[Archived] Sam Allardyce

[JAL]

Say what you want Jal but it was a long ball by Carragher from inside his own half. Course whenever the media report a goal from a long ball it becomes an 'incisive' pass from deep. Truth is long ball is fine and so is pretty passing football. The secret is to mix em up.

'The secret is to mix em up', AMEN to that. I think thats what many Rovers fans want to see is the team to play with many dimensions to their game.

Always remember John Beck at Cambridge playing percentage football and we booed them off the pitch at the end of the game many many years ago - it was awful to see and thankfully football has outlasted priemeval Hoofball.

[gumboots]

You shouldn't ignore the optimists and the dreamers. 10 years ago, they were creating iPod Touches, HD tellys and Waggy.

If we all agreed, there'd be nothing to debate.

Corrected it for you.

Hence why I don't put everyone on ignore whose views differ from mine. Just those I find too irritating.

[JAL]

You clearly didn't see the goal or you have forgotten. The ball was played from the halfway line into the channel. Torres ran across the defence and took it on his CHEST (not feet note) and then swivelled and hit it. It was a standard long ball into a channel that was converted by the brilliance of Torres

So when do our long balls go into the channels instead of being intercepted midair?

[Stuart]

Hence why I don't put everyone on ignore whose views differ from mine. Just those I find too irritating.

I guess that means I'm not on your ignore list - yet!

[JAL]

Carragher whacked it up the field (yes, hoofed) and Torres did the rest.

Hoofed is 'in the air from distance being challenged in the air'

Long ball is 'an accurate pass from distance in the air that lands at the feet or on the ground of the same team player'

[Anti-Dingle-Brigade]

Okay fine. Lets use your definition then.

Where did Torres control the ball? Oh wait, it wasn't at his feet, it was on his chest. In the air.

Therefore you just destroyed your own argument.

[nicko]

There will be more than 5 teams struggling next season with the credit crunch really hitting football hard,

and you can only play whats put in front of you, SA will find some bargain quality like he did at Bolton and the football will improve, not sure what you mean by Rovers players, when we won the prem we were not the most exciting team to watch but we fought tooth and nail for results, some times not very pretty and route one to Alan Shearer, but it worked

There are players in the current squad who do not look happy with the new style...Dunn and Tugay to name two. McCarthy as well to an extent.

The crunch is how to bring in players for the style you want to play.

However one plus is that so many will leave in the summer that the manager can put his own stamp on the squad.

So far it has been a hybrid...which is what I meant about Bolton style with Blackburn players.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Thing about Torres is he can turn a simple long clearance into a good pass because he's got pace and the willingness to run the channels. Our dollopers would just watch it bounce out for a goalkick.

[JAL]

Okay fine. Lets use your definition then.

Where did Torres control the ball? Oh wait, it wasn't at his feet, it was on his chest. In the air.

Therefore you just destroyed your own argument.

Was Torres CHALLENGED in the air ? I dont remember.

[Stuart]

Hoofed is 'in the air from distance being challenged in the air'

Long ball is 'an accurate pass from distance in the air that lands at the feet or on the ground of the same team player'

Don't agree with that JAL. For me, hoofed is where a defender either boots the ball into row Z or kicks the ball back over his shoulder without really knowing where it will end up.

You are describing the same thing with two different terms. Are you secretly a red top journo with an agenda to keep the Liverpools and the Rovers separate by calling one a spade and one an excavator?

[Exiled in Toronto]

Always remember John Beck at Cambridge playing percentage football and we booed them off the pitch at the end of the game many many years ago - it was awful to see and thankfully football has outlasted priemeval Hoofball.

The same though has occurred to me recently. Beck was fantastically successful for Cambridge - took them into the playoffs when we came up under Kenny. In fact they finished above us but lost to Leicester. I am by no means convinced we would have beaten them if they had got to the final. Even so, it was the worst football ever; I too boo-ed them off at Ewood. I would have paid not to watch them

[RovertheHill]

So when do our long balls go into the channels instead of being intercepted midair?

There have been plenty of examples as you well know. It's just that our strikers are not in the same class as Torres so the outcome is generally different. However, I seem to recall an example where Roberts scored after Pedersen had knocked it on. Anyway, as I have said before - this season is a means to an end. Next season needs to be better in all aspects - I'm hopeful it will be

[FourLaneBlue]

No and if you think that you don't understand the concerns that some people are voicing. Don't belittle them by talking nonsense.

Is this the same Eddie who was moaning away last season when we were in the top half?

[thenodrog]

You shouldn't ignore the optimists and the dreamers. 10 years ago, they were creating iPod Touches, HD tellys and Waggy.

If we all agreed, there'd be nothing to debate.

Corrected it for you.

Thanks Jisty. You obviously knew what I meant. I'm alternating between preparing tomorrows evening meal and reading this.

[Eddie]

Is this the same Eddie who was moaning away last season when we were in the top half?

You mean the person who was concerned that our midfield wasn't good enough, particularly our options in central midfield, that we had too many injury prone players in our squad and that we were relying on inconsistent players and would eventually have a bad season if things weren't looked at. Yep...same one and I'll stand by that particular theory.

[thenodrog]

You mean the person who was concerned that our midfield wasn't good enough, particularly our options in central midfield, that we had too many injury prone players in our squad and that we were relying on inconsistent players and would eventually have a bad season if things weren't looked at. Yep...same one and I'll stand by that particular theory.

Obvious that eddie. The Jan transfer window when he wanted to swap Sav with Huddleston and / or Kumas and enede up with neither is what imo persuaded Hughes that he had no future at BRFC. His demeanour on the touch line from Feb onwards was plain for all to see. I commented on his apparant 'dark' mood a few times.

[Eddie]

That's fine, I'm glad that you agreed with me then, but that was the reason I wasn't totally with happy with things last season. It wasn't because I was unhappy because of our league position.

[FourLaneBlue]

You are the one who said "no" that he would not moan if we were in the top half but last season was moaning when we were in the top half. A more appropriate word therefore would have been "depends".

It is irrelevant though...Sam is keeping us up through this type of football and also with this squad which needs major changes.

The question in the summer will be if we are able to bring in new players in and in numbers...Givet and Diouf while being forced (according to Sam) to send out Derbyshire to accommodate them suggests that any talk of 10 million quid war chests should not be appearing on this board again for a long time.

Better football on a smaller budget is achievable....but on no budget at all which we have seemingly had for the last few years?

I will be amazed if we are not once again one of, if not the, the lowest spenders in the Prem during the summer. The amount spent in January when we were still firmly embedded in the relegation zone and in a desperate, immediate need that we won´t quite be in the summer suggests that.

We all have been crying out for midfield reinforcements for the past two January transfer windows now. With Tugay off it is now more imperative than ever.

[DE.]

A lot will ride on the sale of RSC, and how much we can get for him. Saying that, where did the Duff and Bentley cash disappear to? There's no guarantee Roque's sale will generate much in the way of funds, if the past is anything to go by, so perhaps even that is a forlorn hope.

[Tris]

There are players in the current squad who do not look happy with the new style...Dunn and Tugay to name two. McCarthy as well to an extent.

The crunch is how to bring in players for the style you want to play.

However one plus is that so many will leave in the summer that the manager can put his own stamp on the squad.

So far it has been a hybrid...which is what I meant about Bolton style with Blackburn players.

That's not a plus - it's the whole problem with this prehistoric gum-chewing slug currently inhabiting the home dugout.

We are going to lose the only slim remnants of technical ability left in the squad. And where a more up to date manager might try and replace like with like, we will end up with cloggers looking for a final hoof before they cash in their pensions.

It's a disaster waiting to happen - and this style of "football" (it's not really football) will alienate more Rovers fans than anything else that's happened in the last 50 years.

Tugay's show of dissent on Saturday is the final straw for me, the best player to grace the shirt in the last decade is being pushed out of the door by a manager who wouldn't recognise a cultured, well directed pass if it smacked him straight in the jowls.

I'll still have my season ticket next year, but I can see a Blues Bar membership being added for escape purposes. I'm not wasting my time in the BBE through the winter watching Jurassic Park 19 times over when there's a nice warm bar 30 feet below.

[tony gale's mic]

Good old Tris. Defends to death the previous incumbent who was sending us down, whilst saving his harshest criticism for the man who got us out of this mess. Predictable as ever...

[gbax]

It's a disaster waiting to happen - and this style of "football" (it's not really football) will alienate more Rovers fans than anything else that's happened in the last 50 years.

Posts like this beggar belief!

This style of football (the only style which has/will save our season with the squad Sam inherited) will not alienate fans as much as dropping into the championship would do!

[tony gale's mic]

Posts like this beggar belief!

This style of football (the only style which has/will save our season with the squad Sam inherited) will not alienate fans as much as dropping into the championship would do!

The man's got a screw loose...he was backing Ince to the hilt and being quite aggressive to those of us who criticised him, and now he's developed an obsession with posting rubbish about the man who's got us out of this mess.

[47er]

Good old Tris. Defends to death the previous incumbent who was sending us down, whilst saving his harshest criticism for the man who got us out of this mess. Predictable as ever...

LOL! Carbon copy of his reaction from when Hughes took over from his beloved Souness!

[Hughesy]

Tris - what is your problem? Is your wife playing away with Sam or something?

What has Sam done so far? ONLY GOOD THINGS!!

He came in, took over a poor squad in a very weak position, now has us 3 pts from safety with our own destiny in our own hands - and he brought 2 players in (Givet & Diouf) who have improved our starting 11.

Bet you cant wait for Joey Barton in the summer eh!!