Pienaar's gloves
Player Valuation: £35m
I agree. Difference is, I don't see Everton having the kajunes to sack Koeman for bad results (should they occur) as Liverpool did with Hodgson.
http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/spor...on-koeman-prentice-hodgson-liverpool-12193641
Prentice: Sorry Ronald, sometimes honesty just isn't the best policy - ask Roy Hodgson
Echo Sports Editor Dave Prentice's take on the latest Everton talking point
BY DAVID PRENTICE
I’ve been writing about Everton managers on Merseyside for 29 years - ten of them as the Echo’s Everton correspondent – and during that spell I enjoyed daily deliberations with five Everton managers.
Only one was 100 percent truthful about everything I ever asked him.
Some even deliberately misled.
But once you’d calmed down, you usually understood why those managers had been economical with the truth.
But understanding doesn’t equal acceptance.
And I’m struggling to understand how, exactly, Everton will benefit from Ronald Koeman’s recent spate of candour.
Sometimes honesty isn’t always the best policy.
But twice in the space of seven days Koeman has delivered candid ripostes to enquiries about Romelu Lukaku’s future and rivals Liverpool’s chances of winning the league.
And his integrity has ruffled some Evertonian feathers.
Their dismay is understandable.
Some believe that such straight-talking is necessary if Everton are to live up to the words of their motto ever again. I don’t.
Brutal honesty is a worthy quality in football, but rarely beneficial.
Remember Roy Hodgson’s ‘honesty’ across the park?
Teed up with the press conference equivalent of an open goal following his first Premier League match as Liverpool manager he blazed his answer, Ronny Rosenthal style, against the crossbar.
“Is there anywhere quite like Anfield for atmosphere?” he was asked.
“Well, San Siro and Old Trafford are excellent,” he replied honestly but naively.
Anfield? Yeah it's alright but it's no San Siro...
It was an error he repeated when asked about the Liverpool versus Manchester United rivalry.
“I’ve been involved in some big derbies in my career and you know how much they mean to the fans,” he mused. “It compares with Inter v Juventus. The Milan derby was a big occasion but the derby d’Italia was the real killer one, as it were.”
Then there was his very own Lukaku moment ... as it were.
CLICK TO PLAY
KOEMAN INSISTS HE WANTS LUKAKU TO STAY WITH BLUES
After Manchester United were linked with a move for then Anfield darling Fernando Torres, Hodgson refused to issue the traditional hands off warning.
“I don’t think Fernando Torres will be the only striker they target, and I don’t think that we will be the only club that will be worried their striker can be targeted,” he said.
“I am not naive to believe there won’t be any danger and we will never lose a player like Torres, I understand these things can happen.”
Fernando Torres in March 2009
The tumbleweed blew down Anfield Road while he spoke.
Soon after, Hodgson noted ruefully: “The famous Anfield support has not really been there ever since I came here.”
Any wonder?
Ronald Koeman appears to have the strength of character and the single-minded self belief not to care a jot if some fans disagree with him.
But there may come a time when he needs fans and footballers to all pull together – and some may not be rushing to his aid.
Evertonians don’t want Ronald Koeman to tell lies, to hype up his players or fall into the sugar-coated excesses of his loquacious predecessor.
But some want him to be just a little cuter in his observations.
Can you imagine Jurgen Klopp saying this?
Philippe Coutinho with Jurgen Klopp.
“Philippe Coutinho’s potential is greater and higher than Liverpool as a final destination. If Philippe was to play at Liverpool until the end of his career I know he has left something behind.”
Of course you can’t.
Not all Liverpool managers operate in the same way.
Rafael Benitez was a fully paid up member of the tough love brigade, once substituting Steven Gerrard in a derby match for “trying too hard.”
That policy was undeniably effective.
Howard Kendall
But so, too, was the greatest Everton manager of all’s brand of endearing honesty.
After a televised FA cup win over Tottenham in 1983 Howard Kendall was asked, predictably, who he would fancy in the next round.
With a mischievous smile he replied: “I don’t really mind who we face as long as we get a home draw …. Mind you, Brighton would be nice.”
Brighton were travelling to Anfield the next day.
Sometimes there’s a way of getting your message across.
The Liverpool Echo eh, making an article about Everton all about Liverpool.
