[Archived] Liverpool Preview

[Eddie]

Maybe, maybe not. My personal belief is that we'd be close to where we are now, but that really isn't the point. Ince was clueless and Allardyce is doing his best to make sure Ince doesn't look too bad.

[broadsword]

Maybe, maybe not. My personal belief is that we'd be close to where we are now, but that really isn't the point. Ince was clueless and Allardyce is doing his best to make sure Ince doesn't look too bad.

Get some perspective Eddie.

I wasn't happy about the Liverpool result, but we're talking here about a guy who's managed in the top flight for a long time.

He's about as far from Ince as you can get.

[DE.]

It's amazing that some people hate Sam enough that they will refuse to credit the impact he's had on our team. No matter how you feel personally about the man, there's no comparison between him and Ince.

[T4E]

Maybe, maybe not. My personal belief is that we'd be close to where we are now, but that really isn't the point. Ince was clueless and Allardyce is doing his best to make sure Ince doesn't look too bad.

What is your personal opinion based on? As far as I can see every fact and statistic available to assist in forming such an opinion suggests that you are wrong. I'm intrigued.

[Guest Vinjay606]

It's amazing that some people hate Sam enough that they will refuse to credit the impact he's had on our team. No matter how you feel personally about the man, there's no comparison between him and Ince.

I don't hate him and will acknowledge he's better than Ince. However I'm sure Roberto Mancini as an example (and he did apply in January) could have achieved similar results.

I didn't want BFS in the summer though (Ten Cate was my choice) so I'm not going to be a hypocrite and say I wanted him in January. Certainly not over Mancini.

BFS is too Northern for my liking (claimed his name was why he didn't get appointed as England manager) and represents this local mentality the club needs to get away from in my opinion. I'm not that bothered about the style of football as at the moment I look at most things involving BRFC as a short term fix.

[The1mattjansen]

Isn´t it clear that Sam is working with absolute tosh!?

Those that are now criticising him for his negative, percentage tactics are also the ones who openly admit that this squad is not good enough for the premier league. In his position, I would be doing exactly the same! Sam throws conventional wisdom to the wind and ´plays the game´. Why put out a full strength eleven to try their nads off at at Highbury and Anfield when we were almost certain to lose anyway? Doing so would leave us with more injuries that we already have, and a team that is knackered when going into the more winnable games.

You have to use what you have to your advantage and focus on your strengths. In Sam we are doing that and I cannot think of one other manager who would have kept us in the league this year.

[thenodrog]

It's amazing that some people hate Sam enough that they will refuse to credit the impact he's had on our team. No matter how you feel personally about the man, there's no comparison between him and Ince.

When I was a child watching westerns on tele I often wondered about the type of characters who formed instant lynch mobs to hang some poor # slave who kissed the plantation owners daughter, or some desperate red indian who killed a steer to feed his starving family in the winter.

[LeChuck]

BFS is too Northern for my liking (claimed his name was why he didn't get appointed as England manager) and represents this local mentality the club needs to get away from in my opinion.

I don't really know what you mean by that.

With his obsession of the technological side of the game, his use of psychologists, interest in players diets and all the other things he uses in management, I'd hardly say he's a stereotypical northerner.

[MCMC1875]

I don't hate him and will acknowledge he's better than Ince. However I'm sure Roberto Mancini as an example (and he did apply in January) could have achieved similar results.

I didn't want BFS in the summer though (Ten Cate was my choice) so I'm not going to be a hypocrite and say I wanted him in January. Certainly not over Mancini.

BFS is too Northern for my liking (claimed his name was why he didn't get appointed as England manager) and represents this local mentality the club needs to get away from in my opinion. I'm not that bothered about the style of football as at the moment I look at most things involving BRFC as a short term fix.

He's from the Midlands (Dudley).

[tashor]

Sam's priorities for this game -

1) Avoid injuries from needless activities i.e. tackling/running etc.

2) Rest any player carrying an injury - play kids instead.

3) Avoid yellow/red cards - yes! - no tackling.

4) Try not to grin like a daft kid when caught on camera - sorry Sam - failed on this.

5) Pretend in interviews after the game that we actually were trying and had a cunning plan.

6) Spend the time on tactics for the really important games coming up.

7) Avoid a charge of bringing the game into disrepute for deliberately fielding a weakened side.

103) Hope that luck and poor finishing gives us a remote chance of a 0:0 draw.

Oh well! Apart from the latter, job done

[imy9]

I don't hate him and will acknowledge he's better than Ince. However I'm sure Roberto Mancini as an example (and he did apply in January) could have achieved similar results.

I didn't want BFS in the summer though (Ten Cate was my choice) so I'm not going to be a hypocrite and say I wanted him in January. Certainly not over Mancini.

BFS is too Northern for my liking (claimed his name was why he didn't get appointed as England manager) and represents this local mentality the club needs to get away from in my opinion. I'm not that bothered about the style of football as at the moment I look at most things involving BRFC as a short term fix.

Interesting that Mancini has not had a job since Inter, nearly a YEAR ago. There have been plenty of jobs out there for him, he was dire at Fiorentina and had masses of money at Inter.

Ten Cate had no other offers apart from a Greek side, hardly a glowing reference, Big Sam has the CV ideally suited to our needs, he has shown that already.

[Guest Vinjay606]

At the start of the season there was no reason to expect a relegation battle. So clearly Ten Cate (considered the brains behind FR at Barcelona) did meet BRFC's start of the season needs. To be in European contention again. Plus TC had experience with Ajax as number 1 performing well in his role there.

[DE.]

I'm not sure if Sam would have been the best choice at the start of the season, however, I highly doubt we'd be where we are now if he had been appointed.

[imy9]

At the start of the season there was no reason to expect a relegation battle. So clearly Ten Cate (considered the brains behind FR at Barcelona) did meet BRFC's start of the season needs. To be in European contention again. Plus TC had experience with Ajax as number 1 performing well in his role there.

So am I right in thinking that Big Sam is the man for a relegation battle but clearly nothing else?

He left Bolton in 5th place in the league with most of the season gone (and was more successful than our very own Hughes) and proved what he could do with a limited budget.

How does Ten Cate meet BRFC's needs? He was number 2 at Barcelona and Chelsea not number 1 and won a league title with Ajaz, wow- he did also manage to fight with just about everyone around him too! (he also did not manage under a tight budget did he?)

[47er]

Maybe, maybe not. My personal belief is that we'd be close to where we are now, but that really isn't the point. Ince was clueless and Allardyce is doing his best to make sure Ince doesn't look too bad.

Ignoring the ratio of games played to points gained of course which is all that matters at this stage!

[Eddie]

What is your personal opinion based on? As far as I can see every fact and statistic available to assist in forming such an opinion suggests that you are wrong. I'm intrigued.

The fact that the teams around us have looked decidedly ordinary all season and that I think, even with a terrible manager, the extra quality we have in our squad in comparison to four or five other teams in this league would have resulted in us picking up enough points. I've yet to see Allardyce set this team up in a way that I think his involvement has been the reason for us taking any points and I actually think we've grabbed points in spite of his tactics on a few occasions (Spurs and Fulham being good examples). No real point in debating it as it's all hypothetical. I realise the majority will disagree with me and that a fairly large percentage on here considered us to be down without hope at the time of Ince's sacking, although our quick recovery goes against that theory (I also don't remember quite as many being so dramatic at the time). I think our run of games just before and after the Christmas period will be our saviour more than any manager was. I wasn't an Ince fan, but I liked some of his ideas. I have more faith in Allardyce, but I'm yet to be convinced.

I don't hate the man, I actually think my opinion of him before he came to the club was probably far less defined than the majority of Blackburn supporters and I'm sure he was extremely personable at the evening last week and he was obviously a success at Bolton, but when I look at what he has done here so far and what he did at Newcastle (albeit at a difficult club and with him not being given much time) I'm not convinced that he is actually a great manager. He seems to have one particular style, one particular approach and that can work in some places but without a complete revamp (which is unrealistic quite frankly) I can't see it every being truly effective here. I hope that he proves me wrong and I'm certainly not calling for him to be sacked or anything or making some pitiful attempt at "undermining the club".

[Hughesy]

The fact that the teams around us have looked decidedly ordinary all season and that I think, even with a terrible manager, the extra quality we have in our squad in comparison to four or five other teams in this league would have resulted in us picking up enough points.

You would of thought so wouldnt you - but we saw no signs of that under Ince.

We lost to Sunderland at home, Pompey away, Got a lucky draw at West Brom, and could only draw with both Boro and Hull at home. So who exactly are those 4 or 5 teams your talking about??

[Eddie]

Those teams, plus Newcastle and Stoke. We certainly saw signs of it under Ince at the start of the season and, despite the terrible run that we were on at the time of his sacking, which I was in favour of, I do think we would have turned it around. As I said though, it's purely hypothetical and impossible to prove one way or the other. You can easily argue that we would have stayed true to form and I have no way to prove that wrong, but I'm of the belief that the turnaround that occurred during that run of easier games would have happened under either of the two.

[47er]

The fact that the teams around us have looked decidedly ordinary all season and that I think, even with a terrible manager, the extra quality we have in our squad in comparison to four or five other teams in this league would have resulted in us picking up enough points. I've yet to see Allardyce set this team up in a way that I think his involvement has been the reason for us taking any points and I actually think we've grabbed points in spite of his tactics on a few occasions (Spurs and Fulham being good examples). No real point in debating it as it's all hypothetical. I realise the majority will disagree with me and that a fairly large percentage on here considered us to be down without hope at the time of Ince's sacking, although our quick recovery goes against that theory (I also don't remember quite as many being so dramatic at the time). I think our run of games just before and after the Christmas period will be our saviour more than any manager was. I wasn't an Ince fan, but I liked some of his ideas. I have more faith in Allardyce, but I'm yet to be convinced.

I don't hate the man, I actually think my opinion of him before he came to the club was probably far less defined than the majority of Blackburn supporters and I'm sure he was extremely personable at the evening last week and he was obviously a success at Bolton, but when I look at what he has done here so far and what he did at Newcastle (albeit at a difficult club and with him not being given much time) I'm not convinced that he is actually a great manager. He seems to have one particular style, one particular approach and that can work in some places but without a complete revamp (which is unrealistic quite frankly) I can't see it every being truly effective here. I hope that he proves me wrong and I'm certainly not calling for him to be sacked or anything or making some pitiful attempt at "undermining the club".

If he has "one particular style" it succeeded at Bolton for year after year and most importantly they got better and better over his time in charge. In fact Sam was more successful than Sparky. First he has to make us "relegation proof" then we'll see what he's made of eh?

[Dan]

You would HAVE thought so wouldn't you - but we saw no signs of that under Ince.

We lost to Sunderland at home, Pompey away, Got a lucky draw at West Brom, and could only draw with both Boro and Hull at home. So who exactly are those 4 or 5 teams your talking about??

Sorry it's early and I'm feeling grumpy!

[philipl]

With the resources we currently have, achieving Bolton-esque placements would be a fantastic achievement.

We seem to be on the way as is being repeatedly pointed out, extrapolate Sam's performance at Rovers since he was appointed THIS season with THIS squad and we'd be headed for the Europa League.

Yes I wanted someone other than Sam in the summer but my preferred alternatives were certainly not Ince-shaped.

Tashor could well have called the Liverpool game correctly. Will be interesting to hear what the training ground atmosphere was like yesterday.

[Eddie]

If he has "one particular style" it succeeded at Bolton for year after year and most importantly they got better and better over his time in charge. In fact Sam was more successful than Sparky. First he has to make us "relegation proof" then we'll see what he's made of eh?

This is turning into a great myth here that a team has to become "relegation proof" and to do so they can't play football.

[philipl]

There is also a loss of perspective about Rovers.

A lot of the stuff Hughes turned out last season was sadly anything but entertainment of the highest order.

Then Ince did produce more open purist football in a few games including the 0-4 at home to Arsenal but by the end of the Ince period we were reduced to the most juvenile kick and rush imaginable.

What Sam is playing is both more successful and more entertaining than what Ince served up in his last ten games or so.

[thenodrog]

Will be interesting to hear what the training ground atmosphere was like yesterday.

That IS an increasing concern to me also. The clubs around us are scrapping for their lives it is not a time for sulks, bruised ego's and drama queens. It's a time for unity amongst 'proper men'.

[Hughesy]

Our pretty sure our training ground atmosphere will be fine - we seem to have great team spirit.