RONALD KOEMAN arrived in a blaze of glory at Goodison Park in the summer of 2016.
He was fresh from leading Southampton into the Europa League after finishing sixth in the Premier League. Naturally, Koeman was expected to improve the Toffees who had managed 11th place under Roberto Martinez. Everton did improve to seventh last season - and a Europa League spot - and a close season spend of £140million augured well for 2017/18. But it's all gone horribly wrong. The struggling Toffees lie third from bottom of the league and rock bottom of their Europa League group. So where did it all go for Dutchman Koeman who, not so long ago, was being tipped as the next manager of Barcelona? Here SunSport highlights five basic errors that cost him his job.
1 Muddled thinking in the transfer market
Sound £30m deals saw goalkeeper Jordan Pickford and England defender Michael Keane sign on along with £24m Ajax captain Davy Klaassen. But the dreadfully slow capture of Gylfi Sigurdsson, who eventually joined for £45m, masked the real elephant in the room - who replaces Romelu Lukaku? As it turned out no one did. Arsenal's Olivier Giroud turned down the gig and, despite the re-signing of Wayne Rooney, Everton have struggled in front of goals all season.
2 Where to play Sigurdsson?
The ex-Swansea playmaker has virtually shared the No 10 duties with Rooney. They've either got in each other's way or reduced the width and pace in midfield that is required to be successful in the Premier League. Koeman also relied too much on fading star Morgan Schneiderlin, whose form has fallen way off.
3 Tough start to the season
Everton were away to Manchester City, Chelsea and Manchester United, and faced Spurs and Arsenal at home. They drew 1-1 at the Etihad but sadly lost the rest, scoring just two goals and conceding 14. Whatever the standard of the opposition this simply wasn't good enough and confidence soon ebbed away.
4 Koeman's apparent lack of empathy with Merseyside
The truth is that Koeman has never hidden his true love for Barcelona and this never endeared him to Everton fans. He never seemed truly emotionally when discussing the Toffees and was never part of the club's fabric. For all his defensive faults, Koeman's predecessor Martinez always put a positive slant on things. Falling out with Ross Barclay, admittedly injured this season, was never likely to endear him to either the board or supporters.
5 Poor know-how and few Plan Bs to remedy the situation
Koeman rarely showed he had the nouse to find a way out of the trouble that built week by week. Tactically his reluctance to use pace on the flanks or encourage full-backs to overlap too often played into opponent's hands. He struggled to find the right formation and couldn't change games when things went wrong. And his substitutions largely didn't work. The case of striker Oumar Niasse basically sums things up. Niasse was shown the door almost instantly by the Dutchman on his arrival and loaned out to Hull City. This season he was asked to fill the boots of the departed Lukaku...
From The Sun
No comments:
Post a Comment