Managerial change can always create a spark in any team. Take a look at Everton for instance. Goodison Park has changed from a depressing arena of uncertainty to a place of tentative hope. A month back, Everton were the bogey side teams were craving to face. In the space of a few weeks, the scenario at Merseyside looks different.
After an active summer where the club spent a fortune to bring in world famous talents, the club was expected to have a crack at the top six. Things turned horrific as Everton were beaten by sides both above and below their quality.
As their form slumped down through a never-ending spiral, it saw the hammer fall on their ex-boss Ronald Koeman. Koeman’s sacking did little to change the club’s fortunes as they became the league’s bashing boys.
Even in the Europa League, four defeats in six matches in the group stage condemned the side to a third-placed finish and European humiliation coupled with domestic crisis meant that the summer that promised so much had faded away into the dark dearth of the desert.
However, as the fans and pundits stood to wait for Everton to disappear into the lower leagues, the board appointed Sam Allardyce as the new manager. Big Sam has a history of turning around fortunes for a club in crisis.
Big Sam has become a specialist of sorts in the league when it comes to saving teams from relegation having done it with Sunderland and Crystal Palace in the previous two seasons.
He had a good start to his Toffees career by beating Huddersfield Town 2-0 and has only suffered two defeats in his nine matches in charge. He has lifted the blue team of Merseyside from a relegation threat to a respectable mid-table position.
As for Farhad Moshiri and his Everton board, it seems that despite spending close to a hundred and fifty in the summer market, the club is eager to add more players this January. The latest player to be linked with a move to Everton is Nice midfielder Jean Michael Seri.
The Ivory Coast midfielder is a star player at the French club and has played over 100 games since his move back in 2015. He was linked with a move to Barcelona but the Catalans pulled out at the last minute. It seems now that the player is on his way to England with Everton keen to add him to their roster.
Seri would be adding some serious competition to a midfield that already has the likes of Gylfi Sigurðsson, Tom Davies, Davy Klaassen, Morgan Schneiderlin and Idrissa Gueye to name a few.
