With his keeper sorted, Sam is seeking strikers
It’s a magnificent seventh Premier League job for Sam Allardyce as he settles down to work at Everton.
December is a busy month of matches but Allardyce will soon have one eye on the January transfer window as he tries to fill the Romelu Lukaku-shaped hole in the Toffees’ attack.
Without the Belgian’s 25 goals and any kind of replacement, the Goodison Park club has been transformed from possible top six contenders to trying to avoid a relegation dogfight.
But with that to sort out, Big Sam is glad the other end of the pitch is sorted. He gave Jordan Pickford his senior debut at Sunderland and is delighted to have him between the sticks.
“At our level, we all talk about the two most important people being the goalscorer and the goalkeeper,” he says. “And it looks like we have the goalkeeper sorted. “I know Jordan from Sunderland and he’s 22 going on 30. He was outstanding against West Ham the other night. If not for Wayne Rooney’s hat-trick, he would have been my Man of the Match.
“It was a flawless performance by him, with his decision-making and his saves, including the penalty.
“We have to address both areas, but it’s easier for me to fix the clean sheets than the goals.
“Finding a striker is a priority. If we want to achieve anything going forward, to get into the top half, we need at least two players to score 10 goals or more.
“To finish in the top 10, you need around 50 goals over the season. So how do we get those goals?
“If you can’t get one who can score 20 – which is a very difficult task – you have to get one or two in who can get between 10 and 15 each.
“In all fairness, I stayed in the Premier League with Jermain Defoe scoring 18 at Sunderland and Christian Benteke scoring 16 at Crystal Palace.”
Allardyce has now been a Premier League boss since he guided Bolton to promotion in 2001, and only Arsene Wenger at Arsenal can match that longevity.
But the ex- England boss is certain the job of a top-level manager is now a harder one.
“It’s the money, the expectation, the social media bursting into everyone’s life and the intrusion that comes along with that,” he states.
“We are almost living in Big Brother every day, week and month of the season for 10 months.
“That is a big problem and makes life difficult for me as a manager and the players.
“It’s not so difficult for me to shut out all the noise because I’m older and wiser.
“But it’s difficult for some of the players to maintain a level of performance without being affected by the negativity.”