The Unsworth post-mortem

[johnnydawg68]

Some thoughts on the good, the bad, and the ugly for Rhino's spell as gaffer.

The Good:

• Started Kenny every single game, and we've been rewarded with increasingly assured performances, to the point where it can be argued he was MOTM over a guy who scored a hat trick including a worldie.
• Brought Lennon back from the dead. Feel good story both in terms of football and the personal story. A reliable presence whenever called upon,he has generally impressed since returning to the first team. Tireless and effective at both ends of the pitch, Lennon is building a good understanding with Kenny on the right flank.
• Blooded Beni Baningame. Still early doors, but was our best player during some dark moments, and does not look out of place in a premier league side. Excited to see him progress.
• Siggurdson now looks a player capable of making a difference. His best performances came under Rhino. Was against his signing, but he's a player and he may now be starting to get comfortable.
• Literally was the only one at the club speaking for the last month. Completely unfair to make him the only mouthpiece for the club, but I thought he conducted himself exceptionally. His press conferences were honest, direct, and there are few better Ambassadors for Evertonians. Was nice to hear him say "we" instead of "Everton". To some that may be irrelevant, but not to me.

The Bad:

• Far too determined to play attacking football, seemingly to prove a point, when what we needed was a performance like last night. Organized, determined, ruthless. Everyone had clear direction on their job, and they did it. If he had started out like this at Leicester, who knows what might have happened. He hit upon a formula, just too late for his own position.

The Ugly:

• The Mirallas/Morgan affair. To allow either of them near the first team after their behavior (and quite frankly sub-standard performances all year) was hugely disappointing to me. To be fair, if he had been named permanent manager, or at least until January, I'm not sure he would have done that, but regardless I'm done with both of them. They're not good enough to act like that. I'll take 1 Aaron Lennon for every 10 Kevin Mirallas' all day.

 

[toffeeblue9]

I agree with all of that, well said

 

[Timak]

Love him.

He was thrown a hand grenade of a messed up squad, key players injured or out of form.

Yet 2 wins, 1 draw and 2 defeats in the only games that mattered (we were effectively out of Europe and had Chelsea away in the cup).

Those 7 points could be vital.

We've got 2 more absolute must wins before Christmas (Huddersfield and Swansea) so let us hope we continue the momentum he bought us. Not even Sam could leave out our youngsters after their performances last night.

 

[Toast]

Agree J Dawg.

Also, the fact that next time he bumps into Joey Barton, the little rat will be bricking it.

 

[Tigger]

Good post, very difficult job to take on and he let nobody down. Proved he is not ready for the job yet but will have done his chances of a decent Championship job no harm. Hope he can go prove himself and come back here to a club on a better footing.

 

[paulf]

Yep good assessment........still dont get not starting Vlasic though

 

[Neiler]

A thought i have had since last night would he be able to do it elsewhere?

He clearly has a passion for Everton and instilling that in the players was part of any success he achieved. I think he did what was asked of him, in the cold light of day it was a mixed bag, selection wise and tactically he could have done better in some games in other games he did well, that is to be expected at this stage of his development.

Would appointing him help us achieve where we want to go? Very unlikely.

I think for his sake he needs to take a Championship jib and do well there for his own development. I would hate to see him go, but for himself and his career and if he has aspirations to manage here eventually its what he needs.

Else wise he will be like Alan Cork or Eddie Gray at Swansea a one club coach with occasional stints as caretaker.

 

[johnnydawg68]

Maybe when Moyes takes West Ham down, he can take over in East London. I know he only played there a year, but I think he's still well thought of by supporters of that generation.

 

[EFC78]

Good post and agree with your positives. However, think some negatives need to be mentioned.

• Dropped one of our best players of the season (at the point of taking over) who offers something different in Vlasic. Could have got more points just from using him more.
• Didn't give Lookman a proper chance and chose to waste his time picking Mirallas
• Left with a terrible record with some of the worst performances in recent times. 5-1 at home to Atalanta and 4-1 away to Southampton capping off a terrible week. Ended with a record of P8: W2, D1, L5, GS12, GA20, GD-8 which some are manipulating to remove our 2 biggest defeats.
• Continued to play Sigurdsson out on the left where he offered very little before last night. Southampton exploited us with ease down our left in the first half and he didn't change it until he was forced to.
• Got very fortunate last night with them missing the penalty as he allowed them to pile the pressure on and again refused to make necessary changes.
• Didn't sort the defence out one bit despite being a defender.

Hopefully this will have been good experience for him and he can work on his many weaknesses as a Manager in preparation for a role in the future. See no reason why he can't continue his good work in the U23's though as he has done an excellent job with them but unfortunately wasn't ready for a job like this.

 

[marnie]

Jd and efc78 Both very good posts.

 

[frodshamdave]

Didn't sort the defence out one bit despite being a defender

Don't forget when analyzing that particular point, which I don't completely disagree with by the way, BUT that defence was shocking when he took over from Koeman who was by far a better defender than Unsworth ever was.

I agree with the rest of what you say to be fair, and also the first post

Some thoughts on the good, the bad, and the ugly for Rhino's spell as gaffer.

The Good:

• Started Kenny every single game, and we've been rewarded with increasingly assured performances, to the point where it can be argued he was MOTM over a guy who scored a hat trick including a worldie.
• Brought Lennon back from the dead. Feel good story both in terms of football and the personal story. A reliable presence whenever called upon,he has generally impressed since returning to the first team. Tireless and effective at both ends of the pitch, Lennon is building a good understanding with Kenny on the right flank.
• Blooded Beni Baningame. Still early doors, but was our best player during some dark moments, and does not look out of place in a premier league side. Excited to see him progress.
• Siggurdson now looks a player capable of making a difference. His best performances came under Rhino. Was against his signing, but he's a player and he may now be starting to get comfortable.
• Literally was the only one at the club speaking for the last month. Completely unfair to make him the only mouthpiece for the club, but I thought he conducted himself exceptionally. His press conferences were honest, direct, and there are few better Ambassadors for Evertonians. Was nice to hear him say "we" instead of "Everton". To some that may be irrelevant, but not to me.

The Bad:

• Far too determined to play attacking football, seemingly to prove a point, when what we needed was a performance like last night. Organized, determined, ruthless. Everyone had clear direction on their job, and they did it. If he had started out like this at Leicester, who knows what might have happened. He hit upon a formula, just too late for his own position.

The Ugly:

• The Mirallas/Morgan affair. To allow either of them near the first team after their behavior (and quite frankly sub-standard performances all year) was hugely disappointing to me. To be fair, if he had been named permanent manager, or at least until January, I'm not sure he would have done that, but regardless I'm done with both of them. They're not good enough to act like that. I'll take 1 Aaron Lennon for every 10 Kevin Mirallas' all day.

But I still think its quite funny that despite what could in honesty be considered a pretty bad 6 weeks or so in charge where he didn't do great, he seemed to become more loved in the hearts of a lot of evertonians than he was before, and received an amazing and fully deserved send off from the fans. This I believe all came from a lot chest slapping of the badge and talking about "us" and "we" which we sadly lacked with Koeman. Unsworth's failings on the pitch didn't hide his passion which I think we all loved.

Now lets hope that despite the fact Big Sam will probably take nothing from David Unsworth with regards to management advice, that he will take some of his passion for the club and make the fans know he cares. Also it'd be pretty funny to see Sammy Lee interviewed after the derby and calling us "we" and "us"

 

[johnnydawg68]

Don't forget when analyzing that particular point, which I don't completely disagree with by the way, BUT that defence was shocking when he took over from Koeman who was by far a better defender than Unsworth ever was.

I agree with the rest of what you say to be fair, and also the first post


But I still think its quite funny that despite what could in honesty be considered a pretty bad 6 weeks or so in charge where he didn't do great, he seemed to become more loved in the hearts of a lot of evertonians than he was before, and received an amazing and fully deserved send off from the fans. This I believe all came from a lot chest slapping of the badge and talking about "us" and "we" which we sadly lacked with Koeman. Unsworth's failings on the pitch didn't hide his passion which I think we all loved.

Now lets hope that despite the fact Big Sam will probably take nothing from David Unsworth with regards to management advice, that he will take some of his passion for the club and make the fans know he cares. Also it'd be pretty funny to see Sammy Lee interviewed after the derby and calling us "we" and "us"

At the end of the day, and I speak for myself only, I realized he wasn't experienced in this role. I expected him to make some mistakes. Hell even Wenger, Conte, and Jose come in for stick at times. So I was willing to take the crunchy with the smooth. But pride in the club isn't nothing. It's not everything, but it's not nothing.

I also wanted to see him give the young lads a fair shake, and he did that. Especially Kenny, who should have been starting since day 1, and if he had been, but would be even further along in his development. Absolute waste of 3 months and inexcusable on RK's part. Just stupid to roll with Cuco.

He also re-established our swagger at home. Road was a disaster but it has been since Bobby left (who oddly was great on the road and terrible at home).

2-1-2 is a good return for a guy with 1 game of PL management experience. EL was a disaster but honestly did anyone really care after Koeman screwed the pooch before that?

Fact is Unsy kept us out of the bottom 3, and handed Sam a team that is close to looking up the table again, and not down.

He wasn't perfect, but he deserves our thanks.

 

[LouReedwalkonthewildside]

The post-mortem of David Unsworth......he was in over his head.

 

[ToffeeTim]

He won his homes which was the main thing. 7 from 5 in the circumstances wasn't awful.

Also SELL Mirallas.

 

[Prevenger17]

He did a good job for a team shorn of confidence and on the receiving end of an incredibly confused recruitment process in the summer