[Archived] Sam Allardyce

[greco]

Allardyce has injured players, out of sorts players and players who say they want away. He's in a fix and must manage us to avoid relegation with a softly softly approach, and without losing his temper, bruising ego's and ending up with even less options within his squad. He is metaphorically walking on eggshells. I trust that at the end of the season and there has been a successful resolve to the relegation threat that ego's will get bruised big time and plenty of egg shells trampled. I bet he can hardly wait.

quite an insightfull post, which i agree with.

in the summer i imagine quite a few changes.

[Mr. E]

Heres my list of players who can go:

Brown

Simpson

Nelsen

Zurab

Ooijer

Warnock

Tugay - coach

Andrews

Mokoena

Morten

Treacy

Gallagher

Benni

Roberts

RSC - Just for some dollar

Derb's can stay he's playing well at olympiakos (unless they cough up real money not some poxy 1.5M he's banging them in double it nay triple it and we can talk. But the rest of them are either not bothered about our club or not good enough.

I would however start to build a team including some of our current players

GK - Robbo (one more year if not back by then, then bye)

RB - Emerton

LB - New Blood required

CB - Samba

CB - Givet

DM - Grella

MC - Someone, anyone who can play, please!

MC - see above but add some pace

RW - Diouf

LW - Newblood and some bloody pace please

ST - someone who works hard and scores goals and doesn't get injured when a cotto wool bud hits him.

Back-ups

Dunn

Derb's

Bunn - not sure though

Agreed with almost all of this, except for Benni leaving (he's still the most talented player in our squad as far as I'm concerned), and I'd rather give Roberts one more chance than Robinson. But yes, we need a hell of a massive overhaul. Though the same was being said in January, and we didn't get much.

[waggy]

Allardyce has injured players, out of sorts players and players who say they want away. He's in a fix and must manage us to avoid relegation with a softly softly approach, and without losing his temper, bruising ego's and ending up with even less options within his squad. He is metaphorically walking on eggshells. I trust that at the end of the season and there has been a successful resolve to the relegation threat that ego's will get bruised big time and plenty of egg shells trampled. I bet he can hardly wait.

you never posted this when the same was happening under ince lardarse made a fool of every rovers fan on saturday,no centre forward then blames the the players for not sticking to his plan,that he had worked hard on for two days.

[adopted scouser]

you never posted this when the same was happening under ince lardarse made a fool of every rovers fan on saturday,no centre forward then blames the the players for not sticking to his plan,that he had worked hard on for two days.

He had a hard on for two days ?!! Having a stiff up front gave him the choice of centre forward on Saturday then ....

[JC4LAB]

Given our position on his his arrival keeping us up will be as good as winning a cup final and I for one will be forever grateful if he does..Keep up the good work Sam..Just wish he could just get a fit and motivated Rocky Santa on board fighting the cause..

[imy9]

you never posted this when the same was happening under ince lardarse made a fool of every rovers fan on saturday,no centre forward then blames the the players for not sticking to his plan,that he had worked hard on for two days.

Out of interest how long would you expect a manager to work on a plan? Two days sounds about right, taking into account players who may have come back from injury.

Were we in a relegation battle under Ince? I think you will find he had an entire summer to buy the players he wanted, he also sold our two best players and failed to replace them. He then left us with 13 points from 17 games and averaging TWO goals against every game.

So I ask you Waggy how are the situations similar? I recall getting thumped 3-0 against Wigan away under Ince, but under Sam we have not lost against a side outside the top 5, progress? Majority of sane supporters on here would agree.

I think you will find that most of the Rovers players made fools of the fans.

[JAL]

you never posted this when the same was happening under ince lardarse made a fool of every rovers fan on saturday,no centre forward then blames the the players for not sticking to his plan,that he had worked hard on for two days.

Got to ask you this question Waggy.

What do you think of the people who sacked Ince and employed Big Sam Allardyce? Waggy!

[philipl]

I don't like this line of being a better manager than the players are players he has come out with this morning. That smacks of arrogance and is asking for trouble.

[Eddie]

That's not true - the teams currently in 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th all play decent football.

This theory that the only way to stay up is to bypass the midfield and rely on long throws, corners and free kicks around the box is crap - especially when the players selected are totally unable to capitalise on the set pieces (except when the clown in Spurs goal throws us a lifeline).

Fulham proved beyond doubt last season that it's possible to play your way out of trouble in this league. They don't have a squad far removed from ours in terms of footballing ability.

I'm in complete agreement. We're clearly at our best when we aren't just playing long ball stuff, so why is that all we are trying? Allardyce is a one-trick pony to me and it is hurting us. We simply aren't suited to playing the way he's trying to make the team play and in an idiotic attempt to make it work he's throwing centrebacks up front when we have fit forwards. Some people seem to have convinced themselves that he is a great manager and that he can do no wrong when he is clearly doing his best impression of a Souness (when he started to lose it) and Ince lovechild.

[Hughesy]

I don't like this line of being a better manager than the players are players he has come out with this morning. That smacks of arrogance and is asking for trouble.

I think hes just getting across his message that he is the boss, not the players and they should listen to him. Im sure he will have the final say in the summer when he flogs have of the deadwood off.

[trueblue]

I think hes just getting across his message that he is the boss, not the players and they should listen to him. Im sure he will have the final say in the summer when he flogs have of the deadwood off.

And what makes you think anyone will buy them?

[DE.]

I'm in complete agreement. We're clearly at our best when we aren't just playing long ball stuff, so why is that all we are trying? Allardyce is a one-trick pony to me and it is hurting us. We simply aren't suited to playing the way he's trying to make the team play and in an idiotic attempt to make it work he's throwing centrebacks up front when we have fit forwards. Some people seem to have convinced themselves that he is a great manager and that he can do no wrong when he is clearly doing his best impression of a Souness (when he started to lose it) and Ince lovechild.

Yes, Sam's tactics have got us out of the relegation zone and gotten us wins against Hull, Fulham, Stoke, Spurs, and Newcastle... but it's hurting us

It's ridiculous that anyone would lambast Allardyce at this point in his tenure, after he's managed to drag a team that were dead certs for relegation out of the relegation zone and with our destiny firmly in our own capable hands. He may not be a great manager but he's more than capable of saving us from the mess we've been in.

Okay, we've picked up a couple of really bad results, and our football hasn't been fantastic to watch, but with a decimated and demoralised squad Allardyce has done a really good job. Anyone who says his style isn't working is ignoring the facts in front of them.

[broadsword]

Potential buyers will be swarming round Grella like flies round Burnley!

[Guest Vinjay606]

I don't like this line of being a better manager than the players are players he has come out with this morning. That smacks of arrogance and is asking for trouble.

Brian Clough would probably have said something like that but of course his reputation is of a considerably greater magnitude.

[PAFELL]

He has managed 21 points from 15 games after Ince´s woeful tenure turned up 13 points from 17 games. In his time here he has turrned us from relegation certainties into a side whose form since would have seen us challenging for European places if we had been like that all season. Furthermore he has now lost just 3 games and all to sides in the top five.

Hardly surprising that you "had not considered the possibility that he might be losing the dressing room" now is it really?

Sam´s work has been nothing short of sensational since he came here. Saturday was poor but we said that after the Arsenal game as well and that will be all forgotten with a result against an in-form Stoke side.

Of course there is.

In fact there you go you have provided it yourself...

If Sam believed that playing that team and relaxing some players will help us against the more winnable game at The Britannia Stadium then so be it.

Nobody here likes to see Rovers losing but sometimes it is better to cut your losses and focus on our best opportunities for points.

Pedersen was injured, as was Roberts. Apart from the goal against spuds, Macarthy didn't deserve a place. RSQ was nearly ready for playing, but pulled his calf muscle prior to the game, Douff was sick. In my view big sam did not have many options as to who to put in the side against liverpool. It was better not to rush any injured player back to play liverpool, better to wait for the stoke game.

[T4E]

For me the whole thing seems very very obvious.

Sam has come in with a plan tailored made towards keeping us up - no more, no less. It would appear that he has targeted each fixtured and decided what he needs from each one. He's written off a few, sure, but in the crunch games against the teams around us his record is near flawless.

Once Sam has kept us up, and had a full Summer to do some business and build his team, we will then be in a position to judge him, his tactics and his standard of football. If after all of that we still play Chris Samba up front on his own away to Liverpool then I'll be right at the front of the queue of people who want to have a pop at him.

All that has mattered since Sam came in was avoiding relegation. That was his brief, he's on course to achieve it and he should have the gratitude of all of us for that.

[thenodrog]

For me the whole thing seems very very obvious.

Sam has come in with a plan tailored made towards keeping us up - no more, no less. It would appear that he has targeted each fixtured and decided what he needs from each one. He's written off a few, sure, but in the crunch games against the teams around us his record is near flawless.

Once Sam has kept us up, and had a full Summer to do some business and build his team, we will then be in a position to judge him, his tactics and his standard of football. If after all of that we still play Chris Samba up front on his own away to Liverpool then I'll be right at the front of the queue of people who want to have a pop at him.

All that has mattered since Sam came in was avoiding relegation. That was his brief, he's on course to achieve it and he should have the gratitude of all of us for that.

Correct. Nothing else matters at this stage.

[ABBEY]

what happens to this masterplan if it goes tits up at stoke tho?

[John]

Going round in circles on this thread! Its all about results at the moment and so far they have been pretty decent under Sam.

With minimal financial outlay, he has also managed to imrove our squad in January (some may say not very difficult, but still has done it). Diouf and particularly Givet add real quality to our first team/squad.

I am sure with a further transfer kitty of £3 million in the summer, he will be able to buy the players to get us playing flowing, attacking, one touch football some are desperately craving.....

[DE.]

what happens to this masterplan if it goes tits up at stoke tho?

Then we're still in a good position to stay up, there's no way for us to be in the relegation zone even if we lose 10-0 against Stoke (though obviously a draw/win would be ideal). When it comes to crunch ties, we've so far delivered under Sam, there's no reason to suggest that will change saturday.

[neekoy]

I am sure with a further transfer kitty of £3 million in the summer, he will be able to buy the players to get us playing flowing, attacking, one touch football some are desperately craving.....

I am hoping for some Sam magic and we will end up with Inzaghi and Del Piero leading the front line next year

EDIT: Actually I would prefer them

[FourLaneBlue]

Another woeful performance does show that Sam is not a miracle worker. However away to Stoke is one of the harder fixtures this league has to offer.

If this poor form is followed by an equally poor performance at home to Wigan then we really should be worried.

We need something more than Benni up front on his own dealing with long balls that is for sure.

Overall Sam has done very well...but recent form is very worrying.

[Exiled in Toronto]

I suppose it depends on how much one buys into the philosophy that in the premier league, results are all that count.

The thing I am finding most disheartening about how Allardyce is getting us to play is the sheer hopelessness of the last 3 games. I have no hope or expectation that we will make their keeper make a save. I have no hope or expectation that a player will do something skillful. If we get a goal it disappears almost instantly from my mind as there was nothing memorable about it.

I have never felt like that before, no matter who the manager. Under Quigley, we had Eamonn Rogers to give me hope; under Pickering we had McKenzie; under Kidd we had Jansen, Duff and Dunn. Result were bad but there was at least hope and expectation. Even under Ince, I was engaged for all the games apart from Wigan away as I though we might do something positive.

I just cannot stand the sheer hopelessness of Allardyce having Andrews play hoofball to McCarthy.

[dopper69]

I was very against the appointment of Sam when the rumour started floating about.

However, you cannot fault his Premier League record and his nack for sports science. His recent team selections have been very worrying (Incesque) however I am hoping that this is just a temporary blip.

Facts are facts and under Sam's command all season we would be comfortably away from he trapdoor and not in our current situation.

Either way, whether we stay up or go down Sam will be the right man for next seasons rebuilding.

[jim mk2]

I suppose it depends on how much one buys into the philosophy that in the premier league, results are all that count.

Probably the most ludicrous statement of the year.

Hands up all those who want us to go down playing good football ?