Allardyce ‘surprised’ Everton fans booed Schneiderlin

Matt Stead

Sam Allardyce offered a response after Morgan Schneiderlin he was booed by Everton fans on Saturday.

Schneiderlin came on as a second-half substitute as Everton eased to a 3-1 victory over Crystal Palace, but was booed onto the pitch.

Allardyce says that he would rather his players were “supported”, and admitted he was “surprised” at the situation.

“What it says is that for whatever reason they think he should be doing better,” said Allardyce.

“He had to replace Gana who was feeling an injury, and we had already had two players off injured. It is very important that players in the squad are supported really.

“Confidence is everything, especially when you are playing at home, so I was surprised.”

Tom Davies started at Goodison Park and completed the full 90 minutes for only the third time in the Premier League under Allardyce.

The 19-year-old has struggled to capture his promising form from last season, but Allardyce has been impressed with his response.

“He asked what he needed to do to get back into the team,” said the manager.

“He didn’t ask me. He asked the coaching staff and Ryland (Morgans, the performance director).

“They said, ‘Here are your training stats — lift up your training stats and you will have a better opportunity to get into the team’. His impressive work in training caught the eye.

“It shouldn’t be unusual. There is enough staff here to feed exactly what you want in every shape or form. Sometimes players don’t do enough in analysing their performances. That is very important because when you have that information why ignore it?”