Season › 2017-18 › News Allardyce again rues missed chances Lyndon Lloyd Saturday, 3 March, 2018 79comments | Jump to most recent Sam Allardyce pointed to wasteful finishing from his team in the wake of an away defeat, this time at Burnley where Everton threw away a 1-0 lead to lose 2-1. Goals from Ashley Barnes and Chris Wood turned the match on its head in the favour of Sean Dyche's men in the second half but Allardyce felt that the game could have been put beyond the Clarets before half time. The manager made a similar argument last week following the defeat at Watford, a game in which the Blues created very little but this time he had a stronger case. Everton could have scored two or three in what was a promising first-half display overall but had to be content with the one they did fashion for Cenk Tosun. Article continues below video content Theo Walcott spurned a couple of chances and Tosun had a low shot saved as the Toffees looked capable of ending a five-match losing streak away from home. But Dyche retooled at half time and Barnes levelled 10 into the second half and Wood scored the winner with an unchallenged header from a corner with 10 minutes to go. “We lost it by not scoring the second goal when we had the clear, clear opportunities — more than one — as well as the goal we scored,” Allardyce said afterwards. “I think with Burnley not having won in 11 matches and if we'd gone 2-0 before half time, it would have made it hugely difficult for them. “And then gifting a goal 10 or 11 minutes into the second half lifted the whole spirits around Burnley's ground and then there's more pressure ourselves and a goal that could have been avoided. “Really the second half performance… we didn't make the right decisions both defensively and certainly in possession so we had to defend deeper than we had to in the first half. “And when we did get into the game after we'd soaked up that pressure, we failed to get in front or get the opportunity get in front and it was very unfortunate that Gylfi carved out such a brilliant opportunity for himself but didn't finish it off and then we pay the price for that. “Losing a goal from a corner is something I always dislike and could have been avoided so two very easy goals gifted to Burnley today which takes the pressure off them not having won in 11 and heaps the pressure on us and that's five defeats on the trot. “So while our on form and our own points [tally] is good, we were simply just not good enough today, yet again, and I'm very disappointed. "I feel worse than the fans — they won't believe this — but it's my responsibility," Allardyce continued, although he smirked when it was suggested to him that his decision to replace Gylfi Sigurdsson with Yannick Bolasie late on was met with boos from the travelling fans. "I go home and say to myself 'how do I put this right?' "For me to see the players under-perform in the second half is very disappointing for me. It's my problem to sort it out." Reader Comments (79) Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer Nick Lacey 1 Posted 03/03/2018 at 15:41:14 Stop talking! Tony Everan 2 Posted 03/03/2018 at 15:50:49 Our defence was disorganised and static, Burnley have one of the worst attacks in the league. Yes we missed some chances but they could have scored more too.Sam's excuses are starting to wear thin. David Barks 3 Posted 03/03/2018 at 16:00:04 To put it into context, not that it would ever get through that fat skull of Allardyce's, Burnley had more than twice as many shots as we did (21 to 10) and twice as many on target (8 vs 4). They had 10 corners to our 4 and had 10% more possession than us. But yeah, it was our failure to convert our plethora of chances, right. They create twice as many chances and, shocking I know, score twice as many goals as us. And now he talks about Gilfy missing a chance. Life is incredibly easier when you know you aren't limited to only a few chances. If I know I have multiple attempts at something as opposed to one chance, which one do you think is more stressful? Jamie Evans 4 Posted 03/03/2018 at 16:03:01 At least he didn't yawn when speaking to the press today. Did he ? Danny Broderick 5 Posted 03/03/2018 at 16:07:14 Time to go. It's not working out. He'll be off in the summer. Let's just hope it's not Steve Walsh choosing his successor. Hopefully Walsh will go with him. Paul Tran 6 Posted 03/03/2018 at 16:07:27 Robbie Mustoe said it on NBC, 'not good enough to take chances, not good enough to hang on to a lead'.Sums us up, that. Jim Bennings 7 Posted 03/03/2018 at 16:07:29 Sam Allardyce was brought in to stabilise the defence.We have not kept a clean sheet since Boxing Day against the worst team in the league .He thinks partnering Keane and Williams is the answer to clean sheets? Jim Bailey 8 Posted 03/03/2018 at 16:10:58 Men in white coats for Sam please. Ken Williams 9 Posted 03/03/2018 at 16:39:07 The idiot should be sacked now, he is worse than Koeman. Don't care who takes over as long as I don't have to listen to any more drivel from this chancer. Pat Kelly 10 Posted 03/03/2018 at 16:44:24 Burnley can have the Europa League place as far as I'm concerned. Just get safe and get rid of Allardyce and his entourage and Walsh. John Davies 11 Posted 03/03/2018 at 16:45:55 Yeah we missed opportunities, Allardyce is right there. But why did we not come out second half? How come we changed the way we were playing after the break? How come we were so much deeper? How come we stopped pressing higher for the ball? We were abysmal second half.Very poor games from Williams, Keane, Davies & Calvert-Lewin didn't help. Nor did taking off Sigurdsson when we were 2-1 down. Anything we did well today came through him; once he was pulled, we had nothing at all.It's not working and Allardyce is sure as hell not the guy we need in charge. He spouts on about how he sorts out defences. Well sure as hell not ours. What on earth do him, Sammy Lee and Duncan Ferguson do at Finch Farm? All three of them (and a fair few players) need to be shown the door right after the final game of the season. Anthony A Hughes 12 Posted 03/03/2018 at 16:47:55 No Sam, you don't hurt more than the fans. Please just fuck off Anthony A Hughes 13 Posted 03/03/2018 at 16:50:44 I keep re-reading his comments, did he say our form is really good? Paul Birmingham 15 Posted 03/03/2018 at 16:55:33 God help us if we don't beat Brighton, Stoke, we then face City and Liverpool. These teams I hate to say could easily set some all-time Premier League scoring records against us, unless there's a miraculous surge of form. This ain't gonna happen soon, and I can't see where the next win gonna come from.Next Saturday at Goodison Park will be toxic and we are in a battle to stay up. The acceptance of mediocrity and the cowardly approach of most of the first team squad makes getting 3 wins a very big ask. Our form now is rancid and is relegation form.I've never been so disillusioned with Everton, and for me this is far worse than the end of Gordon Lees reign, Walker, Martinez and Koeman...The club has become an embarrassment when it comes to first-team football. A generation of Evertonians have never seen us win a trophy.There's an unholy prescience around Goodison Park these days and I don't see this lifting. .Does the Board see the signs now? Brian Harrison 16 Posted 03/03/2018 at 16:57:24 With both Watford and Bournemouth winning, then we will drop to 11th and should Brighton win at home tomorrow to Arsenal, they will go above us. That would leave us just above Swansea who 6 weeks ago were dead and buried. We all know every year there is always one team that looked safe then get relegated, could we be that team. The teams below us are picking up points and we aren't.The pressure on the Brighton and Newcastle home games is now massive, and we have seen how badly this team reacts to pressure. Also, our goal difference is one of the worst in the league, and staying up might come down to goal difference. Lawrence Green 17 Posted 03/03/2018 at 16:59:24 Bournemouth drew; a late goal for the Foxes, Brian. I still think we'll pick up the required number of points but it won't be easy or pretty, and the quicker we are mathematically safe, the better. Jim Bennings 18 Posted 03/03/2018 at 17:11:55 Bournemouth are better than us so rightly deserve to finish above us.We are on 34 points thanks to large chunks of luck and penalties missed against us before Christmas. Anthony A Hughes 19 Posted 03/03/2018 at 17:14:02 Mathematically safe". We shouldn't be reading those words.,"Mathematically safe". We shouldn't be reading those words.,,,1,17:13:26,,31.65.218.246,ok,5666,03/03/2018 17:13:26,anthony.hughes@engie.com,reader,, 903104,36346,toffeeweb,03/03/2018,John Atkins,john.atkins@incentivise.co.uk,"The only crumb of comfort I can take tonight is we are 7 points ahead of Stoke and Palace and, if we beat Brighton next week (and it's a big bloody 'if'), then we'd be 10 points ahead of them both with better goal difference assuming Palace don't get anything in their next two games against Man Utd and Chelsea, and Man City beat Stoke how on earth has it come to this? And now I'm hoping the RS beat Newcastle. Chad Schofield 20 Posted 03/03/2018 at 17:15:28 I actually think he's right. He's clearly being let down by the players, and Sam himself would have easily taken both Walcott's and Siggy's chances, pulled off the same saves (at very least) that Pickford pulled off and the two we conceded. He's not only the best manager statistically the world has ever seen (and our goals for show that), he's a tactical genius and the most gifted player since the game was invented.Now, time to see if I can get a job on Sam's or Trump's staff... happy to go for the highest bidder. Michael Stevenson 21 Posted 03/03/2018 at 17:18:26 Seeing as this team doesn't appear to be even trying to win away, then we need to win two from Brighton, Southampton and Newcastle at Goodison. Given our current form (hahaha what did Sam say???) it'll be a tall order. We should be okay but it could go either way, it really could. The fact that we're even talking like this after the optimism of the summer is criminal. Heartbreaking. Frank Sheppard 22 Posted 03/03/2018 at 17:18:46 I am not a Sam fan, but the players have to take responsibility for (a) not taking chances in a game where we created much more chances than normal. And (b) not responding to a resurgent second-half Burnley. Colin Glassar 23 Posted 03/03/2018 at 17:22:38 Drop dead, Sam. Dave Loweth 24 Posted 03/03/2018 at 17:25:37 If Fat Sam thinks that our form has been good, then he either needs to go to SpecSavers or he's on some weird hallucinatory drugs. The guy is paid a truly obscene amount of money to select the players into some semblance of an organised team and to motivate them. He is failing in both and should get the boot now. But I'm not holding my breath. Roger Helm 25 Posted 03/03/2018 at 17:32:02 Well, we got the “new manager bounce†when he arrived, which might just keep us up this year, but the club surely have to be right now sourcing a replacement so we can pay him off (and all his crew) when we are safe. The more time the new manager has to sort out this squad the better. Hopefully it will be a busy summer getting all the dead wood out of the club. Eric Smith 26 Posted 03/03/2018 at 17:37:35 Please wake me up out of this nightmare. Paul Birmingham 27 Posted 03/03/2018 at 17:38:06 A massive job for some top tree surgeons this end of season. What a mess EFC is in. Trevor Lynes 28 Posted 03/03/2018 at 17:46:22 We are relying on the failings of other sides and that is the unpalatable fact.Our away form is dreadful and as soon as Burnley equalized we caved in and there was only going to be one winner. Our record in the Premier League is awful when we aspire to join the top six clubs.They actually missed far better chances than we did and we are beginning to show a yellow streak which is unforgivable. Teams like Watforn and Burnley should not beat us at home or away. Si Cooper 29 Posted 03/03/2018 at 18:01:13 If you ignore the fact that Burnley were clearly the better team, more threatening and purposeful in attack and untroubled defensively for large portions of the game, then I guess it is easy to see a couple of missed chances as significant. He may be right that a second goal before they scored (or even in response to their equaliser) may have demoralised them, but that ignores the fact that they failed to convert many more chances than we created. Pickford wasn't faultless but he kept us in the game at times.We didn't press them, we defended too deeply, we allowed them to double up on defenders seemingly at will. Did Aaron Lennon ever get so much ball to work with when he played for us (covering at right back doesn't count!)?I dispute that we really got a genuine ‘new manager bounce'. Allardyce got far too much credit for some early positive results, from some supporters but mainly from a ‘Big Sam' friendly media, and has been living off that ever since. It is what fuels his sneering disregard for the fans who have waited with increasing exasperation for something more than fleeting signs that he is earning his ridiculous salary. David Barks 30 Posted 03/03/2018 at 18:01:36 Frank,You need to check that statement. Burnley has more than double the number of shots as we did and exactly twice as many on target. So what exactly do you mean by us needing to take the chances when we created more than usual while ignoring the fact that they did twice as much as us? We were lucky to have only lost 2-1 given the amount of chances they created, striking the bar and difficult saves Pickford had to make. Sean Patton 31 Posted 03/03/2018 at 18:11:26 I agree with you, Frank, especially in the first half as we were creating loads of openings on the break. Walcott just has to do better than that not once but three times he spurned very good chances. Tim Fowler 33 Posted 03/03/2018 at 19:04:55 Shamed to admit I missed the game on telly as I completely forgot it was on. All I feel is apathy this season and, to be honest, missing the game has probably saved my weekend. Having just seen the goals conceded how do Williams and Keane keep getting selected. Williams is a liability and the fact that Burnley look better without Keane speaks volumes. Jerome Shields 35 Posted 03/03/2018 at 19:30:49 I think we have the worst team and worst Manager we've ever had. We will be lucky to survive in the Premier League. Fat Sam won't care, he will get his payout. Should be sacked by Monday. Don't trust this fraud with our Premier League future. Big mistake not backing Unsworth and giving him a chance for the season. Mike Keating 36 Posted 03/03/2018 at 19:34:55 Tim - wish I had! George Cumiskey 37 Posted 03/03/2018 at 20:02:19 Sean, I see you're hopping from thread to thread trying to deflect any blame from Allà ardyce.Watch out, I'm following you! Mal van Schaick 38 Posted 03/03/2018 at 20:08:44 60 goals conceded in all competitions. Ashely Williams? Leave him on the bench, then get rid! Manage to stay up. New manager. New Defence. Alan Bodell 39 Posted 03/03/2018 at 20:16:28 The fat clown is earning massive money. I suggest he invests some of his ill-gotten in a security team. Tony McNulty 40 Posted 03/03/2018 at 20:22:59 Slowly we crawl our way towards as safety and the end of a boring failure of a disappointing campaign.Allardyce must be the only person in football who thinks he'll be there next season. Jim Bennings 41 Posted 03/03/2018 at 20:41:31 Since Allardyce's appointment he has mustered a mediocre sum total of home wins against Huddersfield, Swansea, Leicester and Palace and one flukey away win at Newcastle.In the matches against Swansea, Leicester and Palace, we played them all at a good time with Swansea in the final throes of the Paul Clement era whilst the Foxes and Eagles had been rocked by the Mahrez and Zaha news 24 hours before each game.Allardyce was also brought in to shore up defence yet no clean sheet since Boxing Day suggests we are arguably worse defensively since his appointment.Moshiri has been a very very foolish man to have given Allardyce a 18-month contract and now faces another big financial outlay to fire a failing manager. Kase Chow 42 Posted 03/03/2018 at 21:08:09 The team has no heart. The manager can't set up the team to defend nor to fluently attack. The mistakes that have been made are unbelievable:Why bring in Rooney? He's totally spent. If he had anything to give, Man Utd would have kept him.Williams is literally garbage. No height, strength, pace, hunger or desire he's awful. Bolasie, what have we bought there? Has there ever been a bigger waste of money?Keane... oh goodness, he can't dominate a single striker. He can't command a defence. He takes forever to turn and is positionally unsound.Martina: Southampton's 2nd choice right back has been our most often played left-back, seriously. Pickford is decent but not a top keeper. Mistakes against Liverpool in the cup and again today (1st goal why wasn't he quicker off his line?) show he's not been particularly convincing either. He just happens to have performed best out of all the recent signings.Sandro: rubbish and ineffective.Vlasic: where is he?Lookman: why was he allowed to go on loan?Niasse: looks the striker most likely to get us a goal and he's a trier but, if our aspirations were ever to get top 4, then he was never the man to get us there.Sigurdsson: the only decent signing and he's played out of position all season!!!I mean does anyone have a clue about what's going on at the club?We sack Koeman without a clue of who's gonna replace him. We make an embarrassingly failed and public overture to Silva if he was the Man. To sort it out then presumably we'll get him in the summer? Surely the due diligence that identified him as being the best man for the job can't have been sullied by his last 2-3 months? Because, if it has, then clearly the club/owners are more fickle than a gold digger on a Saturday night.We get Unsworth in and don't back him. So he has no credibility with a horrible, nasty squad (how many of our players do you actually like out of that lot? Aside from Jagielka, Baines and maybe Theo, would you have any of them round for tea? Meet Rooney, the granny shagger. Meet Schneiderlin, who never tries. Meet Ashley Williams, who has the biggest ego in the world for no apparent reason... etc etc. I know dithering David Moyes took years to sign players but at least he tried to identify their character as well as their ability. I know some signings failed but not an entire batch across 18 months. So whilst Unsworth is in charge we go to Fat Sam who says I want lots of £££. "I want my entourage of 100 people and I want 18 months minimum." We say "You're having a laugh!" We then faff about for 4-6 weeks before saying, "So, fat Sam, what did you want again?"Eventually, this pratt takes the helm and goes through an entire transfer window and manages not to sign a left-back but does sign a striker that he doesn't think is ready to hit the ground runningWhat does Walsh, little Sam and/or Big Dunc actually do? "Listen, we don't need a left back, Sam. It's fine. Don't worry about it mate. Those attacks down the left aren't important anyway. It doesn't matter that Cuco the man has to revert back to his left-foot every time... thereby giving the opposition time to regroup. Sigurdsson ain't left-footed and you play him that side anyway, so forget it, it's not important>""A striker? Why do you want one that can have an impact? What for? There's absolutely no need you've got Niasse. Just shut the fans up get a Champions League striker that should shut the idiots up'Who is running this absolute shambles?Who is actually in charge of this complete joke of a club?I'm telling you I simultaneously don't care any more and care so much I want to deck someone (and I'm a pacifist). These clowns are an absolute shower of imbeciles There's no guiding hand. There's no plan. There's no strategy. There's literally nothing.We'll get whooped 0-4 against the Red Shite on our own patch and I'll pretend it doesn't hurt but it will. And meanwhile the players will drive off to their mansions satisfied because somehow they'll keep us up and that's all that matters.This is not on! This is a disgrace!!!Moshiri, I'm not convinced you know what you're doing. Sorry, Lyndon, great article the other day but I don't buy it. There's a complete hole where the soul of the club should be and no-one apart from the fans cares.This is a disgrace! Jeff Armstrong 43 Posted 03/03/2018 at 21:14:38 Why take Sigurdsson off with 15 mins to go? Yes, bring Bolasie on, but take off Martina, who should be nowhere near a Sunday League football team, never mind a Premier League team. Yeah, tactics... like for like... etc. Yawn... we needed creativity, a pass, a shot, a fucking goal, for god's sake!!! Taking off Sigurdsson does not help this requirement it negates it; coaches constantly do this to try to show they know better than anybody else.Conte took Hazzard off at Old Trafford last week at 1-1, 78 minutes gone... FFS why would anybody do that? It's ridiculous, even if the player is having an indifferent game, he is more likely to do something in the blink of an eye than the robots left on the pitch...I mean who saw Gylfi's first Everton goal coming? Fuckin' no-one, that's who, that's why he cost 㿙 million (overpriced btw) ffs. Christine Foster 44 Posted 03/03/2018 at 21:19:07 Yet again, every comment is about Allardyce, but Christ Almighty, that was the worst performance of Williams and Keane I have seen for a while. The best thing that happened was Williams being sent off, straight red, 3 matches, thank god. He was at fault for the second goal, left a man free behind him looking elsewhere and blaming anybody he could... He was a disgrace, Keane was just as bad, but Pickford was to blame for not coming off his line.. good performance by Seamus, bloody awful by Calvert-Lewin, non-existent! Given what we have, I am not sure who could have done the business today; too many passengers on the pitch. We did have chances and missed them... but so did they. Allardyce will not survive, but then half the bloody team won't either and they don't deserve to either! There will be a fleet of taxis waiting for Allardyce, Martina, Williams, Klaassen, Keane, Bolasie and a few more at this rate. It's like trying to patch a leaking ship with paper... we should be looking at the people who pointed the ship towards the iceberg and changed the captain so they had someone to blame. Bobby Mallon 45 Posted 03/03/2018 at 21:21:34 If anyone thinks we won't or can't go down then think again this is Everton FC and I believe we are cursed. Before today Burnley had not won one single game out of 50 when going behind first. P50 L42 D8 W0.How many players / strikers have not scored for donkey's years until they play us? Big Sam has never got a club relegated, well guess what: he's managing us and those stats always come back to bite us! God, I hope I'm wrong. John M Boon 46 Posted 03/03/2018 at 21:23:09 Nick (1)... the wisest and shortest post. Just to repeat for Sam's sake, "STOP TALKING!!!" Jim Bennings 47 Posted 03/03/2018 at 21:27:29 ChristineI get the point you are making but who is picking the partnership of Keane and Williams and expecting a clean sheet?That's down to the manager isn't it?At the end of the day Williams should never play again for Everton and has not been the same man or player that I saw at Swansea or captained manfully the fantastic Wales team effort at Euro 2016. What happened to him since moving to Everton, I'll never know.But none of our defensive partnerships truly work because we don't possess any leaders of men, none of them are vocal enough . The most vocal we have is Jagielka and his best days are long gone but a partnership of him and Holgate would be about the most reliable perhaps? But again Holgate is a bit flimsy from what I've seen this season.We probably missed s trick not getting John Terry on a similar deal to when we got Richard Gough, he's the type of vocal nasty bastard that we need there right now. Danny Baily 48 Posted 03/03/2018 at 21:36:59 We can alter the personell but it will amount to little more than rearranging of deck chairs.Arsenal are paying Ozil 𧸖k a week and they are a second rate side. We can't compete with that. I'm struggling to care... and more reluctant than ever to hand over my money to the millionaires at our club. John Roberts 49 Posted 03/03/2018 at 22:25:25 The whole defence is inept, almost all of it. Coleman is worth keeping but he can be a liability sometimes defending but we won't get better than him in the current climate. Williams being a regular since the start of season tells us how bad we are. I really don't recognise this team this season, there's nothing. If we didn't have our fair share of luck. which has been plentiful, we would be right in the poo. James Stewart 50 Posted 03/03/2018 at 22:29:07 Be gone, you utter cretin. Joseph Mullarkey 51 Posted 03/03/2018 at 00:00:33 I feel as if we have been hijacked.It's as if a bunch of interlopers have infiltrated our club from the top to the bottom and are carrying out strategic sabotage. The current regime has driven me to utter despair.Bastards. James Flynn 53 Posted 04/03/2018 at 02:03:32 I don't post after games; win, lose, or draw.I am, this time, because the best thing out of this game was Williams's red card.He was so at fault for that second goal, I wonder if he was on medication.That Claret stood by the far post, right next to Williams, and simply took a step or two to the ball and headed it in. Williams not only didn't put a body on him, routine corner-defending, he moved away from him.I don't care who Sam replaces him with. It doesn't get worse than how that goal was scored. Phil Walling 54 Posted 04/03/2018 at 07:55:49 Going down the shitter ever since Kenwright took Moshiri's money! The Iranian has a curse on him for turning his back on 'his beloved Arsenal'! James Hughes 55 Posted 04/03/2018 at 08:39:13 Never mind missed chances, we rue appointing Sam. I made the mistake of watching the game and we seem to be getting worse. We had a pair of centre backs who would struggle against Everton U16s and he doesn't change them. Ashley Barnes (who?) gave them the run-around and you see Sideshow Bob jogging back for the first goal. Thank god he got sent off; we get three games without him. We have now conceded 50 goals and only three other teams have conceded more. Even Palace and West Brom have a better defence than us. This all from the man whose Unique Selling Proposition is his defensive mindset and planning. Please get rid of him. David Morgan 56 Posted 04/03/2018 at 08:49:16 Arteta for manager please. 2 years under Pep, ex-Everton, young and enthusiastic. He knows what type of players are needed for the system. I would rather get turned over trying to win than hanging on for a point and lose anyway. If he won't come then go back for Silva who likes to play too. Clear out in the summer and get rid of the over-31s. It's starting to feel like a the Ginola, Hughes, Gazza days. Ian Bennett 57 Posted 04/03/2018 at 08:52:13 If you defend like that, you deserved to get beat. We just made a timid Burnley attack look like Brazil. He just stood there shouting at the players to come back for throw-ins. I did that with my under-10s team last season. Surely he could see that he needed to bring Holgate on when they brought Wood on. We were teetering all first half, and Dyche sniffed blood. Dyche, Burnley, Ashley Barnes our players made them look like world beaters worrying times. Jim Burns 58 Posted 04/03/2018 at 09:23:46 John @ 11 your first paragraph is a perfect summary of the second half. To answer your questions it's because that cautious negative gobshite's half-time instruction was to sit deeper, weather it and hit them on the break Groundhog Day. By the time he took Tosun and Gyfi off, he was panicking and living on hope. The chances we missed in the first half were a reflection of a team who have had few chances over the weeks due to how we are set up hence a lack of confidence. Gylfi's missed chance in the second half was a quality effort and a real shame... but do you know what I'm sort of glad he missed it because it would have given that fat fraud something to hang his hat on, and that would have been difficult to stomach. Get him out now and give someone a head start on re-building for next season. Moshiri prove you are real. Eddie Dunn 59 Posted 04/03/2018 at 09:36:50 Sam is responsible but these players are also at fault. In particular, I will point the finger at Williams who is a shadow of the player I watched at Swansea. At the corner for the second goal he was shouting "outswinger" and Wood just walked past him. Williams had a fit afterwards, as if Keane should have got to him!Williams has been pushing and shoving his way through the season, and his Europa League meltdown deserved a straight red. The guy has got away with some terrible fouls, often off the ball. It is clear that he is far too slow for this level.The goalie was stuck on his line, but all game he had a Burnley man on his toes at every corner and none of our players tried to prise the player away.The other incident I would like to mention was Calvert-Lewin on the left, right up the wing losing possession, which led to their first goal. I know he is young and still learning, but he is a liability on the left. He made a mistake the other week keeping the ball in play down by our own touchline which led to another goal conceded. He patently should not play on the left, where Martina is being targeted every game. This is another of Allardyce's selections. The other point is the performance of Walcott. He seemed aware that the England manager was in the crowd and thus it was all about him. He spurned several good chances, ruining Davies's opportunity, as well as not squaring the ball to oncoming players. His game is better when he keeps it simple, like with the very good opening goal where he popped over a good cross.Unfortunately, our team look like a bunch of individuals and just don't seem to be a cohesive unit. As Tosun mentioned that it had been good on the Dubai trip to get to know his colleagues, it makes me wonder just how much the lads mingle when at Finch Farm...Finally, I presume that Seamus is not quite fit yet, as he really played within himself. Perhaps by the next match we will see Baines in at left-back, Seamus at right-back and Holgate and Jags in the middle. Patrick Smith 60 Posted 04/03/2018 at 09:57:08 Big Sam was brought in to do a job. Keep Everton from being relegated. If he achieves this then job done. I don't know why people are getting their knickers in a twist. Start it all over again next season with a new managerial set-up and a player exodus. Rob Dolby 61 Posted 04/03/2018 at 11:20:20 The game was end to end in the first half, with Walcott having 3 good chances all on his left foot.Tosun's link-up play looked good but we looked half a yard off their players in the midfield.Their long-ball game was even more obvious with the introduction of Wood. Sam should have then switched to 5 at the back and brought on Holgate for his speed.You defend from the front and Calvert-Lewin let their lumbering centre-half waltz past him unchallenged before a pass was played down the channel for their first. I can't blame Pickford as he was outstanding up to that point keeping us in the game.Our zonal marking from corners was bound to come unstuck and leaving Wood unmarked to get a jump in the 6-yard box is schoolboy defending. This is a coaching issue as the players are following orders. As for Williams's red card, Barnes is no angel and I bet that there had been earlier scuffles between them in our box that went unnoticed.I can't see where the next win is coming from. Brighton next week at home could be toxic if things go pear-shaped. Mike Kehoe 62 Posted 04/03/2018 at 11:43:56 Those who have put out the people's eyes reproach them of their blindness.Fuck off, Allardyce: your team, your tactics and your brand. Pay this twat off now and put Unsworth in charge.The Goodison derby's coming up. Get rid now. Steven Kendrew 63 Posted 04/03/2018 at 11:59:48 That was a terrible game and a dereliction off duty by the manager and many of the players.The upside is that Williams will be gone and perhaps Funes Mori and Baines will be back. Also I thought Tosun did well and should be hungry to start the next game.I'm cautiously optimistic despite that car crash of a performance today.BS can f-ck off in the summer though. Andrew Lum 64 Posted 04/03/2018 at 12:13:30 If Silva was Moshiri's first choice to replace Koeman, surely he must get him in now that he is a free agent, and give him time to prepare the team for the match against Brighton. Personally, I'm not sure about Silva but I'm certain he will get the team organised and playing proper football. Getting him in now will also allow him to assess the players and plan ahead. Unsworth will be a good choice as assistant too. He knows which players can be trusted and will be able to provide inside knowledge on the youngsters. Ray Smith 65 Posted 04/03/2018 at 13:44:07 Can someone please explain why Onyekuru can play in Belgium but not in England.Surely the work permit regs are the same throughout the EU?Obviously not, but why not? John Atkins 66 Posted 04/03/2018 at 14:12:10 I really am starting to worry now - Brighton above us now and we are in free fall - we haven't got the players for a scrap and we will be dragged in, there's always a team who you don't think are in it who get sucked in - FFS can't believe we are in this situation Max Murphy 67 Posted 04/03/2018 at 14:12:11 Andrew (#65), Why do you think Silva will be the man for the job? We've tried 4 managers (including Allardyce) without any progress. In fact the opposite has occurred: rapid deterioration.One thing has been in common with all 4 managers, and that is the squad. We just haven't got the players to compete in the Premier League, and the sooner fans realise this, the sooner they can accept that we don't deserve to be in the Premier League, and start thinking of relegation and Championship football. Barry Jones 68 Posted 04/03/2018 at 14:16:28 Does anyone recall Sam's 7 point blueprint for success (for Everton)? I wonder if he keeps a progress chart as I don't see any. A reminder, with some interesting Sam quotes:1. Keep clean sheets“It only takes one goal to win a game," he said. "Clean sheets give you the platform to be successful in a season. You can't always score two or three goalsâ€. “It creates a lot more confidence and flair for the front lads. They can go off and create and score more goals because they've got confidence in the defenceâ€.2. Don't lose possession in your own half3. Play the first pass forward4. Win the knock-downs .5. Prioritise set pieces - both offensively and defensively"Every week it's just a case of highlighting who we're playing against, what they try to do from set pieces, and who each player is going to markâ€.6. Exploit your opposition's weaknesses7. Have quality in the final third Jim Bennings 69 Posted 04/03/2018 at 15:31:37 BarryI think someone has long since written a bet out on the back of that 7 point blueprint Allardyce had.Utter nonsense him sitting there before being in the job banging on about simplifying things and bringing confidence and stability, the man is bullshit personified.Not one single point in that list of Allardyce blueprint has been successfully put in to match play has it?Have we actually even scored from a corner since Sam arrived? Barry Jones 70 Posted 04/03/2018 at 16:17:58 I agree Jim, I cannot see any tangible progress on anything in the list. Some aspects are almost laughable. Keeping clean sheets is a joke and an impossibility at the moment. We win hardly any knock downs, whether that is just lack of heart or poor positioning or both. Set pieces; well yesterday was a joke. Exploit weaknesses; well we seem to be on the receiving end of that one. Quality in the final third; achieved by taking off Gylfi Sigurdsson? The only player capable of making something out of nothing and we yank him. Michael Kenrick 71 Posted 04/03/2018 at 17:47:31 Rob (#62),"I can't blame Pickford as he was outstanding up to that point..."I don't understand that logic. Yes, Pickford did brilliantly for the saves he made. But, in this instance, his positioning as the play developed was simply terrible, he did absolutely nothing to narrow the angle. And they highlighted Gana sprinting half the field to give him down the banks for a crucial and costly error that lost us our lead. That's the bitch in this game: you can be brilliant for most of the match but one error and one goal (or two errors and two goals, if he was also culpable for not avoiding the blatant blocking move he screamed about after conceding the second goal yesterday) and that's it: Game Over. Jeff Armstrong 72 Posted 04/03/2018 at 17:56:15 Ray (#66), Onyekuru cannot play anywhere he's out for 6 months with a serious knee injury. Tony McNulty 73 Posted 04/03/2018 at 20:39:49 1. Don't put your right boot on your left foot.2. If a player comes in on matchday with his trousers on backwards chewing a bar of soap, he may not be in the best frame of mind to play.Other contributions to the Allardyce master plan please (five more needed). Lawrence Green 74 Posted 04/03/2018 at 21:05:23 Tony (#74),3. Don't in any circumstances allow your partner to serve Oxo with your Sunday lunch there's only one gravy: Bisto. 4. Don't take any notice of supporters no matter who you are playing for, they don't matter it's what I want that really matters. 5. Do ensure that the ball is never at your feet for longer than 3 seconds. I will fine any player who believes he can dribble like Georgie Best you can't! Lump it asap.6. It's not a team game, it's every man for himself... and those who think otherwise won't make the matchday squad. 7. In contract negotiations, don't allow your agent to get too greedy that's my share of future earnings that you might be taking and I won't allow it. Tony McNulty 75 Posted 04/03/2018 at 21:14:18 Lawrence, your number four reflects reality under this man. Ray Smith 76 Posted 04/03/2018 at 22:35:41 Jeff (#73),I'm fully aware that Onyekuru is injured long term. That wasn't my point.My question was, how can he play (when fit) in Belgium when he can't play in England? Karl Meighan 77 Posted 04/03/2018 at 22:58:08 I'm getting sick of Allardyce but that is one shit squad of players who cost a fortune and earn a fortune.Giving players who can't pass a fuckin' ball 5-year contracts just about sums the club up. Dave Speed 78 Posted 04/03/2018 at 23:43:30 I've been searching corporate shell companies because the only reason I can think of for our implosion is that someone high up at EFC is secretly part of the Red Shite FSG.Nobody in their right mind could keep on putting out a similar or the same team playing the same tactics, with the same under-performing players, playing too many in the wrong position – especially our record signing, buying second-rate players that nobody else wants, apart from a very small few, overseeing farcical managerial appointments, etc etc etc.If it was a plot for a TV programme, it would be more far-fetched than Dr Who! It's a recognised sign of madness to keep doing the same thing and expecting a different outcome.No, it must be deliberate sabotage so we must find the 5th columnist saboteur(s) and get shut. Barry Jones 79 Posted 04/03/2018 at 23:59:37 Lawrence (#76). Are you sure about the Bisto? Nicholas Ryan 80 Posted 04/03/2018 at 00:11:05 Sam's mantra is 'It's the Players...' as though, there is nothing an incoming manager can do about it. Then I read the BBC's review of the Swansea game, including: "This was their 7th consecutive home win [in all competitions]...". So, team dead and buried; new manager; 7 consecutive home wins... just like your record with us, Sam err...!! John Pierce 81 Posted 05/03/2018 at 03:44:28 The effect Sam has had on me is encapsulated thus. As we scored, I didn't jump or leap either physically or emotionally. The goal was greeted with complete ambivalence. How sad is that? I knew immediately Sam would be formulating a retreat, an impasse, some way to defend what we had. He simply could not see, Burnley at team winless in 11, that the way to keep what he had was to attack further and put the game beyond a team who had score 2 goals or more less than half a dozen times this season. His short-sighted, small-time mentality was exposed by a manager I consider to be just as limited in a blink of an eye. Almost sensing Allardyce would retreat Dyche understood he'd be handed the initiative by the most gutless manager we have ever been afflicted by. The players, bad as they were yesterday, are nowhere near as poor as their performances betray. Operating under the yoke of successively poor appointments have wrung all the good positive elements they have. I want desperately to support and see a manager making tangible progress at this club; that appointment seems miles away to me. Be gone FS, FFS be gone. Jim Harrison 82 Posted 05/03/2018 at 05:35:04 Nicholas (#82), I watched their manager's interview, he basically said we brought in a new system, addressed the problems and worked on it. All very clear and simple. Why the fat head can't get this is beyond me. Lawrence Green 83 Posted 05/03/2018 at 08:42:05 I found an alternitive biography of our esteemed manager or at least I think it's his, there are phrases such as "wreaked havoc" and "showed dissatisfaction with his leadership" so it mus be correct.Big Giant Head Add Your Comments In order to post a comment, you need to be logged in as a registered user of the site. » Log in now Or Sign up as a ToffeeWeb Member — it's free, takes just a few minutes and will allow you to post your comments on articles and Talking Points submissions across the site. About these ads