[Archived] Sam Allardyce

[joey_big_nose]

I'd personally go for the 4-4-2 as well. Firstly I very much doubt they'd be expecting it, and with Dunn playing in the hole, I think we'll see Alexander following him around for 90 minutes. So we either need to hope that Dunn can get around this himself, or we need to nullify it by changing shape slightly. Dunn on the left anyone?

Could work, problem is he lacks pace and the way he has done so well is by drifting and being unpredictable. 442 would limit his options, and I think make him a lot easier to manage.

[dulwich]

Could work, problem is he lacks pace and the way he has done so well is by drifting and being unpredictable. 442 would limit his options, and I think make him a lot easier to manage.

I think he may give us more out there, than Alexander would for them, providing Alexander follows him. One of the main focus of the Burnley game plan would be to stop Dunn wouldn't it?

[Kelbo]

If someonne ever man marked me, I would take them away from the play and unsettle their system, if they play with a 442 and you take a way a midfielder, thy will be adrift of the game, o if alexander was to mark Dunny, Dunny should relax, have a rest and take alexander to the corner flag out of the way and open things up for others!1

Bryan Douglas did that with Alex Elder and Peter Dobing took the ###### out of Burnley downthe right hand side!!

[dulwich]

If someonne ever man marked me, I would take them away from the play and unsettle their system, if they play with a 442 and you take a way a midfielder, thy will be adrift of the game, o if alexander was to mark Dunny, Dunny should relax, have a rest and take alexander to the corner flag out of the way and open things up for others!1

Bryan Douglas did that with Alex Elder and Peter Dobing took the ###### out of Burnley downthe right hand side!!

Exactly my point Kelbo. Burnley are going to come here to frustrate I think, they'll keep their shape, and pivotal to this will be their def mid Alexander. If we can pull the shape apart a little, I think the weak core at the centre of the defence will be exposed.

[92er]

Bryan Douglas did that with Alex Elder and Peter Dobing took the ###### out of Burnley downthe right hand side!!

And if only we had that calibre of player available to us now.

[Wing Wizard Windy Miller]

Sam is keeping very quiet about this game. He better realise the importance.

[colin]

Sam is keeping very quiet about this game. He better realise the importance.

I think he will.

[Wild Irish Rover]

Sam is keeping very quiet about this game. He better realise the importance.

Sam Speaks

I think he knows how important this game is... I just hope the players get the joke too, and turn up to be counted on Sunday.

As I work with a couple of Dingles, bragging rights are absolutely of the essence. And on Monday morning, I WANT THE FECKING BRAGGING RIGHTS!!

C'mon you Blues!

[BigJackWalker]

Robbo

Jacobson Samba Nelson Givet

El Hadj NZonzi Emerton Pederson

Dunn

Di Santo

Rovers to win 3-0

Cmmon you blues!!!!

[Paul]

Annoyed and disappointed at our stance in the 2nd half .. don't give a flying pig (jensen) about settling for the win, we had them on the ropes and if we are not confident of putting them too the sword who the hell do we think we can do (it was akin to the Whet spam pittance). We should have put them oput of sight and gave them far too much space and time in the 2nd half, especially in midfield where a slightlybetter side would probably have punished us more.

At the end of the day a wins a win especially after the week I had had,but still irks me with our 2nd half stance and their goal at the end took some of the gloss off it.

But back to the unneighbourly neighbours, Longsider makes some very good posts. It is not going to appear on this thread but how long before a post appears on the Sam thread lambasting Sam for not putting the dingles to the sword second half? Being detached about it for a moment, I'm tempted to say the second half was a repeat of the West Ham game EXCEPT, we had the lead and no way could we risk chucking it with a gungho assault on the Blackburn End goal- entertaining as it would have been. I was OK with the containing and negative start to the second half but after the dingles had huffed themselves out by around the 60th minute I'd have much preferred to have seen a sub and tactical move to really hurt them.

There was a real hammering there we could have given them and we didn't take the opportunity- Owen Coyle was a lucky boy that Sam played it overly safe.

Capt Kayos beat you to it by some distance Philip and I very much agree with him. I haven't bothered to post anything on the game in the Derby thread because any sort of discussion gets lost in there.......... However I was very disappointed with our second half performance, Allardyce ran the risk of throwing away valuable points and the win we all craved. It's true we largely contained Burnley but anyone who has watched any amount of football knows sitting back is a very dangerous choice, had we conceded at around 70-75 minutes Burnley would have been the more motivated side and we might have conceded an equaliser.

It was clear by half time Burnley would come at us in the second half and the next goal was going to be crucial. Rovers tactics should have been to contain them for 10-15 minutes and then go for the kill but instead we sat back deeper and deeper inviting attack. It only takes a couple of slips or some good luck to go from 3-1 to 3-3, we've all seen it before, and Rovers shouldn't have been gambling with such an approach. The opportunity was there to put Burnley to the sword, 5-6 goals would not have flattered Rovers as we are clearly superior to Burnley on a player for player basis. Allardyce won the game, so I can't argue with that, but instead of enhancing his reputation he demonstrated, again, the lack of adventure characterised by his management, the second hald was edgy, and to an extent tedious to watch, and there was no need for it. A better side than Burnley might have made us pay for being so cautious and I dread to think how we will handle things the next time we are 3-1 up at home. Had the match got to 3-3 I don't think we would have scored again. It was poor management in my view.

For those who doubt me cast your minds back to the home game against City on Boxing Day, two goals in approx 3 minutes allowed us to snatch a draw from the jaws of victory. A game is never won till the ref blows for 90 minutes.

[Big Fat Sam]

Kayos, Paul and Phillp I couldn't agree more.

Kayos your Jensen flying pig analogy is great, since he was unable to deal with any ariel balls he certainly was doing a flying pig impression. You could also say he's a bit a a fairy since he even goes down when his own players push him.

Di Santo was blowing hard by the time he was subbed and for me should have come off 5-10 sooner. I was surprised we didn't bring on Hoillet his pace with Burnley tired legs could have worked.

For me it was another oppurtunity to give some pitch time to the young ones (rivals or not they are one of the worst teams in our league) 2 goal lead tired legs and proven weak against pace, so David for me should have come on with Emerton replacing Keith in the middle and Kalinic up top.

0-45 was awesome as a specticale, 45 - 90 was dire not one shot on target (is that true?) says it all for me.

[Hughesy]

Some people will never give Sam credit will they!

Best players on the day - Dunn in the hole (Which Sam found for him), Di Santo (Sam signing), Chimbonda (Sam signing), NZonzi (Sam signing) & Samba (Just quality)

[unluckymorton]

Some people will never give Sam credit will they!

Best players on the day - Dunn in the hole (Which Sam found for him), Di Santo (Sam signing), Chimbonda (Sam signing), NZonzi (Sam signing) & Samba (Just quality)

What Sam has done with Dunny this season is better than any signing he could have made. To bring Dunny back to this form is nothing short of a miracle.

Sam is doing a great job. We are getting better and better as the season goes on. The performances we are promising to say the least.

Sam just gets on with his job at Blackburn, a mid table side doing our best to build on the limited resources we've got. I think he's doing a great job. We may not agree with all his decisions but we never will!

Keep up the good work Sam!

[dulwich]

My cup is half full, we beat the Dingles.

However, I think that in the second half could have gone so so wrong, but who's fault is that. Sam getting his second half tactics wrong, or as Nelsen suggested was it down to the players? The trouble is that we've seen that sort of second half performance before, particularly against City as someone else suggested. With this sort of second half mentality, against better teams, and I'm not talking about Man U, Chelsea or Arsenal, we'll come unstuck.

So while, yes, I will give Sam credit for the first half performance, where Burnley couldn't cope with our power and tempo, the second half poses questions. We were lucky they didn't get a second ten minutes earlier.

Oh and Hughesy, Grella's fit is he??

[Hughesy]

Grella was fit until he flew half way around the world... hardly Sams fault he came back injured is it!

Hopefully he will be back soon. Shame because he was starting to look fairly decent in that defensive role.

[dulwich]

Maybe not, but I did say that it was too early to declare him fit. But you can't have it both ways surely? If he's fit it's because of Allardyce, if he's injured it's not Allardyce's fault?

[Hughesy]

Maybe not, but I did say that it was too early to declare him fit. But you can't have it both ways surely? If he's fit it's because of Allardyce, if he's injured it's not Allardyce's fault?

Oh stop trying to pick holes in everything.

At ewood, under Sam, whilst only playing for Rovers Grella was fit.... he then went on international duty and got injured whilst he was not under Sam's team training regime - thats the way the cookie crumbled! Get over it!

WE beat the Dingles so I dont really give 2 sh!ts to be honest..

[dulwich]

I'm trying to say it how I see it. Unfortunately I think some people seem to think that due to him saving us from relegation last season, it makes him above question this season. Of course I'm grateful that he managed to keep us up, no matter how or in what style he did it.

So while I'm ecstatic that we beat the Dingles, I don't care whether you give two sh!ts, I'll continue to question if I think he needs questioning.

And I'll only pick holes, if there are holes to be picked.

[unluckymorton]

I'm trying to say it how I see it. Unfortunately I think some people seem to think that due to him saving us from relegation last season, it makes him above question this season. Of course I'm grateful that he managed to keep us up, no matter how or in what style he did it.

So while I'm ecstatic that we beat the Dingles, I don't care whether you give two sh!ts, I'll continue to question if I think he needs questioning.

And I'll only pick holes, if there are holes to be picked.

Can we not have a week or so of not having a go at Sam and his decisions/tactics?

We had a very strong bench on Saturday and if the second half went differently and somehow the halfwits from down the road seriously got into the game we could have killed them off quite easily. Of course we didn't need to as it was not only job done but job done well.

Did you people used to knock Saxton, Parkes, Mackay, etc when they had no resources to work with? Big Sam is not Fergie or Wenger, he a slightly above average manager at a pretty mediocre club. He's better than Phil Brown, Gary Megson, Paul Hart, Mick McCarthy, Alex McLeish, Tony Pullis and Gianfranco Zola. Let's get behind him and show him our support.

I appreciate that everyone is entitled to their opinion, but it does get boring seeing the same old cr@p on this thread picking at tactics, formations and 1st team selection.

[gumboots]

Can we not have a week or so of not having a go at Sam and his decisions/tactics?

We had a very strong bench on Saturday and if the second half went differently and somehow the halfwits from down the road seriously got into the game we could have killed them off quite easily. Of course we didn't need to as it was not only job done but job done well.

Did you people used to knock Saxton, Parkes, Mackay, etc when they had no resources to work with? Big Sam is not Fergie or Wenger, he a slightly above average manager at a pretty mediocre club. He's better than Phil Brown, Gary Megson, Paul Hart, Mick McCarthy, Alex McLeish, Tony Pullis and Gianfranco Zola. Let's get behind him and show him our support.

I appreciate that everyone is entitled to their opinion, but it does get boring seeing the same old cr@p on this thread picking at tactics, formations and 1st team selection.

I quite agree that we would have done differently if we'd needed to i.e. if they'd got back into the game sooner. Allardyce is not stupid. He knows we are not that good when we sit back and would have changed things if it had looked at all worrying. I'm not his biggest fan, and like most i'd have loved to see us score 5 or 6 on Sunday but lay off him for now. It worked; we won; job done

[unluckymorton]

I quite agree that we would have done differently if we'd needed to i.e. if they'd got back into the game sooner. Allardyce is not stupid. He knows we are not that good when we sit back and would have changed things if it had looked at all worrying. I'm not his biggest fan, and like most i'd have loved to see us score 5 or 6 on Sunday but lay off him for now. It worked; we won; job done

Your right, we all wanted the bigger goal margin and we should really have had it but lets be happy with what we've got.

[joey_big_nose]

Capt Kayos beat you to it by some distance Philip and I very much agree with him. I haven't bothered to post anything on the game in the Derby thread because any sort of discussion gets lost in there.......... However I was very disappointed with our second half performance, Allardyce ran the risk of throwing away valuable points and the win we all craved. It's true we largely contained Burnley but anyone who has watched any amount of football knows sitting back is a very dangerous choice, had we conceded at around 70-75 minutes Burnley would have been the more motivated side and we might have conceded an equaliser.

It was clear by half time Burnley would come at us in the second half and the next goal was going to be crucial. Rovers tactics should have been to contain them for 10-15 minutes and then go for the kill but instead we sat back deeper and deeper inviting attack. It only takes a couple of slips or some good luck to go from 3-1 to 3-3, we've all seen it before, and Rovers shouldn't have been gambling with such an approach. The opportunity was there to put Burnley to the sword, 5-6 goals would not have flattered Rovers as we are clearly superior to Burnley on a player for player basis. Allardyce won the game, so I can't argue with that, but instead of enhancing his reputation he demonstrated, again, the lack of adventure characterised by his management, the second hald was edgy, and to an extent tedious to watch, and there was no need for it. A better side than Burnley might have made us pay for being so cautious and I dread to think how we will handle things the next time we are 3-1 up at home. Had the match got to 3-3 I don't think we would have scored again. It was poor management in my view.

For those who doubt me cast your minds back to the home game against City on Boxing Day, two goals in approx 3 minutes allowed us to snatch a draw from the jaws of victory. A game is never won till the ref blows for 90 minutes.

I agree that we were too cautious in the second half, but to be honest the team performance as a whole was impressive and our side seems to be improving markedly. Villa was arguably ou best performance in a year, and the first half against the Dingles was excellent.

Poor subsitutions and second half tactics but we do seem to be going very much in the right direction.

[CrazyIvan]

I'm trying to say it how I see it. Unfortunately I think some people seem to think that due to him saving us from relegation last season, it makes him above question this season. Of course I'm grateful that he managed to keep us up, no matter how or in what style he did it.

So while I'm ecstatic that we beat the Dingles, I don't care whether you give two sh!ts, I'll continue to question if I think he needs questioning.

And I'll only pick holes, if there are holes to be picked.

Quite right to question when it's relevant but your question quite clearly isn't relevant. Grella got injured on International duty so therefore NOT under Sam.

[dulwich]

Quite right to question when it's relevant but your question quite clearly isn't relevant. Grella got injured on International duty so therefore NOT under Sam.

It was actually in relevance to a prior debate we'd had.

[John]

And I'll only pick holes, if there are holes to be picked.

Because you dislike Sam, you will continue to pick holes you meant - Zzzzzzz.