the uncertainty around the manager position - and would have been the result of hiring almost any permanent manager, because he had zero influence on anything in the game.

Unsworth had a favourable set of fixtures to Allardyce - errm really did he?
First games in charge - Chelsea (AWAY) Leicester (AWAY), Lyon (AWAY) an in form Watford (HOME), Palace (AWAY) Atalanta (home - dead rubber game for us) Saints (AWAY)

so lets remove a meaningless result in Atalanta - before West Ham he had 6 games, five of them away from home, 3 of those against teams who had recently changed manager, the only home game he had was against Watford who where in good form

Allardyce - 'tough' set of fixtures also included at the time we played them 4 teams in the bottom 2 on form at time of our game, Newcastle, Huddersfield, Swansea and West Brom

Trying to make out Unsworth had it easy though with 5 of his first 6 games being away when we hadn't won since i think February away from home is a bit off though

I wasn't claiming Allardyce did any of those things for the West Ham game and I agree with your point that the game was the effect of removing uncertainty. I think they put in that extra effort as they knew they had to impress the new manager but it was Unsworth who can be given credit for that win. My point was that Everton made the decision before the game. So it's not telling the full picture in criticising the decision to appoint him and talking about the table after the game, when they made the decision whilst we were 2 points above the drop, had the worst defence in the league and had lost 5 of the last 7. We were absolutely horrendous at the time before West Ham when we officially appointed him.

I was talking about his league fixtures specifically too. 3 of Allardyce's 8 League fixtures were against Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester United. They are quite clearly a much harder set of fixtures than Leicester, Watford, Palace, Southampton and West Ham.

 

[EFC78]

The most baffling thing is that Sam dismantled the defence that was keeping clean sheets, during a run of games we really could've pinched all the points from with a bit of enthusiasm behind them.

Whilst it makes sense to integrate Keane back into the squad, I'm not sure doing it by throwing Jags next to him etc was the right way.

We've also seen a bunch of random players get minutes, which falls under what I've just said again, but doesn't really make sense when we needed to win games and were beginning to show some sort of consistency.

We shouldn't be going to places like West Brom and Bournemouth and being so negative so I can see why people would criticise him there. However, to act like this team could just go away to those places and get victories is pretty deluded of our fans. The reality is that this team is absolutely pathetic away from home regardless of the opposition we face. Which is why we played 16 away games before Allardyce came in during 2017 and only won one of them.

 

[davek]

Which comes down to opinion as apart from Rooney, I don't rate any of those players.
Rooney has scored half our goals and our most creative player is Calvert Lewin.

Additionally I never said we've got the worst attack/side in the prem I've always said we've got an awful squad and there's a few teams below who I think have better squads than we do.

It generally goes back to the point of who we brought in as manager. Some feel we'd still be fine with a *insert anyone but Big Sam* due to our squad.

I personally don't believe that. The problems we have will still be here long into the summer regardless of who we get in IMO.

He's a rubbish manager though mate. I know you backed his arrival here, but you surely see the standard of football he's capable of and must think again?

 

[davek]

I dont know why people are so hot and bothered. we were awful before he took over, our problems arent of his making and getting the 13 points needed to stay in the league is all that matters, we will comfortably do that.

I have no expectations for this season, im looking at it as preseason for next year if i am honest. Get players back, Coleman, MCCarhty, Bolaise and firing, fill a few of the gaping holes in the team from the debacle last summer, instill core fundamentals, bring some of the kids on in terms of experience and coaching.

Its the only progress we can realistically make.

Most aren't hot and bothered about the short term. I'd say most are looking at this and wondering whether that nobhead Moshiri will do the right thing in the summer and bin Allardyce and get a long term replacement in who understands how to play football.

 

[evertonarntwe]

anyone seen that stat about the shots per game?

basically it has the lowest ranked team in each of the European big leagues for average shots per game

basically the teams all have between 9 & 10 shots per game

Swansea have the lowest in the prem @ 8.6

everton under sam 7.3shots

that is totally and utterly embarrassing on so many levels

 

[jceverton]

Not quite telling the whole story though are you mate, did Allardyce take any training sessions with the team before West Ham - no, did he choose the team or make any in game decisions - no, did he give the team talk and decide on tactis - no, did he in fact have anything to do with that game besides for maybe a 5 min chat with players prior to the game - no.

that game was the effect of removing the uncertainty around the manager position - and would have been the result of hiring almost any permanent manager, because he had zero influence on anything in the game.

Unsworth had a favourable set of fixtures to Allardyce - errm really did he?
First games in charge - Chelsea (AWAY) Leicester (AWAY), Lyon (AWAY) an in form Watford (HOME), Palace (AWAY) Atalanta (home - dead rubber game for us) Saints (AWAY)

so lets remove a meaningless result in Atalanta - before West Ham he had 6 games, five of them away from home, 3 of those against teams who had recently changed manager, the only home game he had was against Watford who where in good form

Allardyce - 'tough' set of fixtures also included at the time we played them 4 teams in the bottom 2 on form at time of our game, Newcastle, Huddersfield, Swansea and West Brom

Trying to make out Unsworth had it easy though with 5 of his first 6 games being away when we hadn't won since i think February away from home is a bit off though

The other factor in all of this is the state of morale at the club when Unsworth took over. It was very bad, in fact I think it was pretty clear that it was in the toilet. After he left it was much improved. Allardyce came into a much better situation than Unsworth did.

 

[jceverton]

Most aren't hot and bothered about the short term. I'd say most are looking at this and wondering whether that nobhead Moshiri will do the right thing in the summer and bin Allardyce and get a long term replacement in who understands how to play football.

Exactly. I’m sure most people didn’t want Allardyce but frankly I question the football sanity of anyone who wants him to stay on for next season. I also wouldn’t be giving him any big money to spend in January. Let’s just get through this season and move on.

 

[jceverton]

He's a rubbish manager though mate. I know you backed his arrival here, but you surely see the standard of football he's capable of and must think again?

1.2ppg, 34% Win rate over his career. That’s the definition of bang average right there.

 

[davek]

Exactly. I’m sure most people didn’t want Allardyce but frankly I question the football sanity of anyone who wants him to stay on for next season. I also wouldn’t be giving him any big money to spend in January. Let’s just get through this season and move on.

We're in such a state now as a club that if he gets us a derby win either on Friday or at GP later in the season he'd probably get backing to stay on.

We're in a sorry state. We need a competent club CEO to force a coherent strategy on how we want to play and what our objectives are and that would inform our managerial issue. It's just a dogs breakfast, though, of a multitude of incompetent decision makers.

We are utterly knackered as a functioning organisation.