Everton’s muddled plan will put off best coaches
Memphis Depay heading home Lyon’s third goal to confirm a fifth successive defeat for Everton summed it up. Here was a player Everton had courted this time last year but abruptly withdrew their interest during the January transfer window. “I would like to have him, I think he is an interesting player,” Ronald Koeman had said, but then talk of a permanent deal became a loan, which Manchester United would not countenance, and Depay moved to Lyon, for £15million.
Depay has hardly set the world alight in France but he was good enough to be in a Lyon side who inflicted yet more humiliation on what appear a fractured team working within a muddled club.
“We can’t just cave in like that,” said Everton caretaker manager David Unsworth (below), who has overseen three defeats since he took over when Koeman was sacked. In that time, Everton have stayed in the Premier League’s bottom three, and been knocked out of the League Cup and Europa League, having lined up against Lyon without a recognised striker. It makes tomorrow’s home game with Watford probably the most vital of the weekend. Unsworth cannot carry on if he suffers another defeat. Quite probably, the decision has been taken to appoint someone else.
Everton had hoped Unsworth, promoted from the Under-23s, would succeed and continue until the end of the season, but there has been no reaction and the former defender might end up being an unfortunate casualty.
If Watford win at Goodison Park there will further interest in their head coach, Marco Silva, who is already on Everton’s list, a list they appear to be working through ahead of the international break to get their ducks in order as to what to do next.
Contact has been made with Sam Allardyce’s representatives, while Burnley’s Sean Dyche remains an option. A host of other names, with varying degrees of confidence, have been linked – Carlo Ancelotti, Thomas Tuchel, Guus Hiddink, Eddie Howe, etc – and the only common denominator is that they are all football managers.
They are all different with different styles of play, coaching and management and different levels of experience, which begs the question: what is Everton’s plan and who is implementing it? The club have a chairman in Bill Kenwright who called the shots for years, and a majority shareholder in Farhad Moshiri who owns just under 50 per cent and has been trumpeted as a billionaire to bring back the good times. Then there is a director of football in Steve Walsh who has overseen the hapless player recruitment.
It has already made some of the potential managerial candidates think twice. What do Everton want? There appears to be a confused outlook. There does not appear to be any straight thinking. For whoever takes over, there would have to be clarity as to who is in charge, what they want and how much power rests with the manager.
The fact Everton are playing Watford is ironic not only because Silva is in the opposition dugout. Watford have had a high turnover of managers, or head coaches, in recent years but no one could accuse them of not knowing what they are doing. They have that clear structure, a clear plan and have confidence in it and where they are heading. They have the golden vision that Everton lack.