Former Everton captain Kevin Ratcliffe has backed manager Sam Allardyce to add some style to his team after resolving their defensive frailties.

The Toffees are unbeaten under Allardyce since he took over from Ronald Koeman and are up to ninth in the Premier League table.

Two 0-0 draws against Chelsea and West Bromwich Albion over the Christmas period have highlighted Everton’s new-found resilience, but Ratcliffe insists more polished performances will follow.

“Football is a results business, pure and simple,” he told the Liverpool Echo.

“And Everton’s results since Sam Allardyce was appointed manager have been excellent.

“Sure, some of the matches have been dull in that time, but come on!

“We are in a much healthier position than we were three or four weeks ago and I’ll take a spell of dull games if that’s what it takes.

“Sam’s first priority at Everton was to rebuild shattered confidence, and the only way you can do that is by not losing matches.

“Performances will come, in time, but the most important thing was to get players believing in themselves again.”

Everton have a golden opportunity to prove Ratcliffe right when they visit Bournemouth this weekend.

The Cherries head into Saturday’s game 18th in the table after winning just four games this season and Everton are strongly fancied at odds of 9/4 to continue their impressive form under Allardyce.