Inconsistent selections and unimaginative tactics – why I have no faith in Sam Allardyce at Everton

I hope we rebuild and focus shifts away from what we'll achieve next season, to some respect – by that I'd rather we don't just keep exactly the same personnel and continue sacking people as soon as things go slightly awry (but Koeman and Allardyce need(ed) to go).

Then came the debacle on Saturday evening.

Problem I have now is the half empty glass broke when I dropped it, and as for wanting jam on it, I'd settle for bread and dripping!

I was prepared to support Sam at the start, but his constant criticism of his players publicly leaves me somewhat non-plussed.

Time to go Sam, your not the man I thought you were. Shallow, despite the outward persona.

This should have been a landmark year for me, as I celebrate my 60th year as a supporter of Everton FC. Instead, I find myself in a state of apathy, no longer expecting the team to win games, whoever the opposition. Football shouldn't be like this but it is what Allardyce has reduced it to. Whatever damage Koeman wrought upon our club has been compounded by Allardyce, who has showed himself to be an even worse tactician and man-manager.

As I celebrate my 65th birthday, I do so having pledged not to watch another Everton game as long as Allardyce is our manager. How sad that this has come to pass, but unless a large number of us take a similar stance, I fear the board will continue to oversee the absolute destruction of the club I have loved since I was a boy of 6 years old. No more, I just can't take it any longer.

Everton will never have a truly good team under Sam Allardyce.

His record as a manager is that of a troubleshooter, a survival kit backpack that you go to when you are sinking in quick sand.

He is a manager that gets small clubs stable but never big club with bolder ambitions on to the next level.

The football is totally dire, the West Brom game was the most outrageous game of “football “ I have ever witnessed from an Everton team, 90% of the time that round leather thing was in the air.

The trouble with Allardyce though is he's not even doing what he came to do, all full of big promises on “I'll restore the confidence and get the defence stable again”.

He opened his big trap way to soon after Chelsea in December by saying “I've got the defensive side nailed now, on to the attack”.

Ever since then our defence has been ripped apart, that stupid public statement smacked of Allardyce basking in his own self glory, and it gave the players a platform to switch off and hit complacency. It was a very naive statement from a man his age and of his experience.

He's failing what he came to do!!

I mean someone of importance, not impotence, – we've got an awful lot of them.

It's all very well spending money – albeit in an overly inflated market – and persuading 'talent' to sign for the club in the first place, but there's far more to making a successful team than that.

Nobody can dictate results as it is a sport after all, but surely somebody can set out an ethos for the squad to adhere to, rather than drift from game to game, hoping something clicks and then, even when it does, it's ripped up to suit whoever we happen to be playing on any particular day.

If the manager is given the role of setting the standards of the squad, surely the owner/board should dictate what is and isn't acceptable as far as what the fans see on a match day. It's not enough to try and make Goodison a fortress, it's as important that away from home Everton also show off their skills and ability in order to gain points and raise their profile.

Watching Everton become an also-ran, make-up-the-numbers type of team is bad enough, but to do so whilst they have displayed so little style, passion and energy is soul destroying.

Somebody at the club must stand up for what the fans want and everybody at the club should desist from distancing themselves from the issues surrounding the first team squad – if somebody was to take ownership of the issues, then we might see a solution to some of our failings and we could then begin the long hard road to recovery, if someone doesn't take ownership we will drift towards the path which Sunderland and Aston Villa supporters are all too familiar with.

You make a fantastic point there, mate.

It's one thing spending money on talent or an extra 㿔 million on someone that should be worth 㿀 million but is that how you build “a team”?

It was never ever great under Moyes, let me make that clear, but when we had our good seasons, we had a unit, the players blended into a team, and the likes of Cahill, Arteta, Pienaar, Carsley, Yakubu, Saha, Fellaini etc. The defence knew itself, there was stability of Jagielka and Lescott, then Distin and Jagielka with Baines and Hibbert at full back, later on Coleman.

Everyone knew the team, there were tweaks here and there but the team and unit remained largely the same.

Now you look at Everton and not one of us would even get close to naming the starting eleven for Saturday, it's different players every week, most in unfamiliar positions.

I certainly hope we see a better and balanced team selection for Saturday, from what I've seen of Palace thus far, they are no mugs, a bit unlucky and lacking goals.

To publicly state that the preparation for that match was to watch the Swansea vs Arsenal game to show Arsenal's weaknesses, and therefore play the same game plan as Swansea, is incompetence on a level I can't even express.

Does he not think that the Arsenal coaches would also have shown their squad the video to correct their mistakes? Also, why are we copying another team's game plan? Why are we not creating a game plan that maximises the skills and talents that our players undoubtedly have? It's little wonder the players have no confidence or motivation to play. Man for man, the players are all capable of so much more, but are clearly being stifled by a clueless manager.

There are no excuses now. We have strikers, we have speed, though the decision to put Lookman out on loan and keep Bolasie is a mystery in itself. We have defensive mid-fielders and creative midfielders, we have young legs and some old heads. So where is it all going wrong?

We need a manager with more vision for our squad. I'm a hopin' and a prayin' that Allardyce is replaced by or before the end of the season.

In thinking about who I would like as a replacement... would Arteta be an option? Just thinking that he ticks so many boxes. He's played for us and knows the club well, loved by the fans, played in the Premier League, coached at Arsenal – consistently top 6 team – and now working with the best in the business, who he must be learning from?

I know it would be a gamble because he has never managed – per say – but whoever we take is a gamble.

Perhaps there's nobody bet-ter... than Miguel Art-eta...???

The GOOGF answer of "well they couldn't have done any worse" isn't allowed.

The GOOGF answer of "well they couldn't have done any worse" isn't allowed.

My view is that Koeman wrecked the club from top to bottom. Koeman must have agreed with the idea of bringing in Walsh which has not worked.

Most of the flops he brought into the squad he knew what he was getting before he purchased. Klaassen is a case in point and Martina he knew well. Everton have needed a left back for years now as Baines has slowed down and picked up injury after injury.

The centre-back position is fundamental in any Premier League side and it is still not solved after Koeman bought two centre backs. The keeper, Rooney and Sigurdsson look like the only 3 buys that have a hope of working out. It will take years to solve the mess Koeman left behind.

to answer your question – my tactics for any of the games would not be to fly the white flag even before the players walk out, by playing with almost a 10 - 1 set up, which is what I have seen for most games since Allardyce came. Little wonder the players have no confidence, as he is virtually saying to the opposition: 'We can't compete with you.'

With a plethora of midfielders at the club, and lack of strikers which is what he inherited, I would always opt to press the ball higher up the pitch, and not defend so deep, inviting teams onto us, which in turn makes ball retention all but impossible.

Playing 5 across midfield, given our personnel, would seem a better option to me. Press and win the ball higher up the pitch, less disjointed from defence to attack with 5 in midfield and more ready support for a loan striker. Ball retention should also improve.

If mistakes and loss of possession happen higher up the pitch, you at least have a fighting chance of recovering. Mistakes made when you spend 85 minutes defending in your own penalty area, are almost always irretrievable.

This would not be my ideal line up with strikers at my disposal, but for what Allardyce inherited, it would be. For me, deep defence is never a successful tactic and many a team, who have been winning a game have lost in the end, because towards the end of the game, they defend toooo deep. So doing that for 85 minutes, for me is a non-starter.

So judging by your question and tone of it, you agree exactly with what Allardyce has done and don't believe it could be improved upon. If that is the case, please don't apply to be our next manager ! Bear in mind, I am only a fan, and not being paid zillions to do the job.

(However,my qualifications to express my distaste of his tactics are born out of extensive experience in hockey – which is the same as football in terms of tactics and game plans and my experience is at both club and international level.)