Bruce Sacked at last (now official)

[chrisw1]

I agree Monty, it  would seem unfair if we went up, but I wouldn't want him spending a fortune to rebuild the team for a top flight return and if we don't go up and our cloth is cut, he's not the man to get the best out of young inexperienced players. He's in the Pulis,Parew,Big Sam category of managers who now are getting found out in the Premiership.

Yep Allardyce has really been found out.  He took over the progressive Ronald Koeman's free flowing total football team then bought tried and tested past it cloggers like Tosun & Walcott in January and has only managed to take them from a relegation battle to 8th in the league (and 6th in the form league since he joined).  What a chancer, no wonder they hate him up there.

I imagine Palace & Sunderland hate him for being found out at there places too.

Ask the Everton fans what they think.

My best friend is an Everton fan and he reckons the football they are playing is abysmal and hates it. I told him to watch Villa next time he complained about Everton.

Did he enjoy the football under Koeman?

With the same squad Allardyce has been about 6th in the Premier League form league since he joined.  It may not be pretty, but he's hardly been 'found out' as per the comment above.

[Clampy]

We play some decent stuff and some languid stuff on rarer occasions. There is usually no inbetween.

No, I don't get 'we're terrible' and 'you should try watching Villa' comments either.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

I think finish anywhere up to 7th is no big deal in PL. Everton are 8th after a terrible season. We should, initially, have a team capable of doing that and playing with some sort of style that we can keep and add to in follow on seasons.

Sorry but it’s that kind of thinking that’ll see us relegated in a years time

I don’t understand. What do you suggest?

I don’t believe the current squad Or the style of play is good enough to maintain a place in the Premier League. I don’t trust Bruce to buy the right players that will do that and he definitely will not play the style of play that will keep us there

Whilst I agree wholeheartedly on the football, I think Bruce deserves credit for some of the transfers. Snodgrass, Terry and Grabban, have more than delivered.  Hourihane too. Elmo is been more than okay. Even Whelan has looked great recently when finally played as a defensive midfielder. Thor has also looked great playing a more defensive role and that was down to Bruce. Lansbury hasn't been a hit but injury has played a large part in that. Only Hogan looks like a poor signing and Samba seems to be there to just make up the numbers.

On paper we look very strong. It's what Bruce does with them that's his real weakness.

[paul_e]

I think finish anywhere up to 7th is no big deal in PL. Everton are 8th after a terrible season. We should, initially, have a team capable of doing that and playing with some sort of style that we can keep and add to in follow on seasons.

Sorry but it’s that kind of thinking that’ll see us relegated in a years time

I don’t understand. What do you suggest?

I don’t believe the current squad Or the style of play is good enough to maintain a place in the Premier League. I don’t trust Bruce to buy the right players that will do that and he definitely will not play the style of play that will keep us there

Whilst I agree wholeheartedly on the football, I think Bruce deserves credit for some of the transfers. Snodgrass, Terry and Grabban, have more than delivered.  Hourihane too. Elmo is been more than okay. Even Whelan has looked great recently when finally played as a defensive midfielder. Thor has also looked great playing a more defensive role and that was down to Bruce. Lansbury hasn't been a hit but injury has played a large part in that. Only Hogan looks like a poor signing and Samba seems to be there to just make up the numbers.

On paper we look very strong. It's what Bruce does with them that's his real weakness.

Whilst that's sort of true the constant across all of those players (except Grabban to an extent) is a lack of pace.  A big part of our problem is that we've struggled against sides who move the ball quickly because, collectively, we're one of the slower sides in the leagues. On top of that the squad is lopsided with very few genuine left sided options, we've got away with that to a large extent with Hutton and Adomah doing better on the wrong side than most would've expected but even then those 2 have played a part in us being very narrow at times.

[Clampy]

The only three teams I can think of who move the ball quickly are Wolves, Fulham and Brentford and we've beaten two of them.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Whilst that's sort of true the constant across all of those players (except Grabban to an extent) is a lack of pace.  A big part of our problem is that we've struggled against sides who move the ball quickly because, collectively, we're one of the slower sides in the leagues. On top of that the squad is lopsided with very few genuine left sided options, we've got away with that to a large extent with Hutton and Adomah doing better on the wrong side than most would've expected but even then those 2 have played a part in us being very narrow at times.

For me the problem is more fundamental than that. It's a complete lack of tactical discipline. He plays players out of position far too often. Defensively we're okay but the midfield has been a joke this season. Hourihane scores a hattrick and the next game he's playing as a defensive midfielder whilst Whelan is told to run around like a teenager. He brings in the very talented Omanah and plays him on the wing. I think he put Axel at right back whilst he has three right backs on the bench. He prefers to change the whole team around to accommodate one change. I could go on but it's got to the stage where it no longer surprises me. And then you wonder why we've been so inconsistent this season.

[Clampy]

The only players he's played out of position on a long term basis are Hutton and Adomah and I've not heard too many complaints about those two this season.

[Clampy]

Whilst that's sort of true the constant across all of those players (except Grabban to an extent) is a lack of pace.  A big part of our problem is that we've struggled against sides who move the ball quickly because, collectively, we're one of the slower sides in the leagues. On top of that the squad is lopsided with very few genuine left sided options, we've got away with that to a large extent with Hutton and Adomah doing better on the wrong side than most would've expected but even then those 2 have played a part in us being very narrow at times.

For me the problem is more fundamental than that. It's a complete lack of tactical discipline. He plays players out of position far too often. Defensively we're okay but the midfield has been a joke this season. Hourihane scores a hattrick and the next game he's playing as a defensive midfielder whilst Whelan is told to run around like a teenager. He brings in the very talented Omanah and plays him on the wing. I think he put Axel at right back whilst he has three right backs on the bench. He prefers to change the whole team around to accommodate one change. I could go on but it's got to the stage where it no longer surprises me. And then you wonder why we've been so inconsistent this season.

I've just read that twice then went to check the table to see if were actually 15th.

[Boz]

The only three teams I can think of who move the ball quickly are Wolves, Fulham and Brentford and we've beaten two of them.

But two of them are going to finish above Villa 

[Clampy]

The only three teams I can think of who move the ball quickly are Wolves, Fulham and Brentford and we've beaten two of them.

But two of them are going to finish above Villa 

That's very true haha.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

The only players he's played out of position on a long term basis are Hutton and Adomah and I've not heard too many complaints about those two this season.

True but on a short term basis he manages to get it wrong far too often. He's his own worst enemy.

[paul_e]

The only three teams I can think of who move the ball quickly are Wolves, Fulham and Brentford and we've beaten two of them.

That really depends on how you take read 'move the ball quickly' but I get that what I wrote is normally used for teams that play that style. I should have said teams who switch play quickly, Cardiff beat us early in the season by sitting deep and hitting the ball over our fullbacks, for example and Wolves focused on drawing us forward and then going over our fullbacks in the first game. If we can compress the game we do fine, and our extra quality allows us to do that more often than not, but when teams figure us out we haven't really got any answer to it.  That's why so many people moan about Hourihane, because as soon as a game gets stretched he hasn't got the mobility to cope. When we had Bjarny in the defensive role it helped massively but for all his work rate he hasn't got great pace either.

[Ads]

The joke midfield that's got over 50 goals?

[Allan C]

I think finish anywhere up to 7th is no big deal in PL. Everton are 8th after a terrible season. We should, initially, have a team capable of doing that and playing with some sort of style that we can keep and add to in follow on seasons.

Sorry but it’s that kind of thinking that’ll see us relegated in a years time

I don’t understand. What do you suggest?

I don’t believe the current squad Or the style of play is good enough to maintain a place in the Premier League. I don’t trust Bruce to buy the right players that will do that and he definitely will not play the style of play that will keep us there

Whilst I agree wholeheartedly on the football, I think Bruce deserves credit for some of the transfers. Snodgrass, Terry and Grabban, have more than delivered.  Hourihane too. Elmo is been more than okay. Even Whelan has looked great recently when finally played as a defensive midfielder. Thor has also looked great playing a more defensive role and that was down to Bruce. Lansbury hasn't been a hit but injury has played a large part in that. Only Hogan looks like a poor signing and Samba seems to be there to just make up the numbers.

On paper we look very strong. It's what Bruce does with them that's his real weakness.

That’s partly my point. I agree with you about Grabban and for me, Grealish is real Premier League class but the rest are good at this level imo

[tomd2103]

The only players he's played out of position on a long term basis are Hutton and Adomah and I've not heard too many complaints about those two this season.

True but on a short term basis he manages to get it wrong far too often. He's his own worst enemy.

I think he is definitely more of a reactive manager than a proactive one and waits for things to go awry before even considering any changes.  He also seems quite stubborn in that he persists with things that clearly aren't working (Johnstone kicking out to the right wing when his poor kicking means a lot of them don't get there being a main one).  That said, if he does get us up this season, then he has done a decent enough job.