Sam Allardyce Admits Everton Duo are Too Slow to Play Together as Relegation Worries Increase

Everton manager Sam Allardyce admits Wayne Rooney and Gylfi Sigurdsson are too slow to play together as he fears the Toffees could drop back into a relegation battle.

The Toffees were booed off in Saturday's 1-1 draw with West Brom, the club's seventh game without a win. Rooney came off the bench in that game after Allardyce claimed his side need a lot more pace, something emphasised by the £20m arrival of Theo Walcott.

Allardyce's quotes on the matter were picked up by The Guardian, where he said: "I think Rooney and Gylfi playing together are very shrewd, very clever and talented players but in actual terms of covering the ground it is difficult – it’s not their strength."

He added: "So I have to make a big decision on who plays this one and who plays for next one. For me, Gylfi has been trudging away outside on the left side, so play him in the position he wants to play and see what he can do."

Big Sam's arrival after the sacking of Ronald Koeman appeared to have prompted a turnaround in the club's fortunes, but three defeats in six have left the Toffees looking nervously over their shoulders.

His quotes in the Telegraph said: “I've seen a huge drain of confidence in the players in the space of one and a half football matches. The quality of the Tottenham side, I could accept that, but West Brom are in the bottom three."

Everton host Leicester next Tuesday as they look to get back to winning ways.