Commentary
Who's to blame for the mess at Everton?
- by Paul Kennedy @pkedit, Oct 23, 2017
After Dutchman Frank de Boer, who lasted all of 77 days at Crystal Palace, Leicester City fired Craig Shakespeare last Tuesday and Everton parted ways with Ronald Koeman on Monday.
Shakespeare was fired after a 1-1 tie with West Brom left Leicester third from the bottom with just six points in eight games.
Everton dumped Koeman after Sunday's 5-2 loss at home to Arsenal.
"I still believe I can change the whole situation," Koeman said after the game.
But the "situation" was untenable in the current environment. The Toffees are in the Premier League relegation zone, one of four teams tied with eight points after nine games.
As more television revenues pour in for EPL clubs, the pressure mounts to stay up, and owners of relegated-threatened clubs are less willing to give managers a chance to turn things around.
Everton had won just two of 13 games this season after heavy spending this summer but its early schedule was the toughest in the EPL with five of top six teams from last season.
Everton lost Belgian forward Romelu Lukaku to Manchester United and was unable to replace him. Critics of the situation at Goodison Park suggest that the blame for Everton's problems falls on director of football Steve Walsh, who arrived from Leicester City with the reputation of being a master scout but has not reproduced his magic since arriving in July.
No favorite has emerged to replace Koeman. Names mentioned include Burnley manager Sean Dyche, Italian Carlo Ancelotti, recently fired as Bayern Munich coach, German Thomas Tuchel and, inevitably, Scotsman David Moyes, the former Everton manager.
With the bottom 7 all within touching distance of relegation, 8 points is not a travesty especially when they lost 4 matches to top teams. Their net spend was 50M euros but it takes some time to get everyone marching in the same direction. Owners lost their nerve, couldn't afford to replace Lukaku but their makeshift squad should still get it over the line by June. Same could be said for West Ham, actually.