[Archived] Sam Allardyce

[thenodrog]

I'm afraid I don't agree with this.

Nobody does Kamy. Waggy's defence of Ince's tenure and his animosity to Allardyce is getting increasingly desperate and illogical. He's dug so big a hole for himself that he cannot get out without losing face.

Just remember Kamy that NO ONE CAN DEFEND THE INDEFENSIBLE.

[Mc Love]

I am quietly confident that Sam will see us through and keep us in the Premier league! Always have a smile now, as to the days when ince was in charge

[Mc Love]

This picture is just quality!!

[67splitscreen]

They have to be the longest fingers I've seen (BS)

[dingles staying down 4ever]

I remember reading about Gazza taking a training session at kettering, he had real problems communicating. He couldn't understand why the players could not see what he saw on the training pitch.

To him they where basic simple things he did with instinct, to them it must have been very challenging.

No surprise that he had problems communicating.......can you understand a word he says

I'm afraid I don't agree with this.

Sam in effect took over Rovers at -5 points (we were 5 points of safety) that is the handicap that Ince left him with. If he can't get us out of it he will have to shoulder some blame but no where near as much as Ince who to be frank was walking disaster area. John Williams and the board will also have to take some of the blame for employing someone as incompetant as Ince and then wasting crucial games dithering as to whether to sack him or not.

We also had the worse goal difference by far when Ince was sacked. We have not now. With the league so tight I suspect goal difference is going to be key come May

[philipl]

David Mail's Tight Perm makes an excellent point in the Wanataways thread that all the talk of players wanting to leve Rovers leaking out got killed stone dead from the moment of Sam's appointment.

Sam's transformation seems to have been both enormous and immediate at Ewood.

I guess that Sam himself getting out onto the training pitch and sorting out the defence on day 1 must have had a transformational impact throughout the playing staff. From leaking like a punctured collander, the defence has kept six clean sheets in the last nine games and the confidence which has returned to the back line must be radiating throughout the club.

The most exciting element of Wednesday night's reports were of Paul Robinson finally commanding his area and judging cross balls accurately. If that is now for real we are about to kick on to a higher level of tightness at the back.

Sam's words about the forward line- we are making the chances; now is the time to convert them suggest RSC, Benni and Jason have been having some Sam Specials at Brockhall!

[JAL]

David Mail's Tight Perm makes an excellent point in the Wanataways thread that all the talk of players wanting to leve Rovers leaking out got killed stone dead from the moment of Sam's appointment.

Sam's transformation seems to have been both enormous and immediate at Ewood.

I guess that Sam himself getting out onto the training pitch and sorting out the defence on day 1 must have had a transformational impact throughout the playing staff. From leaking like a punctured collander, the defence has kept six clean sheets in the last nine games and the confidence which has returned to the back line must be radiating throughout the club.

The most exciting element of Wednesday night's reports were of Paul Robinson finally commanding his area and judging cross balls accurately. If that is now for real we are about to kick on to a higher level of tightness at the back.

Sam's words about the forward line- we are making the chances; now is the time to convert them suggest RSC, Benni and Jason have been having some Sam Specials at Brockhall!

Paul Robinson did not, is not and will not ever command his goal thats an inaccurate misleading statement Philipl about our current goalie .

For those who went do you remember him coming out for the ball under pressure from a Sunderland player in injury time and then alowing the player to take the ball and almost give away a goal but the Sunderland player put in a poor cross.

The team is protecting Robinson philipl make no mistake.

[Anti-Dingle-Brigade]

Paul Robinson did not, is not and will not ever command his goal thats an inaccurate misleading statement Philipl about our current goalie .

For those who went do you remember him coming out for the ball under pressure from a Sunderland player in injury time and then alowing the player to take the ball and almost give away a goal but the Sunderland player put in a poor cross.

The team is protecting Robinson philipl make no mistake.

He commanded his area well and had his best game yet. Not sure why you seem to despise our own players with such venom but...

Get over it.

[thenodrog]

Paul Robinson did not, is not and will not ever command his goal thats an inaccurate misleading statement Philipl about our current goalie .

Dealing with crosses will always be his weakness but good coaching and confidence boosting can make any weakness stronger.

[gumboots]

Paul Robinson did not, is not and will not ever command his goal thats an inaccurate misleading statement Philipl about our current goalie .

For those who went do you remember him coming out for the ball under pressure from a Sunderland player in injury time and then alowing the player to take the ball and almost give away a goal but the Sunderland player put in a poor cross.

The team is protecting Robinson philipl make no mistake.

And other teams defences don't protect theirs? Utd's clean sheets are not all down to Van der Saar, you know. He has good players in front of him. Same with Cech at Chelsea. Yes, your defenders have to have confidence in the keeper but he also has to know that they are not going to part like the Red Sea in front of him. They give one another protection and confidence. and robinson pulled off a decent save late on to keep us in that tie on Wed and let us win it.

[tony gale's mic]

Robinson is rank average. Not made enough mistakes this season to be ranked as bad, but not put in any brilliant performances of note which would mark him down as good.

[philipl]

JAL and tgm seem to have a very rigid simplistic view.

I have not been at matches but I have to say that Robinson is improving dramatically match-by-match compared with how he handled interaction with his defence in INce's time.

There is also an inverse going on. When Ince was Manager, so many attacks and shots got through that Robinson showed off some quite remarkable shot stopping ability and athleticism. We now play matches like Wednesday's replay in which the opposition's second shot on target finally arrived in the 71st minute of the game so his spectacular shot stopping is much less frequently seen.

[tony gale's mic]

JAL and tgm seem to have a very rigid simplistic view.

I have not been at matches but I have to say that Robinson is improving dramatically match-by-match compared with how he handled interaction with his defence in INce's time.

There is also an inverse going on. When Ince was Manager, so many attacks and shots got through that Robinson showed off some quite remarkable shot stopping ability and athleticism. We now play matches like Wednesday's replay in which the opposition's second shot on target finally arrived in the 71st minute of the game so his spectacular shot stopping is much less frequently seen.

He's still doing the things a goalkeeper really ought to be doing, yeah he had a good game vs Sunderland but that was it. How many performances has he produced of the quality of the last two 'keeper performances we've come up against? How many times has he gone above and beyond to win us points? Until he does that a couple of times then I'd say my view is a very fair one, it's not a massive criticism but he's certainly not one of the top keepers in the league as some would have him. He's not even top half IMO.

[philipl]

You are still completely missing the point in your blind statement of your fixed opinion.

There is a very clear difference in Robinson now compared with two months ago. He has the same goal keeping coach but the framework of teamwork coaching he is working within is having a distinct effect and is apparent to the more aware spectators.

[tony gale's mic]

You are still completely missing the point in your blind statement of your fixed opinion.

There is a very clear difference in Robinson now compared with two months ago. He has the same goal keeping coach but the framework of teamwork coaching he is working within is having a distinct effect and is apparent to the more aware spectators.

I see your point philip, I'm not even going to argue against it directly as I'm sure having a more settled defence for one helps that side of his game immensely.

But it still doesn't quality him as anything more than an average keeper, until he starts producing performances of the type we've seen from the last two keepers we've come up against. Villa will be a good potential time for this though, they'll be getting plenty of shots in at him I should think.

[Tom]

On an unrelated note I'm glad Sam has brought back Pedersens long throw tactic, it may not be pretty but it certainly is a threat and gives us a good option against any side.

[Jolly Giraffe]

I was sat behind the goal when Sunderland scored on Wednesday and made the observation that whenever Friedel was faced with a 1 on 1 with a striker it was him that looked big. Whenever Robinson finds himself in that situation it seems to me that it's the goal that looks big.

[Amo]

Brad is a match-winning goalkeeper. Robbo hasn't shown that yet.

It took Man. Utd six years to replace their best goalie, and that was with all the money in the world. So it's never easy.

[modes98]

Whenever Robinson finds himself in that situation it seems to me that it's the goal that looks big.

Disagree, Robbo is very good 1 on 1. His weakness for me is hard hit low shots, he seems to get into the save position a fraction late, which costs goals.

Still a quality keeper that we judge unfairly because of the world class one we had before.

[Lathund]

I see your point philip, I'm not even going to argue against it directly as I'm sure having a more settled defence for one helps that side of his game immensely.

But it still doesn't quality him as anything more than an average keeper, until he starts producing performances of the type we've seen from the last two keepers we've come up against. Villa will be a good potential time for this though, they'll be getting plenty of shots in at him I should think.

As you say, in order for him to win us games he needs games where he can make a difference, i.e where the opposition actually creates chances.

You can see some interesting stats here. In the run of games during which Van der Sar set his clean sheet record, he had the fewest shots against him of all PL keepers (19). Second fewest? Robinson (20). Sadly not many of our recent games have been shown here in Sweden (The game tomorrow is live though) so I can't comment on his recent performances really, but we've got a good defensive record so not much criticism can be levelled at him really.

Robinson obviously has a lot of ability, and now that he must surely be high on confidence after a run of clean sheets I'm sure that'll show.

[tony gale's mic]

As you say, in order for him to win us games he needs games where he can make a difference, i.e where the opposition actually creates chances.

You can see some interesting stats here. In the run of games during which Van der Sar set his clean sheet record, he had the fewest shots against him of all PL keepers (19). Second fewest? Robinson (20). Sadly not many of our recent games have been shown here in Sweden (The game tomorrow is live though) so I can't comment on his recent performances really, but we've got a good defensive record so not much criticism can be levelled at him really.

Robinson obviously has a lot of ability, and now that he must surely be high on confidence after a run of clean sheets I'm sure that'll show.

Yep but we had enough of those before this run of games....And even then in that intervening period we conceded the 13th most amount of goals despite Robinson getting the 2nd fewest amount of shots!

I hope he does start producing quality performances but till now he's not been particularly good.

EDIT: it's actually number of saves, which highlights my point even more.

[JAL]

He commanded his area well and had his best game yet. Not sure why you seem to despise our own players with such venom but...

Get over it.

Did you go to the game ?

I ask about the incident in extra time first half, location Darwen end, Riverside side of the goals Robinson looked anything but commanding as he looked for the referee to bail him out which quite correctly didnt come, Sunderland could and should have punished Robinsons for that mistake luckily for us we got away with it.

Then he makes another save and pushes the ball back into the dangerous area were an oncoming forward can score from commanding he is not!

Come the summer if he doesnt pull out the stops and improve very quickly big Sam needs to be looking for a replacement.

[JAL]

Disagree, Robbo is very good 1 on 1. His weakness for me is hard hit low shots, he seems to get into the save position a fraction late, which costs goals.

Still a quality keeper that we judge unfairly because of the world class one we had before.

Spot on Modes98, his thought process for me from making a decision to implementing it are far too slow that the ball has gone past him. Or is it he dives after the ball has gone so as not to look too bad.

Defending corners especially in the Darwen end have been poor where hes flapped and missed a cross, hes done this a few times now.

Then theres make a save and then push the ball back into the danger zone for the oncoming forward to have another pop at goal.

[LeChuck]

Spot on Modes98

First thing you've got right in a while, especially when he said this:

"Still a quality keeper that we judge unfairly because of the world class one we had before."

We were never, ever going to get anyone as good as Friedel as a replacement, but Robbo is easily the amongst the best we could have hoped for.

Love your logic by the way; we concede lots of goals and he's useless, get rid of him...when we start keeping clean sheets, the defence is brilliant and are 'protecting' him. Is he best mates with Dunn or something? He's obviously done something to ###### you off.

[67splitscreen]

I've posted this from another board. Stats from Sky, last 10-12 games.

Defence, good goal keeping, good tactics or good management, whichever it's winning us points, albeit not to many wins at the moment.

Keeper

Team

Games

Saves

Per game

Carson

West Brom

12

52

4.33

Given

Newcastle

10

41

4.10

Gomes

Tottenham

10

40

4.00

Green

West Ham

12

47

3.92

Turnbull

Middlesbrough

11

42

3.82

Jaaskelainen

Bolton

12

44

3.67

Schwarzer

Fulham

11

40

3.64

Sorensen

Stoke City

11

37

3.36

Friedel

Aston Villa

12

37

3.08

Hart

Manchester City

11

33

3.00

Fulop

Sunderland

11

32

2.91

James

Portsmouth

11

31

2.82

Myhill

Hull City

10

27

2.70

Reina

Liverpool

12

32

2.67

Almunia

Arsenal

12

30

2.50

Cech

Chelsea

11

27

2.45

Howard

Everton

12

29

2.42

Kirkland

Wigan

10

24

2.40

Robinson

Blackburn

11

20

1.82

Van der Sar

Manchester Utd

12

19

1.58