Sam Allardyce on wanting Everton to play “more expansive” football

Follow us on Google Discover

Everton are unbeaten under new manager Sam Allardyce and host Swansea City on Monday evening.

Sam Allardyce’s start to life at Everton has gone exactly as everyone expected it to.

The experienced manager has come in and lifted the Toffees into the top half of the table with two wins and a draw against Merseyside rivals Liverpool from his three Premier League games at the helm.

Everton are instantly much harder to beat, conceding only one goal in four top-flight games compared to 15 in five prior to Allardyce’s appointment.

And now that he has built from the back, the 63-year-old wants his side to be “more expansive”.

“We look like we’re defensively sound now and now it’s about expanding on that,” BBC Sport quotes him as saying.

“We have to be more expansive – not lose that defensive solidarity – but be more creative and more accomplished because in the games down the line, we’ll have to break down teams or we’ll have to play the big boys and try and get results.”

Monday’s visit of Swansea City is the perfect opportunity for Allardyce to take the handbrake off.

Paul Clement’s side are the lowest scorers in the division with a pitiful nine goals in 17 matches this season and have lost their last five away matches.

Everton fans feared that Allardyce’s arrival would usher in an era of long-ball football, but it seems as though the ex-England boss wants to put those suggestions about his management to bed now that he finally has a quality squad at his disposal.