[Archived] Sam Allardyce

[waggy]

i think the EXPERT dropped a massive clanger on saturday,we play with two up front,comfortably leading 1-0 and he takes a striker off,negative football brings negative results,LARD@RSE OUT

[47er]

i think the EXPERT dropped a massive clanger on saturday,we play with two up front,comfortably leading 1-0 and he takes a striker off,negative football brings negative results,LARD@RSE OUT

OK I'll react. A one goal lead is never comfortable but they were all over us when Sam made the substitution. We then played better and created more good chances than we had before. Only bad luck and one piece of poor marking near the end cost us the full 3 points.

Manager's done well, will be back next season, people will still buy their season tickets and you'll still be ****ing in the wind. Mard@rse out

[waggy]

BAD LUCK THAT THE 2ND WEEK RUNNING A SUB SCORES WITH HIS 1ST TOUCH

[thenodrog]

i think the EXPERT dropped a massive clanger on saturday,we play with two up front,comfortably leading 1-0 and he takes a striker off,negative football brings negative results,LARD@RSE OUT

Silly post..... and especially on the weekend when we witness the demise of our neighbours. You do love showing yourself up. We've avoided certain relegation ourselves last season and beaten Burnley twice in the Prem. Neither would have happened if, perish the thought, you had been Chairman.

Mardarse out too.

[Hughesy]

i think the EXPERT dropped a massive clanger on saturday,we play with two up front,comfortably leading 1-0 and he takes a striker off,negative football brings negative results,LARD@RSE OUT

Did you watch the game?? We were far from in control at 4-4-2. We did much better after the subs, just a shame we couldnt defend a simple cross!

We took a point out of another game.....we beat our neighbours (Burnley & Bolton) both times.....we have now gauranteed that the board requirement of 13th has been achieved as a minimum - with the potential for 10th still their.

MARDARSE OUT!!

[waggy]

i watched the game,and wolves will be fighting relagation next season,negative tactics by lard@rse lost us three points

[LeChuck]

i watched the game,and wolves will be fighting relagation next season,negative tactics by lard@rse lost us three points

Lost us two points actually.

Of course he's going to make decisions over the course of a season that will cost us points, every manager does. We should have been able to see out that game, and Sam's tactical switch backfired.

Fact is though, he's made enough right decisions to get to 11th in the table, so overall he's doing a good job.

Every time we have one bad result now it's like the world's caving in.

[MarkBRFC71]

He's done the important things for us this season. If anyone was to tell me that we'd end the season in 11th-13th and will have done the double over Burnley, as well as accumulating 16 out of 18 points over our Lancashire rivals (Bolton, Wigan and Bumley) then most of us would have accepted that.

We need to see some more progress next season but we can't really chastise Sam for what he's done for the club given the financial constraints. Saved us from embarrassment last season where we may have passed Burnley on the way and given us a solid season (by our standards) this season.

I agree that overall, he's done OK. We could have had more points had he been a bit less negative in some games, but 13th isn't a disaster.

However, the big question is can he take us forward? I'm a lot less sure about that tbh .... I am still very much in the 'remain to be convinced' camp.

[BRFC95]

I agree that overall, he's done OK. We could have had more points had he been a bit less negative in some games,

Much more likely we'd have less points though

[67splitscreen]

I reckon he can. Maybe in his own way and style, but I get the feeling Sam needs time before he properly implements his own way on a club. We don't have many examples of course, but take Bolton. In the Premier League it took him a few seasons to establish Bolton (who, I might add, are sort of unestablished now - very prone to the drop these days it seems). At Newcastle he was given virtually no time to settle the team but I guess you could argue that this is part and parcel when you have a fair whack of a transfer budget. Provided we have £10m-£15m to spend I think it's realistic to be pushing for the top half.

Maybe a bit of both. On some days we may have taken all three points instead of just the one, or won by bigger margins. The problem is that it can be an unnecessary risk so he won't do it often, or at all. I'd like to see that change but for now I'm just grateful to be established in this league.

Guess it's a relegation battle then, 10-15m I'll do a Waggy at Blackburn TH if we get anything like that even as the headline figure.

[The Rover of Finland]

Guess it's a relegation battle then, 10-15m I'll do a Waggy at Blackburn TH if we get anything like that even as the headline figure.

We lost two points because we just can´t score. Subs were OK and we had great chances before and after the subs. We conceded once but should have scored atleast three goals. I liked the formation a lot. We should use it more against weaker sides. No reason to blame Sam. He is trying to fix the problem, scoring.

[67splitscreen]

We lost two points because we just can´t score. Subs were OK and we had great chances before and after the subs. We conceded once but should have scored atleast three goals. I liked the formation a lot. We should use it more against weaker sides. No reason to blame Sam. He is trying to fix the problem, scoring.

??? not sure what your reply has to do with my post.

[den]

i watched the game,and wolves will be fighting relagation next season,negative tactics by lard@rse lost us three points

Well Wags, whatever people think about the formation Allardyce plays, the be all, and end all are the results - and with the squad available to him, it has to be said that the results have been exceptional.

Would regular 4-4-2 have got us more points? Doubtful. We might have scored a few more goals, or we might have conceded a few more goals. The thing is, that with most other clubs stringing 5 across midfield, any 4 of ours would have been completely overrun.

I wouldn't argue about the entertainment value though - it's not pretty, unless you have the quality of a Chelsea or Man U. Alternatively, there's nothing too entertaining about losing games.

[The Rover of Finland]

??? not sure what your reply has to do with my post.

Absolutely nothing! Didn´t mean to reply your post. My mistake, sorry mate!

[67splitscreen]

Absolutely nothing! Didn´t mean to reply your post. My mistake, sorry mate!

I guessed so, no worries.

[Amo]

Sam's brand of football will always be a cause célèbre, but I don't buy into the mantra that "this is our lot". It must be said I have no problem with direct football, or the dreaded 4-5-1, but it's games like Saturday's that we witness the worst of Allardyce. Because he's instilled such a methodical ethic into his players, he begrudges them the opportunity to express themselves. It only manifests itself once in a blue moon when he really has nowhere to hide. He quite wryly took the plaudits at Chelsea (Home) for being patient and earning a point, but he should also accept criticism for Portsmouth & Wolves (Away) when a marked lack of ambition cost us points. We did not miss a hatful of chances in those games, as some would have you believe, but because those chances were so few they are easily scrutinized. All I'd like to see is some compromise.

[47er]

Well Wags, whatever people think about the formation Allardyce plays, the be all, and end all are the results - and with the squad available to him, it has to be said that the results have been exceptional.

Would regular 4-4-2 have got us more points? Doubtful. We might have scored a few more goals, or we might have conceded a few more goals. The thing is, that with most other clubs stringing 5 across midfield, any 4 of ours would have been completely overrun.

I wouldn't argue about the entertainment value though - it's not pretty, unless you have the quality of a Chelsea or Man U. Alternatively, there's nothing too entertaining about losing games.

Good post. People should ask why we don't have a 4 man midfield very often. The answer is that we haven't got a good enough group of 4 to play it.

[gumboots]

Good post. People should ask why we don't have a 4 man midfield very often. The answer is that we haven't got a good enough group of 4 to play it.

The problem with the formation is surely not that it's 4-5-1 but that it's 4-5 - - - 1. To really play the system properly you have to have full backs who can get forward and back and midfielders who can get further forward and back at pace. We don't have either most of the time. Our lone striker is far too isolated ad so we simply hoof the ball to him and hope our pedestrian midfield will get there before the striker loses the ball.

[unluckymorton]

i think the EXPERT dropped a massive clanger on saturday,we play with two up front,comfortably leading 1-0 and he takes a striker off,negative football brings negative results,LARD@RSE OUT

Saturday's game had a draw written all over it. Sam said he was going to try something different and we took a point on the road and were unlucky to concede near the end.

So you want Sam out. Who would you plan to bring in on an extremely limited budget to improve the fantastic work that has been done up to now? Maybe Tony Mowbray to play pretty football then drop down into the obscurity of the lower leagues? Or possibly Phil Brown to build a team of massively over paid misfits who under perform every week and have no respect for the manager? They are realistic possibilities who wouldn't be able to manage our club without breaking the bank. Open your eyes wag, we are a small town club in the big time, either swallow your pride and support our great club or keep your ridiculous comments to yourself.

We currently sit 11th in the best league in the world. That's some achievement for a club of our size. There is no other manager who could better what Sam is doing. We're consolidating our position in the top flight, going in to our 10th consecutive season in the top flight making steady progress. It was always going to take a long time to rebuild the ruins that Sam inherited, lets give the fella the support he deserves.

[Hughesy]

Every time we have one bad result now it's like the world's caving in.

Its not like the world is caving in - its just a slight opportunity for the doubters to try and stick the knife in - despite the fact we have improved massively since Sam came in.

He's done the important things for us this season. If anyone was to tell me that we'd end the season in 11th-13th and will have done the double over Burnley, as well as accumulating 16 out of 18 points over our Lancashire rivals (Bolton, Wigan and Bumley) then most of us would have accepted that.

Add in a Semi Final (Probably game of the year) + results against the big boys at home again!!

However, the big question is can he take us forward? I'm a lot less sure about that tbh .... I am still very much in the 'remain to be convinced' camp.

The answer to that is 'Wait & see' - but for the time being its about time he got 100% backing from our fans!! Even Mardarse!!

[47er]

The problem with the formation is surely not that it's 4-5-1 but that it's 4-5 - - - 1. To really play the system properly you have to have full backs who can get forward and back and midfielders who can get further forward and back at pace. We don't have either most of the time. Our lone striker is far too isolated ad so we simply hoof the ball to him and hope our pedestrian midfield will get there before the striker loses the ball.

To play ANY system properly you have to have the players to do it. Warnock could get forward and back but we had to sell him.With 4-4-2 you need 4 decent mid-fielders. When we had Bellamy and Bentley we almost didn't need a system---just gave them the ball and let them get on with it. Now we have pedestrian players 5 in the middle is the least likely to see us lose and playing the percentages is what its now all about. That's why the people who constantly snipe at the manager have to do what they have often been asked to do ----tell us who else is available, is willing to come here, at a salary the club can afford and can be GUARANTEED to keep us in this division while playing more attractive football.That's "GUARANTEED" not "have a reasonable chance of."

Sam, warts and all, is the perfect man for this club at this time.

[John]

Still can’t believe the debate goes on (actually I can because some just have an irreversible hatred of our manager) – of course everyone is entitled to their opinion….

I mentioned this on the Wolves thread, it is very doubtful going 4-4-2 would mean us dominating teams for 90 minutes. Throughout most games the opposition usually has a period when they are on the front foot and will create chances, some on here seem to have problems accepting that.

Our lack of creativity has been one of the criticisms of the side – this is mainly down to the players we have in my view.

Look at Dunn, our best attacking player, until he got injured he was having a great season, scoring goals and looking dangerous. Who else is there in our squad that can provide the excitement some are desperately craving?? Granted, we have some young players with potential (Olsson/Junior), but it’s just that at this stage, potential.

[den]

Sam, warts and all, is the perfect man for this club at this time.

Allardyce was my choice before Ince.

However, I have to admit to thinking that he wasn't going to do here, what I expected of him. At one point last season, around the time of his illness, he was looking like he had lost his way in football.

But yes 47er, he's proving us all wrong at the moment and I suspect that JW is absolutely convinced that, at the moment, Sam is the right man for Rovers. All that could change overnight of course, but at the moment he's the best man for this club.

[Harry Balls]

tell us who else is available, is willing to come here, at a salary the club can afford and can be GUARANTEED to keep us in this division while playing more attractive football.That's "GUARANTEED" not "have a reasonable chance of."

Sam, warts and all, is the perfect man for this club at this time.

Nothing is GUARANTEED. On the contrary, just 3/4 months ago it looked as though the man, who so many on here are vehemently defending, was dead certain to get us relegated. Selective memory much?

Even if you look at the table now, we may be in 11th place but we've only got 44 points and look unlikely to add to that total considering our remaining fixtures. Now in any other season, a meager tally of just 44 points would have us right in the midst of the relegation dogfight. So if anything, our relative success this season has been more a consequence of how poor the rest of the League has been rather than Allardyce's jaw-droppingly-awesome managerial ability.

I can put aside all of his tactical deficiencies. But the one thing that really sticks in my throat is that Sam is sucking the life and soul out of this club. There is no ambition, no guts, no glory. If for no other reason than that, I will never be able to accept him as our manager.

[thenodrog]

Still can’t believe the debate goes on (actually I can because some just have an irreversible hatred of our manager) – of course everyone is entitled to their opinion….

1. Nobody will ever admit to being wrong or making a mistake these days John. It's a weakness of chracter that permeates right through society these days.

2. Nobody likes people like you and I who delight in saying 'I told you so....'.

Best to leave em alone to let them lick their wounds and get over their stupidity in peace.

.......... except for some reason I just can't.

Allardyce was my choice before Ince.

Even Osama Bin Laden was in front of that dud!