Sam Allardyce

[CountyRoadKid]

Diego who? And you can stick yer Tuchel up yer *rse!!

Seriously though, Big Sam is proving a lot of us wrong and long may it continue. We're breathing down the necks of the RS now after our worst start to a campaign since Rooney had his own hair

If Sam gets us into the top four, would he deserve a crack at it next year or should we be ruthless and return to Moshi's project?

 

[ProZ]

8th and above for Sam is worthy of another year in my opinion

 

[Sharpies volley]

Can honestly say he hasn't done a great deal wrong, on or off the pitch, since he came. Thought I'd be cringing at his pressers seeing him in an Everton track suit.

The only thing I can pull him on was a post match derby interview, when he made a comment on our defence that could easily have been construed as a dig at Unsy. Given that Unsy is still part of the club set up I thought that was a bit below the belt if meant, and insensitive if not. I'm actually leaning to the latter because post last nights match he's now distancing himself a bit from taking ALL the credit for the defensive improvements. Fair do's.

We where already a defensive mess when Unsy took over.

 

[LostLegend]

Steady improvement all across the park especially in defence.

We still look a bit limp going forward and our ball retention can be a little suspect, but 1 thing at a time I suppose.

Getting a decent striker in January is of the upmost importance for the rest of our season though.
Taking nothing away from DCL mind. He's done great so far, but we need that extra cutting edge up front.

 

[Sharpies volley]

Steady improvement all across the park especially in defence.

We still look a bit limp going forward and our ball retention can be a little suspect, but 1 thing at a time I suppose.

Getting a decent striker in January is of the upmost importance for the rest of our season though.
Taking nothing away from DCL mind. He's done great so far, but we need that extra cutting edge up front.

We also need pace. If we're gonna play tight at the back and hit teams on the counter, especially away from home we need it in abundance all the good teams have it.

 

[CRIMHEAD]

We also need pace. If we're gonna play tight at the back and hit teams on the counter, especially away from home we need it in abundance all the good teams have it.

Absolutely. If you have Sigurdsson and Rooney on the pitch, which I'm all for, they've gotta be your trigger men as their skill in delivery is quite good - and was INSANELY good at Newcastle. But someone has to play ahead, aside, and behind those guys to get on the end of those balls. You literally cannot have anyone else on the pitch without pace if you play those two.

In terms of ahead, DCL is doing the best he can, he has pace and size to get his head on things, but he's not sophisticated or strong enough to really hold the thing the way you'd like. He'd be a great backup plan and he's gotten SO much better playing this year his future is bright. But this is Everton, not Swansea.

In terms of behind. Gana is great, Morgan is not. Rooney coming back into a 6 role as needed renders Morgan pointless. Really need another pacey guy back there - N'Zonzi would be idea because he is tall and can help in the air, but a complete luxury of course. Beni is fine if we need another DM.

In terms of aside, you see how successful Lennon has been teaming up with JonJoe - image Coleman with Vlasic, eventually Henry, or even Ross into that mix. Not bad, but you get a good LB and put Bolaisse on his preferred side with Lookman as well, now you've got something.

But Martina is killing this team even worse than Baines was with his inability to get forward. Getting a pacey LB is just critical and it's not PVA. Would be nice to have a quicker CB to cover for Martina, perhaps Keane can step in there soon.

 

[Will Escott]

All I read after last night's game (on here mainly) was it was dour hoofball football. Now just going on MOTD and the extended highlights on the offical site, it did seem that way at all. Yes, defensively it was get rid but we've be calling for that, the attacking play saw passing moves and at times playing it out from the back. Granted the highlights may have been cut up well but still.

 

[Barnfred 55]

We where already a defensive mess when Unsy took over.

Not sure what you're trying to say mate.

The issue I had with the manager was in his derby post match comments. He said something along the lines of since he's been there we have conceded 1 goal in 4 games, then went on to directly compare that with 15 goals conceded in the previous 4 games.

Now I wasn't sure if that was a direct dig at Unsworth or not. If it was, I would say it was completely out of order. Firstly because Unsworth is still part of the management team at the club. Secondly, because the first of those 4 games was actually taken by Unsworth, and in the Cyprus game, it was Unsworths U23 players who actually earned the clean sheet and Allardyce wasn't even there.

However I now think it wasn't a dig at Unsworth, although the comments were still a bit insensitive a best. I believe this because reading between the lines in his latest comments after the Newcastle game, he wasn't taking all the credit for the up turn in our defensive figures. Basically saying they are all good defenders that have performed really well in his time, and couldn't understand why that wasn't the case before, In other words, he hasn't had to work that hard with them really.

 

[Barnfred 55]

Steady improvement all across the park especially in defence.

We still look a bit limp going forward and our ball retention can be a little suspect, but 1 thing at a time I suppose.

Getting a decent striker in January is of the upmost importance for the rest of our season though.
Taking nothing away from DCL mind. He's done great so far, but we need that extra cutting edge up front.

Yesterday was still an improvement on Sunday though, so heading in the right direction. The opposition weren't of the same calibre of course.

 

[Foot Long Hot Dog]

Not sure what you're trying to say mate.

The issue I had with the manager was in his derby post match comments. He said something along the lines of since he's been there we have conceded 1 goal in 4 games, then went on to directly compare that with 15 goals conceded in the previous 4 games.

Now I wasn't sure if that was a direct dig at Unsworth or not. If it was, I would say it was completely out of order. Firstly because Unsworth is still part of the management team at the club. Secondly, because the first of those 4 games was actually taken by Unsworth, and in the Cyprus game, it was Unsworths U23 players who actually earned the clean sheet and Allardyce wasn't even there.

However I now think it wasn't a dig at Unsworth, although the comments were still a bit insensitive a best. I believe this because reading between the lines in his latest comments after the Newcastle game, he wasn't taking all the credit for the up turn in our defensive figures. Basically saying they are all good defenders that have performed really well in his time, and couldn't understand why that wasn't the case before, In other words, he hasn't had to work that hard with them really.

He said last night that he couldn't understand whey the club had been conceding so many goals previously, he wasn't claiming to have worked any magic, he was merely stating a fact.

However, it's obvious that the new training regime is at least partly responsible for the upturn

 

[Bungle]

Diego who? And you can stick yer Tuchel up yer *rse!!

Seriously though, Big Sam is proving a lot of us wrong and long may it continue. We're breathing down the necks of the RS now after our worst start to a campaign since Rooney had his own hair

If Sam gets us into the top four, would he deserve a crack at it next year or should we be ruthless and return to Moshi's project?

Does that mean West Ham in 19th are breathing down our necks? We're 9 points behind Liverpool, West Ham are only 8 behind us, and we're only 10 points off being bottom of the league.

 

[Barnfred 55]

He said last night that he couldn't understand whey the club had been conceding so many goals previously, he wasn't claiming to have worked any magic, he was merely stating a fact.

However, it's obvious that the new training regime is at least partly responsible for the upturn

Yeah. I'm agreeing with you mate. Which I why I said I don't think he was having a dig at Unsworth, But his comments on Sunday were voiced differently. He said we've conceded 1 in 4 since he's been here, which wasn't strictly true for a kick off, and then directly compared it to the 15 we conceded in the 4 games beforehand. At the time it sounded like a dig.

I actually believe that Unsworth eventually stumbled across a line up and system that worked when we played west Ham, and Allardyce has had the good sense to run with this and build on it.

Now he has the even harder task of making us more effective offensively without losing the defensive structure.

 

[Eggs]

8th and above for Sam is worthy of another year in my opinion

..unless we end up in a real relegation dog fight, I don’t think there’s much doubt that Allardyce will at very least see out his contract. Indeed, I imagine Moshiri might have been put off by recent manager search, so if Allardyce is improving things I can see him being here for longer.

 

[Goat]

What a man.

 

[Nymzee]

Wonder if he could turn RFM into a proper defender.