Readers will know that I was doubtful about Everton recruiting Sam Allardyce. While he seemed to have an initial impact, the team now seems to be nearly as clueless as when he arrived. If a Big Sam team can't defend (witness the 5-1 defeat at Arsenal not long after the 4-0 defeat at Spurs), then just what is he for?
I also wonder about Allardyce's state of mind. Less than a fortnight ago he said that Wayne Rooney and Gylfi Sigurdsson could not play in the same team*. Tell us something we didn't already know: Evertonians were asking back in September why we had signed three number 10s (the aforementioned two and Klassen), the implication being that they were too similar and couldn't be accommodated in the same team. In some matches Allardyce had success with a 4-3-3 formation, Rooney playing deeper in the midfield 3 and Sigurdsson on the left at the front. But this got found out at Spurs, with Sigurdsson leaving the hapless Martina totally exposed at left back. So no surprise that Sam said the two are "too slow" for him to accommodate both and "are very talented but covering ground is not their strength". Allardyce made these comments in explaining why he included Sigurdsson but left Rooney on the bench for the 1-1 home draw against West Brom on 20 January, though Rooney did come on after an hour to join Sigurdsson. So why did he pick both of them in the rather fortunate 2-1 win at home to Leicester (quite a quick team by the way!) in the next match? And then leave them both on the bench in the debacle at Arsenal a few days later? Do you know what you are talking about Sam or have you just decided not to listen to yourself?
A further concern about Allardyce is his selection policy. Not so much rotation as give people a run and then leave them out for no apparent reason. Holgate being a case in point but Gueye, always reliable previously has been in then out and seems to have gone backwards. I have been wondering if Allardyce is assessing his squad for a summer cull and new faces. After all, he needs a good showing next season if he is to have his 18 month contract extended. But his selections seem almost random.
But not quite random. I was very concerned that Allardyce wouldn't play the youngsters, like Tom Davies, Calvert Lewin and Mason Holgate, all part of a very strong crop of talented young players currently in the squad. At first my doubts were assuaged, Allardyce waxing lyrical about Kenny and Holgate in particular. And Calvert Lewin figured as a starter or sub in just about every game. But the youngsters now seem to be getting less game time. Even though Kenny, Calvert-Lewin and Davies all appeared at Arsenal, Martin Samuel noted**
In Everton's 4-0 win over West Ham in November, the final match before Sam Allardyce took over, four players aged 21 or under started and three came on as substitutes, playing a total of 366 minutes. Losing 5-1 at Arsenal on Saturday the number of young starters had dropped to one and the minutes played to 164. Tom Davies was given the second half but one imagines only because, by then, Everton were 4-0 down."
Samuel went on to note that when the loan transfer of the promising Ademola Lookman (aged 20), Everton's best player at the recent Anfield derby, was mentioned Allardyce began reciting the transfer fees of the players he was using, like Theo Walcott (£20M) and Yannick Bolassie (£30M). As Samuel went on to say:
This is why, from the start, he was wrong for Everton. Allardyce is very good at what he does, but what he does isn't what Everton require. Allardyce's teams aren't top 4 contenders, which is where Everton hope to be and he doesn't trust youth, which is what has fed Everton's soul for years. He keeps teams up, which is hardly the greatest feat at Everton, considering that they haven't been relegated since 1951. Plenty of managers have done that and nurtured the famous youth system too."
Allardyce wasn't Everton's first choice, of course, that was Marco Silva whose promising start at Watford then evaporated, getting him the sack. I wouldn't have gone for him, nor would I next time. So who should Everton have gone for and who should they try to get next time?
Well, why not go for a proven Premier League manager who also happens to be the only manager in history to win the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, UEFA Super Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup?
And he still, from back when he was at Liverpool, has his house on the Wirral, keeping his family there through his last 8 years at Inter, Chelsea, Napoli, Real Madrid and his current uncomfortable perch at Newcastle.
Benitez is so passionate about football that, when he was back at his Wirral home between jobs, he went out to watch boys football and within 2 weeks was coaching a team. "It was hilarious" his wife said. "He stood there on the touchline and shouted at them as if it was the first division". Benitez made a tactical change in a match: he moved a tall, quick player to face a small defender (a favourite tactic of mine when coaching boys, that one!) and his side won. After they won their next match parents of the opposing teams started complaining "not fair - you have a professional manager!". Benitez says his family often ask "haven't you had enough?" Then, when he starts moving the plates and glasses around into football formations (another habit of mine when I was playing and coaching) they say "Go!" Would he like to be a manager in 13 years time at 70, like Roy Hodgson? "At the moment I have to say yes, obviously. The main thing is to have health, if you are healthy you can continue and I am fine, touch wood."***
"Touch wood" tells you everything you need to know about his command of English, something Arsene Wenger, for all his years here, still seems to find alien.
Benitez's 3 year deal at Newcastle ends in March 2019. Allardyce's at Everton runs to June 2019. Even if I have to put up with Sam at Everton for next season, I know who I would want there by summer 2019.
Everton were contending for the top four when Rafael Beneathus, as he was called when Everton finished 4th in 2005, was at Liverpool. Indeed that was the last time Everton did finish above Liverpool. But Benitez is capable of getting Everton back in contention, which I don't believe Allardyce is.
*https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/jan/21/sam-allardyce-everton-wayne-rooney-gylfi-sigurdsson-too-slow-play-together
** Martin Samuel's column was in the Daily Mail on 6 Feb 2018
***The material on Benitez is from the Sunday Times article "Coaching is child's play for Benitez", 4 Feb 2018
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