Everton youngster tears into Sam Allardyce's ‘awful’ style of football

Nikola Vlasic, currently on loan at CSKA Moscow, has criticised the English manager's impact at Goodison last season

Jack Rathborn
Thursday 10 January 2019 12:41 GMT
Comments
Everton 2018/19 Premier League profile

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Sam Allardyce has been criticised for his “awful” style of football with Nikola Vlasic insisting it left the team terrified.

Allardyce replaced Ronald Koeman at Goodison Park last season, prioritising results over style to ensure the Toffees safely avoided a relegation battle.

But Croatian midfielder Vlasic, now on loan at CSKA Moscow, has delivered a scathing review of Allardyce’s time at the club.

“Everything changed after (Ronald) Koeman left,” Vlasic told Sportske Novosti. “The football played under Big Sam was awful, if it could even be called football.

“In such football I do not have a place. The football team was terrified by everything – the fans mostly.”

Vlasic adds the Toffees are using Tottenham as an example in the quest to break through and challenge the top four.

(Getty)

Everton has spent $100 million last year on reinforcements,” he added. “Only three players – Richarlison, (Yerry) Mina and (Lucas) Digne – cost about 90 million.

“Everton are looking for great names and players from big clubs, like Barcelona.

“Despite these immense investments, the team is currently in the 11th place. That means there will be new, big purchases (in the future).

“I know (Everton) have decided internally that they will try to be the new Tottenham and join the biggest league clubs.”

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in