Allardyce’s anti-football averts Anfield landslide

CritiCs will call it anti-football. For long spells, Everton were rigidly set up, a bank of four protected by a bank of five with one man scurrying alone up front.

sam Allardyce used primitive tactics in the 229th Merseyside derby, imploring Everton’s players to be dour and belligerent.

this lack of adventure was something fans who opposed his appointment had dreaded.

By the end, though, not one Evertonian was complaining and, in a strange way, this functional performance will have helped his cause with the supporters given that fears of a landslide defeat at Anfield proved to be unfounded.

During a ruinous autumn, Everton conceded goals all over the place and were a disorganised shambles.

Allardyce has already given Everton discipline and stability. Nobody is saying what they did at Anfield was pretty but it was effective — and that is what this club needs right now.

One challenge facing Allardyce is to rebuild brittle confidence. Had he tried to play an expansive style, Liverpool would have ripped Everton to shreds and a heavy defeat would, in all likelihood, have set them back.

so Allardyce went back to basics: 4-5-1, lots of perspiration, lots of graft and the demand to be ruthless if a chance came along.

that is exactly how it panned out. One for the purists? No. One for the Blues to enjoy? Absolutely.