Everton 3-1 Swansea City
Over the last week, I’ve had a few disagreements with colleagues and friends over the true value of the boy from Dudley.
For Sam Allardyce is far from the long-ball specialist, the devotee to hit n’ run football that some uneducated fans tell me.
I don’t know what you, sports betting fans, think. Perhaps you have watched football games and felt the same but let me debunk some of those myths.
Let me start with the here and now!
For even a minute before the break tonight, did you really think Premier League betting was going to spring a surprise?
Not a chance.
The arrival of ‘Big Sam’ at Everton has coincided with Wayne Rooney’s return to form, an upturn in fortunes for club-record signing Gylfi Sigurdsson and a timely unbeaten run for the Toffees.
All three were on show at Goodison.
Trailing the bottom club to Leroy Fer’s opener, the Everton of a few weeks ago would likely have folded or needed a great deal of luck to come back.
There were no such worries on this occasion.
First, youngster Dominic Calvert-Lewin, given such encouragement by Allardyce, turned home the rebound after a Rooney penalty was saved.
Then Sigurdsson produced the type of exquisite long-range strike which prompted Everton to part with a club-record £45 million in the summer.
And then Rooney, supported to the hilt by Allardyce and not shying away after his first-half miss from the spot, converted a second penalty kick with aplomb to seal the victory.
Rooney suggested afterwards that Everton had gone ‘back to basics’ in recent weeks and their climb from 17th to ninth place in a matter of weeks outlines the improvement.
It was hard not to spare a thought for Swansea given they have not been able to replace Sigurdsson since his departure in August.
The Swans also had the bad luck of losing main striker Wilfried Bony to injury just four minutes in.
When your luck is out, your luck is out.
But this was another night on which Everton showed some of the traits Allardyce holds dear.
Pace, power, a directness and a bite in the tackle.
Yet, for those who say that sums him up, how wrong you are.
For here is someone who gets the best out of journeymen and top stars alike. Someone who is pragmatic in that he plays to the strengths of a team and the resources at his disposal.
Yet, he is also an innovator.
Someone who embraced sports science from his unforgettable days at Bolton, someone who can man manage individuals and someone who has left every club he joined in a better state than when he joined them.
Let’s be honest, would the likes of Youri Djorkaeff, Fernando Hierro, Jay-Jay Okocha and now Sigurdsson (to name just four) be happy playing for a manager who is only interested in the long-ball, direct element of the game.
Not a chance!
The renaissance man is proving the doubters wrong yet again!
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