The new season of the Premier League is starting in less than a week and clubs are in full gear in their final pre-season build ups. Everton are hoping to start anew this season as they have roped in Dutch coach Ronald Koeman from Southampton as a replacement for Roberto Martinez who was sacked at the end of last season.
Change Of Ownership
Another good piece of news that came earlier in the year was when Farhad Moshiri, a 60-year-old Iranian billionaire, bought a majority stake of 49.9% of the club for £200 million which boosted the club immensely financially. With the new TV deal, Everton have far more money to spend this summer than the previous ones. They also do not need to sell key players in order to sign new ones.
In this highly pricey transfer market, Everton have so far managed to hold on to the likes of Romelu Lukaku, Ross Barkley and John Stones who, have repeatedly garnered interest from top clubs across the continent, especially in England.
Appointment of Koeman
At such a point of time, Ronald Koeman is a pretty good upgrade from Roberto Martinez ,who disappointed a lot last season. Koeman comes from a pretty successful tenure at Southampton, and the management and fans of the Goodison Park club are expecting him to deliver similar results for The Toffees.
Record At Southampton
Ronald Koeman had been in the manager's dugout at Southampton for 91 games in which he recorded 44 victories, 17 draws, and 30 losses. He averaged a modest 1.64 points per game over 2 seasons and a win percentage of 48.35%. Koeman had started off at Southampton with a bang in which he won 4, drew 1 and lost 1 of his first 6 games. This result propelled him to win the Premier League Manager of the Month in September 2014. He won his second Manager of the Month award in January 2015 and his final Manager of the Month award came exactly a year later in January 2016.
Ronald Koeman's Southampton finished 7th in Premier League in his first season at the club. The 2nd one turned out to be even better as he guided The Saints to a record 6th finish in the league at 63 points which was another high for them in the Premier League.
New Signings
All these results prompted the management at Everton FC to approach him as their next manager which the Dutchman accepted. The Merseyside club have so far signed only two players. One of them being veteran goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg from Fulham and the other was recently signed in the form of Idrissa Gueye from relegated outfit Aston Villa who will provide added stability in the central midfield.
Losing Key Players At Southampton
At Southampton, he had to rebuild the squad with the departures of players like Luke Shaw, Adam Lallana, Dejan Lovren and Calum Chambers, which could have been a huge setback, but the club brought in able replacements which helped them perform pretty well in the league. The transfer window at the end of his first season wasn't any easier as he lost key holding midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin to Manchester United and Nathaniel Clyne to Liverpool which made it pretty difficult for him but still came up with fantastic results.
Preferred Formation
Ronald Koeman is a very versatile coach who adapts to various formations but usually opts a 4-2-3-1 which can be changed into a defensively measured 4-4-2 or 4-5-1. He can change into the attacking 4-3-3 formation with subtle pressing as and when required. He likes his team to play attractive attacking football keeping in mind defensive organization. Koeman would hope to make Everton's defence compact and also make them press better.
Style Of Play
He loves his team to dominate the game by keeping possession, but only to the level it's required to create their attractive, fast build-up play and isn't the Pep Guardiola based position-based philosophy. He believes in a faster forward circulation of the ball and this is usually done with the help of a technically gifted central midfielder. His tactics are different to those of outgoing manager, Roberto Martinez, who also liked to play attractive football but his team were leaking goals at the back.
Expectations
With plenty of cash still to spend, Everton are still in the market searching for more suitable additions to the club so that Ronald Koeman has a decent squad to start the season and yield the best possible results out of the team.
A club in transition, there are high expectations from the Dutchman to turn around the fortunes of the Merseyside club. The Dutchman has a had a pretty good record during his previous tenures at other clubs and there shouldn't be a reason why he can not replicate them with The Toffees next season.
