Five things about Koeman Evertonians will not miss

With Ronald Koeman now having departed Everton, there are certain mannerisms and things he did that we can’t say we have been big fans of, and will not have to talk about any more.

The Dutchman came to Everton with a strong record in the Premier League with Southampton, and immediately got Everton to a place where they were the best of the rest finishing seventh.

However, in the end, having spent the kind of money that the Toffees did in the offseason, the lack of results was inexplicable and his inability to get more out of the squad he had, even more so.

That said, here are five things Evertonians will not miss about Koeman.

1 - Tactical Ineptitude

Everton played a certain way last season, and Koeman didn’t really have answers when things changed in-game. The fact that he had to make 12 substitutions before the 65th minute in 9 Premier League games tells you he was basically gambling and hoping something would stick.

Last season Tom Davies was the revelation who would come on and change games, and Koeman missed that this season. With Seamus Coleman out he tried to continue playing the same way, yet never seemed to stumble upon the not-so-radical idea of simply playing two true wingers simultaneously.

His increasingly complex and convoluted solutions continued to fail, while he repeatedly spurned the notion of simplifying his team's game. In the end, his insistence upon trying to find an outlandish solution, rather than simply putting his players in their preferred positions and letting them make plays, was his greatest tactical downfall.

2 - Treatment of players

Koeman’s regimented approach certainly rubbed many people around the club the wrong way. The fact that players had to wait in line at the cafeteria behind him and the rest of the coaching staff is quite bizarre in the world of professional football.

The issues he had with players were legion, with Oumar Niasse and Ross Barkley in particular. While Barkley was certainly in need of some discipline and Koeman’s tough talking seemed to get him to improve, the way Niasse was treated is a blot on the copybook of this institution that we have come to know as The Peoples’ Club.

Also, as has been pointed out in various quarters, he lacked the ability to lift his players when they were down. Everton’s poor start to the season meant more often than not players were despondent and the manager simply did not have the empathy required to get his players motivated for him.

3 - Lack of overall strategy

While he made it quite clear that he wanted Everton to make it to the Champions League, Koeman never quite laid out an identity for this team. Under David Moyes and in the early stages of Roberto Martinez’ time here, it was quite clear who Everton were. But under the Dutchman, we seemed to change from game to game depending on the opponent, which drove fans nuts.

Also, having his brother Erwin Koeman as an assistant certainly is odd. While it’s not necessarily nepotism, it did seem slightly nefarious having his brother as his ‘yes man’, running the practice sessions at Finch Farm.

4 - Cold and impersonal

There was always a sense that Koeman was using Everton as a stepping stone to a bigger things, like his dream job at Barcelona.

He did look like he was embracing the club and it’s lengthy history, but it felt like he never really ‘got’ us. There was the fiasco with the Christmas tree which had red decorations that ticked off some overzealous fans, which he tried to correct.

Then there was the rambling speech at the end-of-season dinner where he talked about looking forward to this season and he sounded ominously melancholic about the Blues chances this year.

Meeting the media is always an onerous task, but he tended to be snippy and arrogant when his often-faulty methods were questioned. His press conferences were rarely ever cheerful, and especially when the results started going bad and he started showing up unshaven and dishevelled, there was no coming back.

5 - "But okay!"

So if we never hear that phrase again I think we’ll be quite fine.

Especially since it seemed to be his qualifier for some pretty terrible results.

“We gave up a bunch of goals and looked terrible.” - but okay.

“We’re about to go out of the Europa League.” - but okay.

“There is no width or pace in this team at all.” - but okay.

“We had no idea what we were doing out there.” - but okay.

You get the point.