[Archived] Sam's January Targets

[CrazyIvan]

Our big mac got paid his wages on time, Pompey's hasn't.

If your employer were not paying you and not honouring commitments made on your behalf related to your employment, would you lie back and think of Pompey?

I think the paper means it as a positional 'striking' rather than being 'on strike'.

[gumboots]

Our big mac got paid his wages on time, Pompey's hasn't.

If your employer were not paying you and not honouring commitments made on your behalf related to your employment, would you lie back and think of Pompey?

Agree. there's a world of difference in basically cheating a club out of your wages by not doing what you are being paid to do i.e. get fit to play and doing your best when playing to score goals, and not wanting to play because they haven't paid you what they owe you and you don't know if and when they will. Having said that, I agree, I think they mean the position, not that he's refusing to play

[nicko]

This is a pretty honest assesment of the recent events by the manager and confirms one or two things said round here too...

http://www.football365.com/story/0,17033,8652_5918280,00.html

[Fife Rover]

This is a pretty honest assesment of the recent events by the manager and confirms one or two things said round here too...

http://www.football365.com/story/0,17033,8652_5918280,00.html

Link dosen't work.

[thenodrog]

This is a pretty honest assesment of the recent events by the manager and confirms one or two things said round here too...

http://www.football365.com/story/0,17033,8652_5918280,00.html

Link wont work. It needs cutting and pasting.

Tell you what, there is now more chance of Glenn Miller landing in France than any idea of us reverting to a 4-4-2 system.

[CrazyIvan]

Try this...

[thenodrog]

Link dosen't work.

Neither does spell check it seems Fife.

[jim mk2]

1 football Blackburn Nightlead

ALLARDYCE CALLS ON MIDFIELD TO PICK UP SLACK

By Phil Medlicott, Press Association Sport

Blackburn boss Sam Allardyce admits he has been left short up front after being beaten by the clock on transfer deadline day in his attempts to replace Benni McCarthy with another striker.

Although a move to West Ham had been on the cards for some time, McCarthy's eventual transfer to Upton Park was not completed until Monday due to complications over a work permit.

With a satisfactory fee for the for the 32-year-old South African finally secured Allardyce then swiftly went about trying to reinvest the money in a forward to take McCarthy's place.

But once his initial target, Manchester City striker Benjani Mwaruwari, had chosen to join Sunderland on loan rather than sign up at Ewood Park, there was not enough time for Allardyce to seal a deal for Aruna Dindane before the window closed.

The manager revealed that Dindane, who has been on loan at Portsmouth from Lens this season, had even completed his medical at Blackburn's Brockhall training complex on Monday but had to be turned away at five o'clock as the paperwork had not been finalised.

``If I was Benni - as a player at his age - I'd want to go as well, so I've got no problems with that and in the end I've got no problems with the price that we got,'' Allardyce said.

``The biggest problem for us is that we didn't get anyone in to replace him.

``We tried to sign Benjani on a full-time basis but the work permit was a big problem, getting it through on time. Then it could only become a loan scenario.

``He wasn't the only player we went for - we went for many players before that but couldn't get it to a conclusion. Because Benni's transfer was so late, it was virtually impossible for us to secure one of the players that we had our eye on from abroad.

``So we finally ended up with Benjani, and he ended up going for Sunderland rather than us.

``We had to try and move quickly, because that decision was late on Monday, to try and get Aruna Dindane in and unfortunately, even though he was in the building right the way up to five o'clock, we couldn't get it through. We didn't have enough time to finish the paperwork.

``He was in the building, he had done the medical and we were trying to get a bit of leeway from the Premier League, but they wouldn't see fit to do anything for us. So when five o'clock came we just had to say, 'I'm very sorry, it hasn't happened'.''

Having been ultimately defeated by what he calls a ``jackass'' of a transfer system, Allardyce - whose team travel to Stoke this weekend in the Barclays Premier League - now has only Nikola Kalinic, Jason Roberts and Franco Di Santo left in his squad as recognised strikers.

The manager admits the weight of expectation upon the trio has been increased by McCarthy's departure, but he is also hoping to see further contributions from some of his midfielders and defenders who have already chipped in with goals this season.

``We are short of goals so the responsibility lies with those boys (up front) converting more,'' Allardyce said.

``The level of goals from midfield has to be another area we look at where we say, 'where do we get our goals - the majority from our strike-force, but where else?'

``That lies with midfield players like (David) Dunn, who got five in 10 in the early part of the season, and Morten (Gamst Pedersen) who has three in the last four (league games). Ryan Nelsen has three goals this year.

``So that is what we have to add to, as well as the front men adding to their total. Everybody in midfield and some of the big lads at the back on set-pieces have to notch one or two more.''

Allardyce did manage to bring in Stuttgart midfielder Yildiray Basturk during the window on loan, but the Turkey international is unlikely to feature against Stoke as he is not yet match fit.

[martonrover]

This is a pretty honest assesment of the recent events by the manager and confirms one or two things said round here too...

http://www.football365.com/story/0,17033,8652_5918280,00.html

Very enlightening.

I thought the deal only had to be done in principal?

The Premier League seem to have given other clubs plenty of leeway so this seems a bit harsh.

[den]

Sam's comments simply confirm that we are weaker.

[mellison24]

Sam's comments simply confirm that we are weaker.

In his opinion

[den]

In his opinion

Yep.

and mine.

[mellison24]

Yep.

and mine.

Obv, we've talked about this and I don't want this to become another argument, but I really don't see how it makes us 'weaker' as such. I only see it as changing the dynamics of the team. Whether it works or not, we'll have to wait and see; but I'll stay positive It worked last year

[BPF]

Obv, we've talked about this and I don't want this to become another argument, but I really don't see how it makes us 'weaker' as such. I only see it as changing the dynamics of the team. Whether it works or not, we'll have to wait and see; but I'll stay positive It worked last year

We've lost a player without a replacement.

Instantly weaker. On a basic Maths level as well as everything else

[mellison24]

We've lost a player without a replacement.

Instantly weaker. On a basic Maths level as well as everything else

We lost a player who played in the hole for us in the current system. We brought in two players who also do that. In the process, we replaced Benni (a bad egg and not playing in his natural position) with Basturk (a plyer who is a tad younger and is renowned as a world star in that position) .

I understand your point entirely and why you came to that conclusion. I just prefer to put positive spins on things (Yes, I admit it's spin, but it's my genuine view).

[thenodrog]

We lost a player who played in the hole for us in the current system. We brought in two players who also do that......

Beat me to it.

In fairness though should it be needed through injury and suspension Benny could easily play 'up top'. I'm not sure his replacements could.

[mellison24]

Beat me to it.

In fairness though should it be needed through injury and suspension Benny could easily play 'up top'. I'm not sure his replacements could.

That's my only potential qualm with what has happened. Otherwise, I'm fairly happy. This point just supports the idea of a changed dymnamic within the team. As long as the team mixes play, rather than constant long ball (i'd prefer mixed play to constant carpet ball as well, because that isn't ENGLISH football) then I'd be happy. It must also provide results, mind .

[Blue n White Rover]

So the PL can allow Benjani's transfer to Sunderland go through after 5pm, but not ours?

[mellison24]

So the PL can allow Benjani's transfer to Sunderland go through after 5pm, but not ours?

The paperwork/emails or whatever were allegedly ready before the deadline. Our deal just broke down completely due to their demanded fee. BUT I agree, that it's bloody stupid and that the deadline should be the DEADLINE like in every other walk of life.

[Eddie]

He's basically all but admitting to the fact that our transfer window was a total mess.

1) Targets weren't decided on quickly enough.

2) Deals weren't arranged in the order in which they should have been.

3) If we needed a replacement for Benni but were running out of time, why did we have to sell him?

Mr Transfer basically cocked it up big-time. I have zero faith in his ability to come up with original targets for this summer. Expect us to go for whoever is being looked at by anyone else and probably to look almost exclusively at domestic targets. We'll overpay for a 30-something striker who was never that good and we may just get another Salgado in as well so that Allardyce can try to cling onto his reputation.

Clearly out of touch with the transfer market and not using his scouting networks or contacts properly and it is costing the club. 6 months of treading water ahead simply because we weren't able to identify one solid target in 6 months of scouting? Not impressed.

[thenodrog]

He's basically all but admitting to the fact that our transfer window was a total mess.

1) Targets weren't decided on quickly enough.

2) Deals weren't arranged in the order in which they should have been.

3) If we needed a replacement for Benni but were running out of time, why did we have to sell him?

Mr Transfer basically cocked it up big-time. I have zero faith in his ability to come up with original targets for this summer. Expect us to go for whoever is being looked at by anyone else and probably to look almost exclusively at domestic targets. We'll overpay for a 30-something striker who was never that good and we may just get another Salgado in as well so that Allardyce can try to cling onto his reputation.

Clearly out of touch with the transfer market and not using his scouting networks or contacts properly and it is costing the club. 6 months of treading water ahead simply because we weren't able to identify one solid target in 6 months of scouting? Not impressed.

Cos we were rightly playing hard ball with WHU waiting for them to blink when he went on bloody strike and forced our hand you goon!

The rule at BRFC since Jack died appears to be one out before one comes in. We didn't have the time to replace him. Benjani or Beattie are both over 30 anyway! But personally as they were not our top targets I'm not too fussed. If we stay up we'd likely have hated them and wanted them out from next August forward. I live in hope but at least we might now end up with one of the preferred choices.

[mellison24]

He's basically all but admitting to the fact that our transfer window was a total mess.

1) Targets weren't decided on quickly enough.

2) Deals weren't arranged in the order in which they should have been.

3) If we needed a replacement for Benni but were running out of time, why did we have to sell him?

Mr Transfer basically cocked it up big-time. I have zero faith in his ability to come up with original targets for this summer. Expect us to go for whoever is being looked at by anyone else and probably to look almost exclusively at domestic targets. We'll overpay for a 30-something striker who was never that good and we may just get another Salgado in as well so that Allardyce can try to cling onto his reputation.

Clearly out of touch with the transfer market and not using his scouting networks or contacts properly and it is costing the club. 6 months of treading water ahead simply because we weren't able to identify one solid target in 6 months of scouting? Not impressed.

These are GUARANTEED to happen because each has happened ONCE out of about 10 transfers.

The very same scouting system that gave us Givet, NZonzi and Kalinic (while Pompey were looking at him, we must have too to have had an interest! We even BOUGHT him and he's come good, so how can that be used as a criticism???)

[OJRovers]

Cos we were rightly playing hard ball with WHU waiting for them to blink when he went on bloody strike and forced our hand you goon!

The rule at BRFC since Jack died appears to be one out before one comes in. We didn't have the time to replace him. Benjani or Beattie are both over 30 anyway! But personally as they were not our top targets I'm not too fussed. If we stay up we'd likely have hated them and wanted them out from next August forward. I live in hope but at least we might now end up with one of the preferred choices.

I'm somewhat surprised that the Rovers didn't have in place a contingency in case Benni were to be sold.

I don't quite understand the comment about Benjani as he appeared to be our top target-we only went after Dindane after Bejani preferred Sunderland to us.

[John]

Our situation is not ideal I admit that - ideally we would want another striker, preferably with some experience too. Sam admitted as much today.

However, I still cannot understand the over-reaction here. Unless an injury 'crisis' unfolds, we have enough with our strikeforce (plus Dunn) to be OK.

As a club, like it or not, financially we are budgeting to finish 17th pretty much.

The fact other managers, who had more money at their disposal, were in for Benjani and Dindane too, surely means that bringing one of them in on loan would not have been as disastrous as some are suggesting.

[mellison24]

Our situation is not ideal I admit that - ideally we would want another striker, preferably with some experience too. Sam admitted as much today.

However, I still cannot understand the over-reaction here. Unless an injury 'crisis' unfolds, we have enough with our strikeforce (plus Dunn) to be OK.

As a club, like it or not, financially we are budgeting to finish 17th.

The fact other managers, who had more money at their disposal, were in for Benjani and Dindane too, surely means that bringing one of them in on loan would not have been as disastrous as some are suggesting.

13th actually