Everton linked with Shaktar Donetsk boss Paulo Fonseca
Everton are rumoured to be looking to make another managerial change by bringing in another new manager to succeed Sam Allardyce in the summer
Having endured a frustrating and so far indifferent season, it seems that Everton will move to bring in a new coach at the end of the season.
The current Shaktar Donetsk boss, Paulo Fonseca is the latest candidate apparently being lined up to take over at Goodison Park.
Although after sacking Ronald Koeman, Everton enjoyed an early uplift in form under new manager Sam Allardyce that didn’t last long.
Despite a much-needed 3-1 win over Crystal Palace on Saturday, Everton have continued to struggle and leak goals at an alarming rate.
The embarrassing 5-1 defeat at Arsenal underlined just how brittle is the team’s defending. Allardyce himself didn’t help though by choosing to revert to a back three as his predecessor, Koeman, had done several times.
This destabilised the team in a wrong-headed attempt to shoehorn new signing Eliquim Mangala into the side. It backfired spectacularly and any short-term improvement in Everton’s defending was immediately undermined.
It’s sometimes hard to understand the popularity of a back three amongst premier league managers. Sure Chelsea won the league last season playing with three at the back.
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But Chelsea had the combination of a coach with a tradition of playing three defenders in his previous roles at Juventus and with the Italian national team. And they had in David Luiz a player perfectly adapted to playing a sweeper type role between two other centre halves.
This combination of favourable factors doesn’t exist at other clubs so it always a little odd that so many managers and coaches experiment with the formation.
It certainly didn’t work for Everton at Arsenal and they reverted to a flat back four on Saturday in securing three points against Palace.
Moving on from that tactical debate, Everton seem to be a constant state of flux and uncertainty and that surely won’t help any manager attempting to stabilise matters on the pitch.
Having given Allardyce an 18 month contract, only a few months ago it seems that the club are now preparing to tear that up and start again. This seems to be another panicky move and gives the impression there is no clear plan or strategy at Everton.
If Allardyce is not the right man for the job (and I think the majority of Evertonians will say he isn’t), where does that leave the club? And he has just spent £47 million on two new forwards one of whom has made absolutely no impression at all.
Cenk Tosun could be a busted flush and that would be a pretty dreadful indictment of the club’s recruitment policy. Allardyce though wasn’t the only one involved in this signing of course.
Surely Steve Wash who heads up Everton’s player recruitment must also shoulder some of the blame.
And having spent £75 million respectively on two players Gylfi Sigurdsson and Michael Keane, who have hardly set the premier league alight, they really need to start getting these signings right.
Talking of new managers what has happened to the supposed strong interest in Marco Silva? He was apparently the chosen successor to Koeman until it was clear Watford would not release him at any price.
Having had his head turned by Everton’s interest, he was eventually sacked as Watford’s early season good form evaporated.
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Assuming he is still out of work come the summer will Everton return to him or look at a manager like Sean Dyche instead of a coach with no premier league experience?