Sam Allardyce

So, what next?

  • IN. Give him a chance and see what he can do?

    Votes: 79 8.3%

  • OUT. Thanks but no thanks. See Ya?

    Votes: 758 79.3%

  • As ever. Cheese on Toast

    Votes: 25 2.6%

  • Er, I am a bit scared of us Evertoning this right up.

    Votes: 94 9.8%
  • Total voters
    956
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summerisle said:
https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...ooney-gylfi-sigurdsson-too-slow-play-together

Allardyce: Everton cannot play Wayne Rooney and Gylfi Sigurdsson together.

Sam Allardyce has admitted that Wayne Rooney and Gylfi Sigurdsson cannot both be accommodated in his Everton team because of their lack of pace, raising the prospect that one of the club’s high-profile summer signings will be forced to play a supporting role over the rest of the season.

Oumar Niasse’s volley earns draw for listless Everton against West Brom

Rooney was dropped to the bench for the 1-1 draw against West Brom on Saturday, with Sigurdsson moving from the left flank into the No 10 position. In fact Everton toiled despite the change, livening up only briefly when Rooney emerged to play a big part in Oumar Niasse’s undeserved equaliser, but Allardyce says it is hard to envisage a future where both players would start.

“Last week I said we have not got a lot of legs in the team and we need to be quicker,” Allardyce said. “We’ve increased that with Theo [Walcott] and Yannick [Bolasie] when he gets back to full fitness but in midfield you have to be able to cover the ground. I think Rooney and Gylfi playing together are very shrewd, very clever and talented players but in actual terms of covering the ground it is difficult – it’s not their strength.

“So I have to make a big decision on who plays this one and who plays for next one. For me, Gylfi has been trudging away outside on the left side, so play him in the position he wants to play and see what he can do.

“As a team we are light in legs, in pace. And that is something I have to cope with until the end of this season and we look at the whole squad and say: ‘What do we do to make it better?’”

Allardyce’s comments can be read, directly or not, as an indictment on a summer transfer policy that led to Everton lavishing a record transfer spend under Ronald Koeman, who preceded Allardyce at Goodison Park. Sigurdsson’s arrival from Swansea cost £40m and the return of Rooney from Manchester United, while on a free transfer, entailed wages of around £150,000 a week. Rooney has had the better season of the pair, scoring 10 goals, although Sigurdsson’s form has picked up under Allardyce and the Iceland international is, at 28, four years younger than his team-mate.

Everton’s poor planning is returning to haunt them and Allardyce, who oversaw a marked improvement in the weeks after his arrival in November, is now deeply concerned about a return of old habits. They remain seven points clear of the relegation zone but the turgid performance against West Brom, added to an abysmal display at Tottenham a week previously, has spooked their manager.

Asked whether he was concerned about slipping back towards the dogfight at the bottom, Allardyce said: “Yes, very, especially after performing like that, and last week’s second-half performance. I’ve seen a huge drain of confidence in the players over the space of one and a half football matches.

“The quality of the Tottenham side, I could accept that, but West Brom are in the bottom three. If anyone should be suffering from nerves it should be them rather than us.”

An even bigger disappointment was the double leg fracture sustained by James McCarthy in denying Salomón Rondón. It happened “in his brave efforts to stop West Brom scoring”, as Allardyce put it; the injury looked ghastly and, although no timescale for McCarthy’s recovery has been laid out, he will surely miss the rest of the season.

McCarthy will hope that, upon his return, Everton remain a Premier League club. “It was a false sense of security if they think like that,” Allardyce said in response to a suggestion that his players had considered themselves safe.

“I know the situation. We’ve gone from top six to bottom four in points collected from two runs of six games. It does happen to everybody apart from the top six, so it’s about me putting it right and about – let’s face it – much better performances than that.”
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Reads GOT too much.
 

GwladysBlue said:
He said a 'big decision to make' regarding Rooney and Sigurdsson and who plays.

You play the one that isn't a fat mess and misplaces none out of ten passes. You play the club's record signing.

Rooney is a curse on us. That ball to Walcott yesterday was a hit and hope that came off. He did about another six of them that went nowhere.
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As opposed to Siggurdson who did nothing for 90mins.

It's awful seeing him with his head down, trying to control the ball, then attempt to play blind passes through 4 players and fall over.
 
His style of play doesn’t require midfielders to ‘cover the ground’.

He’s just saying what he knows supporters want to hear.

As far as I can see, that article is simply sam passing the buck to the players and not sharing responsibility. Shameful.
 

kenada_blue said:
As opposed to Siggurdson who did nothing for 90mins.

It's awful seeing him with his head down, trying to control the ball, then attempt to play blind passes through 4 players and fall over.
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It makes me uncomfortable watching him try to coordinate his feet with his brain, they're that far apart I think there's about a 2 second delay meaning that he is never able to actually get it under control.
 
kenada_blue said:
The midfield is still awful. Again, Gana and Rooney don't hold positions. Sigurdsson "cant" play the wings.

The 2nd choice is better but..."Two DMs at home laaaad" Siggurdson out wide.

Honestly drop Siggurdson for another actual winger and maybe we'd be in business. A 3 of Walcott DLC Tosun...can even throw Niasse in there.

It's still rank average though
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Gueye doesn't need to 'hold' though - he needs to sweep up in front of the defence, which is what he's good at.

Rooney is then the creative hub in the middle of the park.

I'm playing Glylfi wide because if there's a capable full-back behind him he will have the licence to drift in, though it's of course changeable.

Walcott in my mind is wasted stuck out right.

He needs to be central or in a proper front three.
 

bluestevon said:
Don't count out he may want out himself mate, coming out of retirement was about the money more than ambition let's face it, he gets that 9m for 4 months work rather than 18 months it's a nice pension fund..
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That may well be the case but he wouldn't sabotage himself purposely mate

He's too arrogant to do so

He knows this is his biggest job (after England) and his last. He'll want to go out on a relative high either way.
 
Mikey_Fitzgerald said:
No way he's here next season, especially if there's more crowd reactions like there was on Saturday
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Thing is, the footy has been crap all season.

What's annoying is that things started looking up when Sam came in because he simplified things.

He's torn that up to shreds and is now saying he can't do the things that worked during his first month or so here.
 
I genuinely thought I wouldn't feel worse after we appointed El Huge Samuel... however he has officially ruined football for me.

He is an utter utter fraud and I hate the fact that he is in charge of our club. You know what he worst thing is, reaction or not if he finishes higher then a certain spot you know its guaranteed he will get another 18 month contract because you know, Everton.

I honestly cannot wait for him to leave this club and bring some excitement back into the footy, because right now he is killing it.
 
mikeh72 said:
It makes me uncomfortable watching him try to coordinate his feet with his brain, they're that far apart I think there's about a 2 second delay meaning that he is never able to actually get it under control.
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It's also a thing of how we play in general.

Whoever we play in that 'no.10' role constantly receives the ball with his back to goal.

Whereas you want your players running onto things, which means playing a 4-3-3 - and now, for once, we actually seem to have the personnel to play a proper 4-3-3.
 
BlueToff said:
Thing is, the footy has been crap all season.

What's annoying is that things started looking up when Sam came in because he simplified things.

He's torn that up to shreds and is now saying he can't do the things that worked during his first month or so here.
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I don't seem to blame the manager as much as others do on here

I personally think the players just haven't got their heads right

The tactic of getting it down the wing using pace and putting crosses into a striker is a perfectly legitimate tactic IMO

I can't really complain with what he wants to do tactically. If the players actually bought in and stopped being a bunch of f ups we'd happily amass enough points against the weaker sides to see us safe
 

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