Allardyce enjoys the chance to ‘chill out’
Sam Allardyce’s plan was a chill-out Saturday night in front of the television. Everton had beaten Brighton comfortably, they were three points closer to safety and Goodison Park had not turned on him.
Allardyce was aware of what had happened at West Ham, one of his former clubs. He is under immense pressure at Everton, where it is fair to say the majority of fans do not like him. Allardyce was asked how he absorbed it all. “I will chill out and actually sleep quite well,” he said. “In the younger days, I would have been out with all my mates, not football mates, the mates I know, celebrating. Today I will take it easy and watch Ant and Dec.”
An own goal from Gaetan Bong and a powerful Cenk Tosun strike gave Everton a deserved victory, but it was suggested that had his team fallen behind to Brighton then there would have been uproar. He agreed, then predicted that it would “rear its head again if we play badly” at Stoke City on Saturday.
It suggests he knows he cannot really win, although Allardyce feels he has the experience to deal with the flak. “I would say I am all right where I am now, but I wouldn’t be all right if I was 15 years younger,” he said. “If I was young and just breaking in here, I am not so sure I could cope with the sort of pressures put on managers today. Not without the experience I have now. My job is to absorb the pressure and keep it off the players and take the stick.”
Fans’ dislike of Allardyce is partly down to a track record that does not involve him taking his other clubs to where Everton want to be. Club and manager are surviving thanks to the team’s home record, but away games are a struggle. “It is difficult to put your finger on it – it’s three managers and three sets of new players almost and you still have the same problem,” he said. “We could play on the break and use Yannick Bolasie and Theo Walcott and concede possession to the opposition. I have just seen Man United beat Liverpool doing that and on their own patch. That might be the way forward for us.” There comes a point when a team who have operated under the mistaken assumption they are too good to go down are forced to accept they were wrong.
It is not an easy thing to do, it is painful and divisive, but it must be done if disaster is to be averted. This is where Southampton find themselves after a humbling defeat against Newcastle United.
It is humiliating for everyone, but anyone who witnessed manager Mauricio Pellegrino being abused by Southampton supporters, including a group in fancy dress, as he left St James’ Park, must realise these are desperate times.
Newcastle, placed directly above them in the table before the game, were more organised, more determined, superior in every facet. Complacency is dangerous, but when it is mixed with arrogance and disinterest, it becomes combustible. Southampton’s players looked all of the above. They should be ashamed of themselves.
It is too easy for them to hide behind Pellegrino, but this was a display that reeked of something toxic in the dressing room. When a manager accuses his players of “giving up” it is normally they who lose their job, and Pellegrino almost sounded like a man asking for his P45, but his players cannot be allowed to escape censure. Some ugly truths need to be realised, the poison must be drained, because too many looked like they do not care.
“Emotions are running high,” admitted Pierre-emile Hojbjerg. “But, when training starts again on Monday, we need to focus on the next target – to win the next game. We have to be in the Premier League, but the reality speaks for itself and we can’t hide.”
Strong words, though, need to be backed up by deeds. That is what Newcastle have done, and their form since Christmas has been good – their only defeats have come against Manchester City, Chelsea and Liverpool.
So was their January business. Kenedy has been a revelation, and Rafa Benitez will try to sign him permanently from Chelsea if they stay up; but so too has the goalkeeper, Martin Dubravka, signed from Sparta Prague.
“This was a fantastic game to win,” said Benitez. “We are confident we will stay up.”