Johnny Nicholson: sweet strike for Toffees and it's not all white for Big Sam at Leeds
BLUE SUNDAY: Everton's Abdoulaye Doucoure celebrates scoring their side's winner.
They stayed up, beating Bournemouth by a goal. At the start of the day, Everton were in the best position to escape relegation simply because they were already fourth bottom and had a two-point advantage. However, Everton had scored just 15 times at home, their lowest total ever, so nothing was guaranteed. Sean Dyche is due some praise. He has got the players playing in a committed fashion. They looked prepared to run through the proverbial brick wall to get the result they needed, knocked it long and did their best work with early crosses into the box. At times it was watching a decent fourth tier side.
Abdoulaye Doucouré’s bolt from the blue to open the scoring had Toffees fans weeping with relief, but they still had half an hour to hang on to the lead. They had been a credit to the club, roaring their lumbering team on. Jordan Pickford seemed to dislocate his finger making a huge save. They defended well as the Cherries put the pressure on. Their commitment could not be questioned. Everton deserved their win for the sheer effort they put into the game. They gave their all to get the result and showed tremendous mental fortitude. On the final whistle, Everton fans understandably looked emotionally wrung out. Dyche was still there, barking out instructions that couldn’t be heard, until the final whistle released them all from their torture.
Dyche took over with the club in 19th and finished with avoiding relegation in 17th. That is hardly a massive success to put on your CV. On top of that, the sort of football they have played to escape relegation can’t be what the club or fans have as an ambition for next season. Their relief and gratitude at not going down might persuade them to keep Dyche, but that would be a mistake. Everton fans would sooner than later tire of Dyche-ball and, although he talks a good game, there is zero evidence he can make a team play in a more sophisticated, successful manner. He wanted to play 4-4-2 but didn’t have the players to do it and his 4-5-1 has often looked very blunt. But they will spend a 70th consecutive year in the top flight. This was a very narrow, narrow escape.
Leeds were reliant on winning and others losing, so it was never likely Allardyce would be doing the big Sam samba that he talked about pre-game. In the past two years Leeds have conceded more goals than any team in the top five European leagues: 153. After two minutes it was 154 when Harry Kane scored his eighth last day of the season goal and later added a ninth. That apart it was a drab first half, Leeds stuck in a miserable torpor. When they conceded a second at the start of the second half, it was all over. Fans booed them and started leaving. It was as if they and the players were just tired of the fight and had accepted that they would be relegated. They got one back but of course they immediately conceded another Kane goal, his 30th of the season. When Lucas Moura walked through the apathetic defence to score a fourth, the fans booing turned to outright anger. You can’t concede 157 goals in two seasons and expect to stay up.
As for their temporary manager, four games isn’t long to affect change but he has royally failed to make any impact at all. Whether this is because he’s an ignorant, pig-headed blowhard managerial anachronism, or because Leeds’ players are stuck in their ways and not for changing, is hard to know. Probably a bit of both. A major reset is needed next season. They need a new manager to give them a new shape, a new philosophy and a new direction.
No club has been relegated after three consecutive top-half finishes, let alone the five that Leicester have enjoyed. Decline from a good position usually takes longer than it has taken the Foxes. When Harvey Barnes gave them the lead in the first half with Everton drawing, Leicester were staying up. The tension was palpable at the King Power as they went in at half-time. Their fans looked in physical pain as West Ham began to dominate the second half with Johnny Evans nearly putting it in his own net. Pablo Formals got one back for the Hammers. Could David Moyes help out his old club, Everton? No, of course he couldn’t. Are West Ham really going to keep him for another season when half of the supporters think he’s not good enough? That’ll end in tears. Everton’s result sent Leicester City down, just seven years after they won the Premier League and just two years after they won the FA Cup. The squad will be filleted of many of its best players, the way back looks hard. However, I fancy Jamie Vardy will do well in the Championship if they play the sort of vertical, longball football that suits him.
Wolves appeared to have gone on holiday already. They certainly didn’t turn up at the Emirates. Arsenal enjoyed an easy final day, with the departing Granit Xaha scoring twice. This was a return to the free-flowing, imaginative Arsenal of the first half of the season. The well-oiled machine clicked effortlessly through the gears to win 5 - 0. It has been an excellent season for the Gunners. I doubt anyone thought last August that they would finish as runner-up. 26 wins equalled their best-ever total. The hard bit will be to do it all over again next year.
Aston Villa made a great start with an early Douglas Luiz goal, made by the excellent Jacob Ramsey. A win would put them in the Europa Conference League place above Spurs and that was a prize Unai Emery as much as the club itself wanted to win. Ramsey set up Ollie Watkins for a second. Ramsey must be edging close to an England call up in the national side’s admittedly crowded midfield squad. But Brighton are too good to go down without a fight, pulling one back through the excellent Undav. It was tense at Villa Park but they got it over the line to finish in that seventh position and ended a great season for Unai Emery.
The day started with some rare good news for Chelsea; Mauricio Pochettino signed a three-year contract. It will be a relief to start again with a proper manager in charge and not some over-promoted fanboy. It’s actually quite easy to see this rabble being shaped into an effective team, because they are all excellent players, there’s just too many of them - 31 players is a massive first team - and they need to play to a plan, not just run around randomly. Poch will do that.
Frank Lampard’s ignominious reign has ended with a 1-1 draw against Newcastle. They lost 22 games in all competitions, their worst set of results in 43 years. The players can regroup in the summer but what now for Lampard? With a single win and some seriously awful football, he can’t escape a chunk of the blame for the team finishing in 12th. Clearly, the players didn’t see any reason to respond to him and it was a bizarre decision to appoint him in the first place, especially as he had a reputation of poor man-management at Chelsea before and then at Everton. The man needs to learn his trade some distance from the top division and prove his worth as a manager because, surely, after this, no-one will employ him in the Premier League again until he has.
United hadn’t lost at Old Trafford since the opening day but have lately hit a very sticky patch after playing so well in the second half of the winter. They had little to play for in their game against Fulham and fell behind, then David De Gea saved a penalty, as if proving he’s worth a new contract. Jadon Sancho has improved his form in recent weeks and his equaliser was another hint that he may be on the way back from his long-term problems. Bruno Fernandes hit the winner to ensure they finished third.
Sometimes relegated clubs play their last few games with far greater freedom, the pressure now off. Southampton were defensively shambolic in failing to play it out from the back and passing it instead to Diogo Jota to put it in an empty net. And they let Bobby Firmino score a goodbye goal, but then seemed to realise there was nothing to lose and scored twice to equalise with Ireland goalie, Caoimhin Kelleher not exactly covering himself in glory. James Ward Prowse scored surely his last goal for the club as it seems unlikely that he’ll play in the Championship, being the club’s most saleable asset. Unusually it was from open play. In the second half, Southampton played some of the most open and entertaining football their fans had seen, scoring twice more only to see Liverpool do likewise. A classic, bonkers last-day game ended 4-4.
It was very much a sideshow, with nothing riding on the game, but it was a significant 1- 0 win because it was the second time the Bees had beaten Manchester City this season and symbolic of what a great season Thomas Franks’ side has had. He and his staff have created a template for any smaller newly promoted side to follow. Ethan Pinnock’s strike ended City’s 25-game unbeaten run.
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