You were the man to rescue Everton, Sam — but now it’s time to walk away

EVERTON knew what they were getting with Sam Allardyce: a firefighter who keeps teams in the Premier League at all costs.

The objective was to stay up and, now he has kept his side of the bargain, Allardyce should walk away at the end of the season. Once a manager loses the supporters, it is very difficult to get them back onside.

Take nothing away from the job Sam has done at Goodison Park. He inherited an unbalanced squad overloaded with No 10s and lacking a target man following the departure of Romelu Lukaku.

While Cenk Tosun may not be the long-term solution to Everton’s problems up front, he has not done too badly since arriving in January.

By steadying the ship and taking the side up to eighth, Allardyce ( above) has done his reputation no harm whatsoever. But the Everton fans have a clear idea about the football they want to see. Whenever I played at Goodison I knew what to expect: flying wingers with plenty of pace and dangerous front men who caused plenty of problems for defenders.

This season, Everton have had Ronald Koeman’s Total Football and the pragmatic, direct Allardyce. Their next manager needs to be somewhere in between — a man whose teams will be exciting to watch while playing with fire in their bellies.

Everton cannot afford a repeat of the muddled recruitment that wrecked any ambitions of breaking into the top six this season.

The club should already be searching for Allardyce’s successor.

Allardyce can leave with his head held high — and there will be plenty of offers for him. At Goodison Park, however, he doesn’t fit the bill. THE biggest compliment you can pay Jurgen Klopp since January is that Liverpool have not missed Philippe Coutinho. While they have brushed aside Manchester City and Roma in the Champions League without him, against the smaller teams they have lacked a player of his quality who can unlock the door. Liverpool are most dangerous when their opponents have the ball. One mistake and their fearsome forward line pounces. When teams drop deep and defend — as Stoke did on Saturday as they battled to a 0-0 draw — Klopp’s team struggle to make the breakthrough. Coutinho has that ability to unpick a defence with a killer pass. He could have turned one point into three. That is what Liverpool need to seriously challenge Manchester City for the title next season.