Toffees boss tells stars to start proving worth
SAM ALLARDYCE claims too many of his Everton flops are failing to live up to their massive price tags.
Toffees owner Farhad Moshiri shelled out around £150m last summer to make Everton the fifth biggest spenders in Europe.
And he financed another splurge in January, bringing in Theo Walcott and Cenk Tosun for a combined £47m.
But Allardyce believes Everton spent over the odds for some of their signings – and claims they are not proving they are worth the money.
His side drew another blank against Watford, managing just two shots on target as Troy Deeney scored the only goal of the game. Everton have now lost four in a row away from Goodison Park.
Allardyce (inset) said: “Everton is in an inflated price bracket because everyone knew it had got money to spend, so every player they went for ended up at a certain price for Everton.
“We either say we pay that price and bring the player in or we don’t. And that’s what you live with.
“I would say the players need to be dealing with it more, for the money we’ve paid for them.”
Despite being personally involved in the bid for scoreless £27m Turkey striker Tosun, Allardyce says he does not have a single reliable goalscorer at the club.
“Without that goalscorer you’re going to struggle more than you did the season before and that’s exactly what we have done,” he said.
“This is our 41st game and too many players all at once accumulated together, none of those being a clinical, out-and-out goalscorer, and hence you fall into the trouble you’re in.
“We’ve just got to get ourselves out of it. We’ve done a good job up to now. You have to remember we were only two points off relegation when I arrived.”
Everton’s strikers are feeding off scraps at the moment but with Tosun looking increasingly like a dud, there are whispers about director of football Steve Walsh’s position.
Allardyce, however, refuses to take any blame for his team’s lack of goals
“They get the ball and pass it, not me,” he said. “You can’t blame me if they don’t pass the ball to each other.” Everton are not just struggling to find a decent striker – they can’t find a suitable sports psychologist Allardyce wants to bring in to help improve their woeful away form either. It is just one win in their last 22 away league games now, but Big Sam said: “I can’t find one right now. “There’s a lot out there but no-one who would benefit us at this moment in time.” Victory moved Watford six points clear of danger and within a point of the team they blamed for ruining their season with an “unwarranted” approach for former boss Marco Silva. It was twice as sweet for the Hornets’ Greek keeper Orestis Karnezis, who was badly at fault as his side threw away a two-goal lead to lose 3-2 at Goodison in November on his debut. Five days later, he was criticised for another poor show as Greece lost 4-1 to Russia. But he has turned things around. Karnezis, who is on loan from Udinese, said: “It was one of my worst weeks. Football is like this. You cannot always be upset. You cannot always be the hero. “Goalkeeper is a difficult position. One mistake can cost your team a lot. “When you lose, you don’t sleep well. You are thinking about what you have done. But I will sleep well now.”