[Archived] Sam Allardyce

[waggy]

depends which division we are in,plenty of good young players in the lower leagues

[JAL]

Oh dont you worry, he has been doing it all season. I think he is actually a dingle!

He's as blue and white as Jack Walker.

[rover6]

For all those defending Sam Allardyce's "rugby union tactics," what do you think of Gary Megson as a manager? Do you say good on him for eking out results with sheer negativity (look at their line-up - do you see any player who can entertain with his ball skills?) Would you welcome Megson to Rovers if Allardyce was to fall by the wayside?

I find it sad that the Premier League is declining into a hoof-fest...aside from the aristocrats of the Champs League.

[Paul Mellelieu]

For all those defending Sam Allardyce's "rugby union tactics," what do you think of Gary Megson as a manager? Do you say good on him for eking out results with sheer negativity (look at their line-up - do you see any player who can entertain with his ball skills?) Would you welcome Megson to Rovers if Allardyce was to fall by the wayside?

I find it sad that the Premier League is declining into a hoof-fest...aside from the aristocrats of the Champs League.

No-one gives a stuff about Megson, Bolton and "hoof-fests"

What matters is that we stay up.

[dingles staying down 4ever]

People who are saying Sam is turning Rovers into Bolton style team are probably right but he is not solely to blame. The previous manager sold one player, who could create something and did not replace him. Sam also had an opportunity and has brought in someone who runs with the ball, will run backtrack but penultimately acheives little. Time will tell if Mr. Diouff will get any better. Before Mr. Ince, Mr. Hughes developed a team which only had one outlet - ball to Bentley who in turn fed Roque. All other players must retain position and not advance.

I understand the predicament that Sam and the need for a defensive stratergy. I also accept that with the limitations of the squad at his disposal he is somewhat limited but with 15 minutes to go Wednesday's game was crying out to be won. His last substitution was taking off our only player who would get the ball down and carry it forward and bring on a winger who is frightened of his own shadow. It was crying out for something slightly different, if Dunn was not fit enough why was he on the bench, if Carlos is not rated by Sam and not going to be used why have him on the bench. Our best goal poacher sat on the bench but not used.

Sam tactics are somewhat driven but statistics and to limit what the opposotion can do against us. He says that we must change these one points to three points but he himself does very little to change things. He does not gamble. The only time we have changed formation under Sam are the times we are getting beaten.

80% of the managers in this league have adopted the same tactic of we must not concede so it is not just Sam but slowly it is killing football as a something people want to watch. Those who say only Champions league teams paly good football are also wrong as Liverpool are one of the worst offenders. Some fans suggested we gave Liverpool a game at Ewood this season for an hour but the fact was that an hour Liverpool did not want to concede and only after that did they attack. Once they did this they tore us apart. Defensive stratergies are boring. Leeds in the seventies were deemed as boring but they had attacking players who could excite. Are there genuinely many teams with players who can create things, do something different. Or all the young players being brought through robots who are preprogrammed?

I was bored in 95% of the games at Ewood last season and I was in doubt whether to renew my season ticket but I genuinely cannot remember one game this season coming off saying What a great 90 minutes of football.

[Paul Mellelieu]

Most football is boring.

[greco]

as i cant remember it, perhaps some on this board can.

how many points did we have and after how many games, when sam was appointed..?

[BRFC1995]

as i cant remember it, perhaps some on this board can.

how many points did we have and after how many games, when sam was appointed..?

13 from 17 under numpty.............................17 from 11 under magic sam

[RibbleValleyRover]

Another key stat to keep in mind is that we conceded 34 league goals in 17 games under Ince, not sure exactly how many goals we have conceded under Sam but its obviously far, far less.

[DE.]

Anyone who says Allardyce's appointment a bad one is an idiot. He may not be the most popular bloke, but he's sorted our team out. We've gone from being total no-hopers to having an extremely good chance of staying up. Sam's stats speak for themselves, as mentioned above, and if it takes his style of football to keep us playing in the top-tier of english football then I'll gladly take it.

Or we could try and play "pure" football like WBA claim to do. It's working so well for them.

[BRFC1995]

love to know what ince and his pundit'give him time' mates make of sams complete turn around, makes you think instead of recieving compo ince should have been sued for negligence.

[SoccerHQ]

Still don't see what the problem is.

He's made you hard to beat especially away from home, stopped you shedding loads of goals which was the main problem under Ince and you've gained plenty of points against bottom half teams to suggest you won't get relegated.

He's been in charge for what 12 games now in the league and in that time you've lost at home to one of the best away teams in the prem (us) and at Manure where you should've got a point at least.

He knows what he's doing, Bolton in the top 10 most seasons wasn't a fluke and you'll be back up there next season once he's allowed to bring in more of his own players.

[mark]

Anyone who says Allardyce's appointment a bad one is an idiot.

agreed. i don´t remember many complaints when saint hughes turned us into premiership bullies in order to keep us up in his first season.

who cares if its ugly THIS season, it´s all about staying up. wait till mid way through next term to judge big sam´s style.

[Hughesy]

Ince's record

P17 W3 D4 L10 F17 A34 Pts13 -

Includes defeats by Sunderland, Wigan & Pompey.

Sams Record so far

P11 W4 D5 L2 F15 A10 Pts17 -

Just 2 defeats against United & Villa

Says it all really. Just a shame we didnt push Ince out abit earlier.

[Jan]

Ince's record

P17 W3 D4 L10 F17 A34 Pts13 -

Includes defeats by Sunderland, Wigan & Pompey.

Sams Record so far

P11 W4 D5 L2 F15 A10 Pts17 -

Just 2 defeats against United & Villa

Says it all really. Just a shame we didnt push Ince out abit earlier.

You mean shame we didn't push Ince out after the press conference, where he made his intentions known? (Or even better never hired the numpty in the first place)

[Hughesy]

Very true Jan.

BIG SAMS BLUE N WHITE ARMY

[greco]

Ince's record

P17 W3 D4 L10 F17 A34 Pts13 -

Includes defeats by Sunderland, Wigan & Pompey.

Sams Record so far

P11 W4 D5 L2 F15 A10 Pts17 -

Just 2 defeats against United & Villa

Says it all really. Just a shame we didnt push Ince out abit earlier.

thanks for the stats. exactly what i was looking for.

an absoultely massive turn around. A bunch of players who looked like confused boyscouts, are now performing and looking to secure our place in the PL.

he has done an excellent job. Whether we played like, the norwegian national team under eigil "drillo" olsen or like brazilians, simply doesnt matter. We are close to securing survival in a season, which seemed doomed.

[Amo]

Sam has done a brilliant job in a short space of time, and now he needs to get us to the light at the end of the tunnel. He has his critics on here, but managers will never appease the fanbase all of the time. People will disagree with his selections and policies, but Sam is an experienced manager who knows what it takes to get the best out of a relatively small club like ours. He knows we need to roll our sleeves up, slog it out, and see what happens. If that means playing heavy, direct football, then c'est la vie. We haven't got the squad to play scintillating football across the park. It's gonna be ugly and direct sometimes, but football is a results business.

[T4E]

Ince's record

P17 W3 D4 L10 F17 A34 Pts13 -

Includes defeats by Sunderland, Wigan & Pompey.

Sams Record so far

P11 W4 D5 L2 F15 A10 Pts17 -

Just 2 defeats against United & Villa

Says it all really. Just a shame we didnt push Ince out abit earlier.

Sam's record there spread over a whole season would have seen us gain around 59 points, which this season would be comfortably good enough for 7th, and possibly just scrape 6th. In other words, Europe.

Ince's record spread over a whole season would have seen us gain around 29 points, which this season would be good enough for 19th at best, and probably 20th. In other words, relegation.

Serious questions need to be asked as to how we came to choose Ince over Allardyce in the Summer. John Williams has some explaining to do.

[Kelbo]

I would ask imply this, what do you think Sams brief was when he came to Rovers???

Simple, stop the rot and keep us up!!

Now, if any one of us had a brief, given the situation Ince left us with, we would have all done the job in a similar way, tighten things at the back, become difficult to beat, work hard and the points will look after themselves!!

Sam didnt do a quick fix, he appears to have stabelised and bar perhaps one performance, acheived a fair degree of consitency in the teams performances, that is not luck, its knowing and doing your job correctly.

We are a long way off the end of the season, yet but hopefully the points will keep being picked up until we reach safety, which Sam thinks will be 40 points, thats probably about right, he sets little targets and is within those targets to date, if Sam keeps us up, I for one will be extremely indebted to him and the team for their efforts.

Oh, and we have not had the fall outs etc we had behind the scenes like we had with Ince!! I wonder why?

[den]

I would ask imply this, what do you think Sams brief was when he came to Rovers???

Simple - keep us in the Premier League, nothing else matters. Which is why, it's maybe a little unfair, giving Allardyce the criticism he recieved, when he selected that side for the Coventry replay.

[LeChuck]

Simple - keep us in the Premier League, nothing else matters. Which is why, it's maybe a little unfair, giving Allardyce the criticism he recieved, when he selected that side for the Coventry replay.

7 points out of a possible 9 since that game completely justifies the decision for me.

Like you said, keeping us in the Premier League is all that matters.

[T4E]

Simple - keep us in the Premier League, nothing else matters. Which is why, it's maybe a little unfair, giving Allardyce the criticism he recieved, when he selected that side for the Coventry replay.

I said after the draw in the first game with Sunderland that I would have rather us go out than have a replay, and was castigated for it. Doesn't seem so stupid now.

[Stonesrick]

Serious questions need to be asked as to how we came to choose Ince over Allardyce in the Summer. John Williams has some explaining to do.

That's all in the past and we should have all moved onwards and upwards from this.

What explaining has JW to do? He has already admitted that things didn't work out under Ince but had the bottle to change it..hopefully in time to prevent a catastrophy.

[4ever&ever]

Spot on Stonesrick, he made a mistake but rectified it under pressure from the press.