[Archived] Sam Allardyce

[Parsonblue]

On the Robinson thing, Brad looked imposing stood in his area but was only called upon to do a couple of things and made a complete hash of them both imo, flapping at a couple of crosses.

Brad took one cross majestically in the second half while Robbo spent the entire game rooted to his line watching crosses fly past him. When he did come for one he took out Samba, missed the ball and was lucky the ref gave us a foul. I fully expect Sam to look at the goalkeeping situation in the summer and I wouldn't be surprised to see Mark Bunn start next season as the number one.

[AggyBlue]

Second half,

Robbo was all over the place, he came, he stopped, went back a yard, went forward another, totally all at sea in his own six yard box,

Ah, that must have been the corner that came over in slow motion

[tony gale's mic]

Low number of saves means the defensive unit (goalkeeper included) are working better. If you don't consider the keeper a key part of that unit thats fine, I'll keep training it the way I've watched the best do it, with the keeper.

I was always brought up to be told a keeper should be able to eat his lunch during a game.

Reflexes can be enhanced (to a degree), starting position helps, I think Steele had figured out Robbo and Robbo's forgotten. I notice your only using Robbo with us remember Leeds, Spurs intially Thats what Robbo is capable of. He is a good keeper he just needs to believe in himself again. I honestly think you can't get your head round what sort of abuse he took, from england and spurs. Can you imagine reading about them everywhere, being heckled on the streets about it, having 40,000 boo you every game for over a year. No I'd be fine after that ever had a period in your life when no matter what it goes wrong? Sports are about confidence, self belief, Robbo's forgotten what its like, Sam can put it back in him.

No it does not matter how many goals a keeper concedes, again you say its down to the defensive unit which Robbo is part of but yet he gets no credit. I say he's a part of it and as they've cut 1.3 goals a game off our goals conceded per game ratio then Robbo must have made some positive contribution.

You see a crap player and I see a good player low on confidence (if you think his will have gone up after Ince being in charge then I despair) I see a player down on his luck who needs to be built up again, Mmm how Rovers. We always take players down on there luck/injuries and look to re-build them, why should we not with Robbo?

Robbo is our keeper he's the best we have and we can't get a new one, he obviously thrives on confidence and who better than us the fans to give it back to him. Imagine if he hears his name being chanted in a positive light?? 41 england caps every crap player and his dog has those don't they, how many different managers chose him. Why can't you just see him for what he is a player who needs to be given his belief back as oppossed to a lesser version of Friedel.

No, low number of goals means the entire unit (including the keeper) are working better. Low number of shots on goal indicates the defence and to a lesser extent the defensive side of the midfield are doing a better job. Low % of shots saved indicates the keeper isn't doing such a good job at stopping shots. If you can somehow tell me a plausible mechanism by which a keeper can regularly prevent shots being fired towards his goal then feel free to disclose (besides one off occasional occurences like running out of his goal to grab the ball from a forward's feet).

Robbo isn't absolutely crap, but fact is we're at a disadvantage to our competitots right now because their keepers are saving more shots than Robbo. I first saw those stats a couple of days ago, I've been saying for weeks that although Robbo hasn't made that many howlers since Sunderland, he also hasn't had a single game where he's really starred and won us points. The performances of Jones and Gordon recently (imagine if the Sunderland cup game was a 90 min league game) have emphasised this and those stats that Lathund uncovered (originally to refute my point) just serve to back it up further. With the other keepers, I'm sure their fans can name at least two or three games where their keeper has kept them in it and won them points. We can't expect him to be Friedel-esque, as he was something special.

And I know Robbo had a lot to deal with before, but these stats were taken from November. If he still hasn't got over those taunts then that says a lot about him if he's still letting them affect him. Yes he's been playing in a struggling side but so were those other keepers. If and when Sam puts this confidence back in him then great, I'll be the first to applaud. But we have no idea whether that will happen or not, his good days were years ago now. And we can only judge him on how he's been for us so far, not how good he was 2-3 years ago or how good he could potentially be.

Never once have I compared him with Friedel in my critique so it's a little unfair to suggest I'm doing that. I am seeing him for what he is - judged on his performances for us this season so far. It's the only fair way. And based on those he's been behind the keepers of the teams around us. If he comes good then great, but it won't change how he's been so far.

[waggy]

i ask why turn 20 million down for rocky and then leave him on the bench,we could have bought a right back,central midfielder and a right winger with the money

[gumboots]

i ask why turn 20 million down for rocky and then leave him on the bench,we could have bought a right back,central midfielder and a right winger with the money

Could we? If the kind of players we needed were available, reasonably priced, willing to come to Rovers, didn't want paying too much, could be guaranteed to fit into the club, the team and a relegation battle straightaway, we could. Mind you we would have given the opposition a good player to help them, a proven goalscorer at this level. It was always a judgement call on santa Cruz. we could only have spent if the money had come at the start of the window and even then there were no guarantees we could have found the players you list and I admit we need.

[waggy]

Could we? If the kind of players we needed were available, reasonably priced, willing to come to Rovers, didn't want paying too much, could be guaranteed to fit into the club, the team and a relegation battle straightaway, we could. Mind you we would have given the opposition a good player to help them, a proven goalscorer at this level. It was always a judgement call on santa Cruz. we could only have spent if the money had come at the start of the window and even then there were no guarantees we could have found the players you list and I admit we need.

if we were not going to play santa,as we did not on saturday why keep him,in my eyes he should have been sold on jan 1st.or is it true like ince said all money recieved from transfers were heading for jersey

[LeChuck]

i ask why turn 20 million down for rocky and then leave him on the bench,we could have bought a right back,central midfielder and a right winger with the money

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.

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in my eyes he should have been sold on jan 1st

Must have missed that waggy, who offered us £20 million on January 1st?

[den]

i ask why turn 20 million down for rocky and then leave him on the bench,we could have bought a right back,central midfielder and a right winger with the money

So you pick the team every week, based on the monetary value of each player? Torres didn't start last game for Liverpool, maybe they should get rid then, total waste of space.

When are you going to start posting interesting stuff Waggy?

[waggy]

So you pick the team every week, based on the monetary value of each player? Torres didn't start last game for Liverpool, maybe they should get rid then, total waste of space.

When are you going to start posting interesting stuff Waggy?

SO YOU RECKON ROBERTS AND BENNI ARE BETTER THAN SANTA

[Amo]

Roberts & Benni have scored more goals than Roque this season and worked very well under Big Sam's revival. It stands to reason they were chosen ahead of him.

[waggy]

Roberts & Benni have scored more goals than Roque this season and worked very well under Big Sam's revival. It stands to reason they were chosen ahead of him.

ROBERTS CAN'T TRAP A BAG OFF CEMENT

[T4E]

SO YOU RECKON ROBERTS AND BENNI ARE BETTER THAN SANTA

Yep.

[den]

SO YOU RECKON ROBERTS AND BENNI ARE BETTER THAN SANTA

You always answer a question with a question?

[waggy]

You always answer a question with a question?

that you always fail to answer,lardarse is a waste off time

[Amo]

that you always fail to answer,lardarse is a waste off time

So was English class, apparently.

[ABBEY]

bloody hell topman ,its a message board not a spelling test!!!

[Amo]

bloody hell topman ,its a message board not a spelling test!!!

And you lose points if you can't string a simple sentence together.

[ABBEY]

why?

[waggy]

why?

because it makes him feel superior

[Amo]

why?

Because it's sloppy. Like the majority of waggy's posts.

[Kelbo]

Surely if a player has performed for a manager and done well he shouldnt drop him!!

Thats what earns a manager respect, Roberts and Benni had been scoring, so they hold the shirt, however, I think we may well see a change next week!!

Roque is a great player, he will come back a s a first choice but I back any manager who starts people who are doing well, whoever they may be!!

[den]

that you always fail to answer,lardarse is a waste off time

I'll try and decipher Waggy.

When you say Rocky should have been sold if we aren't going to start him every single game, - you really meant we should have sold him - end of story.

Rather than talk in riddles, why don't you try a little harder to make things a bit more legible?

[Kelbo]

On the Robinson thing, Brad looked imposing stood in his area but was only called upon to do a couple of things and made a complete hash of them both imo, flapping at a couple of crosses.

Interesting the comparisons with Brad and Robbo, Majiball may well tell you of the disaster which was Friedel at Liverpool!!!

He came to Rovers and was a revelation, Confidence and belief in your own ability are vital, without it you dont come for crosses, become indecisive and then neither the defence or the keeper know where they are!

Another point here regarding the ratio of shots against him, it is easier to be on your game when the shots are flying in, you are ready for it, but a keeper, like a good slip fielder at cricket is worth his salt when maybe the only one in the game flies at you and you deal with it, that is concentration and proffesionalism.

Give Robbo the support you gave Brad, call him Englands number 1, lift him, he will repay us as a club a hundred times over if we do that, look what happened to James, yes he made errors, but has been awesome at Pompy for most of the time!!

[thenodrog]

i ask why turn 20 million down for rocky and then leave him on the bench,we could have bought a right back,central midfielder and a right winger with the money

If you hadn't been swilling ale in Rishton and been at Ewood like you used to be you would have seen RSC subbed with a toe injury. Still why let the facts get in the way of a good moan eh?

[den]

Confidence and belief in your own ability are vital, without it you dont come for crosses, become indecisive and then neither the defence or the keeper know where they are!

Conversely, realisation that you aren't very good at coming for crosses affects confidence. Robbo's form is nothing to do with confidence. You can get over a lack of confidence a hell of a lot quicker than Robinson is taking. When was this lapse in confidence dented - years ago?

I'm not expecting much more than we're seeing now.