Sam Allardyce: Everton's Phil Jagielka says there is 'no hiding' under boss

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Phil Jagielka and Wayne Rooney start a sprinting drill at Everton's Finch Farm training groundImage source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Phil Jagielka and Wayne Rooney start a sprinting drill at Everton's Finch Farm training ground

There is "no place to hide" in Everton manager Sam Allardyce's data-driven coaching set-up, says captain Phil Jagielka.

He said former England boss Allardyce, who took over at Goodison Park in November, uses statistics from training and games to scrutinise performances.

Everton beat Crystal Palace 3-1 on Saturday to move up to ninth in the Premier League table.

"If you've not been working hard enough it's in black and white," he said.

Allardyce, whose side were 13th when he took charge in November, was one of the first Premier League managers to make use of data and meticulous performance analysis techniques.

Players are able to see how many kilometres they have run, how fast, how many times they lost the ball and completed passes - all of which is pinned to the wall in the team meeting room.

During his spell as manager of Bolton Wanderers between 1999 and 2007, Allardyce also used it to help prolong the careers of France midfielder Youri Djorkaeff and former Spain international Fernando Hierro into their late 30s.

Jagielka, 35, has made 19 appearances for the Toffees this season, although he missed the win over Palace with a knock.

"The meetings are data driven. We're there for longer periods looking at stats from the game," he said, speaking at an Everton charity event.

"They go up after every game for people to look at and there's no hiding place.

"People see Sam as a bit of an old-fashioned type of manager but I think that's a bit unfair to him. He always looks at all the data and spends a lot of time with the analysis guys."

One of Everton's goalscorers against Palace, 19-year-old Tom Davies, won his place back in the team after asking the club's coaching staff how he could improve his training statistics.

Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Davies celebrates scoring the third goal for Everton against Allardyce's former club Crystal Palace, who he saved from relegation last season

"It's nice for a young lad to want to know the answers: sometimes those answers aren't what you're looking for," said Jagielka.

"But if it's in black and white and if you've not been working hard enough and your touches and ball retention aren't to the level they want, you won't be knocking on the manager's door too often to get a game."

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