FACT: Big Sam can count to 50

I get it, Big Sam came into a bad situation.

A season that started with the highest of hopes very quickly crashed back down as the reality of the NUMEROUS transfer and personnel mistakes were made glaringly obvious.

By the time Farhad Moshiri was forced (by his own hand to be fair) to go to the Middle East and give Sam Allardyce a ride back to Merseyside on the Everton money train, club supporters knew Big Sam represented the medicine the club was required to take after two years of mismanagement.

The initial burst of new manager energy (and an incredibly friendly schedule) got the Big Sam era off to a decent enough start, but like any other ‘shotgun’ marriage it was impossible to differentiate between desire and necessity.

Were the Toffees playing this hideous brand of soccer because they HAD to, or because it’s the manager’s plan? Most Everton fans gave Big Sam some time to settle in before passing judgement, as any fans could at least appreciate SOME type of consistency.

Now that safety has been assured, the measuring stick has changed and Big Sam has been expected to show ambition on and off the field that mirrors that of the club’s fans.

So how is the disgraced one-game England manager doing in his quest to be the long-term manager at Goodison?

Photo by Lynne Cameron/Getty Images

Based on his latest comments to the Liverpool Echo, not so great.

First, Big Sham Sam cockily brushed off concerns about being booed after the match by equating himself with other coaches whose performances he is supposed to be improving upon.

“You get booed off if you lose here badly. Any manager. Ronald will get booed off, Roberto will get booed off and Moyesy got booed off.

“You know why? I spoke to them all!”

For some reason Sam believed that reminding fans of the club’s inability to perform against top clubs will HELP him get the job. Instead of discussing why his side had just 18% of the possession in the match (a record low for a home team since they started keeping records), Sam acted as though the defeat was inevitable and that fans should just move on.

The fans obviously feel the same way about Sam, under whom we will never break into the top six.

To add stupidity to insult, Allardyce then set out the marker for Everton:

50 points.

Yes, you read that right. Just for reference, the Blues had 47 points in both the seasons under Roberto Martinez that we finished eleventh.

This haul would mean that in his infinite wisdom and ambitious style the current Everton manager believes picking up 35 of possible 72 points would result in a performance that would reflect positively on his time at the club since he started in December.

Also, that would be ten out of eighteen points in the remaining six games, of which five opponents are 12th (H), 14th (A), 15th (A), 16th (A) and 18th (H) currently. If that pace were extrapolated over the entire season, it would earn Everton a whopping 58 points.

How Allardyce can sit and spew this type of garbage and then be confused as to why the vitriol building up against him is starting to bubble over - the minority opinion, according to him.

While no Everton fan would reasonably EXPECT the club to pick up the full compliment of 18 points to end the season, Toffees fans DO expect our manager and players to come out and TRY to earn every point possible.

By admitting that mediocrity is not only the current state of the Everton side, but the goal Sam is trying to achieve he has created a feeling among fans that the club is undermining it’s own stated ambitions every minute that Sam is in charge.

The funny part is that Big Sam put it best himself:

“If the season finished before today I’d be sixth in the table so that for me, on the basis of what I have had to do at the other clubs, is okay. We have got ourselves out of trouble extremely quickly which has not happened when you have a side in the bottom four and take over.

...

“On your first few months they have done what they need to do which is get us safe as quickly as they could. Now we need to finish off as strongly as we can and see what next season brings.”

I couldn’t agree more... as long as next season brings a new manager.