Allardyce defends Everton style

London: Everton manager Sam Allardyce defended his side’s style of football as the Toffees laboured to a 1-0 victory over Newcastle on Monday.

Theo Walcott scored his first goal since January as the hosts moved up to eighth in the Premier League.

Some fans have criticised Everton’s performances under Allardyce, but the ex-Newcastle boss felt his side played well against his former team.

“What was wrong with our style?” he said to Sky Sports.

“You can’t knock our football. You can knock some of our passing that went astray, but you can’t knock me for that. I don’t pass the ball. “Apart from the last 10 minutes we dominated the game and there was only going to be one winner.”

A dull first half bore all the hallmarks of an end-of-season mid-table encounter with goalscoring opportunities at a premium. However, the deadlock was broken soon after the break when Yannick Bolasie’s cross deflected off DeAndre Yedlin to Walcott, who took a touch before driving the ball into the roof of the net.

The game briefly opened up after that and Newcastle substitute Dwight Gayle should have done better when he hooked a shot over from close range before Seamus Coleman made an important headed clearance in stoppage time.

Ultimately, a lack of quality in the final third proved Newcastle’s undoing as they spurned several other opportunities to create something and Everton recorded a first win in four games to move onto 45 points. Newcastle remain 10th on 41 points and need just one more point to be mathematically safe from relegation.-