Sam Allardyce

[rochdaleblue]

Yea, I agree.

Mind you, I also think things like NSNO can be taken too literally sometimes. What we can reasonably expect, is for the manager, and the players to do their best, and their best might not be "the best". We can reasonably expect better football from them, but there's a big gulf in quality between our players and that Chelsea side, so expecting great football today would be unrealistic.

Even more so when you consider we were without our best player of recent weeks (Rooney) our best midfielder just after half time (Gana) and having to reshuffle our defence from the start. Very much a point gained against a top side, rather than 2 lost.

 

[nsnojosh]

So far turned last season's losses into draws and the draws into wins. Can't really fault him for that, but I do hope the football gets a bit better. We've played some good stuff in spells but we need to do it consistently.

 

[CrustySack]

People need some perspective. On the pitch, we have been regressing since Christmas 2015. Lukaku and Barkley papered over cracks, but the mismanagement of the team reached its lowest point this season. Many fans have buried their heads, and last seasons' 7th place finish was not a true reflection of how poor this team as a whole really are.

Big Sam has stopped the rot and is now building a platform for us to move forward. It is not pretty, but it is necessary. Thank God we are not losing games whilst he sorts through the mess.

 

[davek]

If Allardyce delivers us top eight, then he'll, quite rightly, see his contract out and will then be judged on what he does next season.

I think to get top 8 and stay there will mean playing a lot better than this, so yeah.

 

[Nymzee]

Don’t care how ugly it is I’m just happy we’re not getting slapped around again.

 

[Gladystweet]

People need some perspective. On the pitch, we have been regressing since Christmas 2015. Lukaku and Barkley papered over cracks, but the mismanagement of the team reached its lowest point this season. Many fans have buried their heads, and last seasons' 7th place finish was not a true reflection of how poor this team as a whole really are.

Big Sam has stopped the rot and is now building a platform for us to move forward. It is not pretty, but it is necessary. Thank God we are not losing games whilst he sorts through the mess.

Totally agree. We've been poor for s long time, and under Koeman this season, we were looking dead and buried.
Sam is working with a very poor squad, and is managing to squeeze every last bit of effort out of them. He surely deserves credit for that.
We've crawled to the mid way point somehow, and are looking much healthier and harder to beat. That sickening feeling of relegation is slowly receding, so I'll go in to the new year with optimism. and hope the dead wood is moved on, and much needed reinforcements are added.

 

[fandjango]

Thats one way to put it. High quality defensive football. Lol. Anyway nobody is happier than me with the results Big Sam is getting us. We were in big big trouble before he came in

They kept their Shape
The stuck to the task
They restricted champions to 8 scrappy shots on target
That’s quality defending

 

[Jay]

He knows very well that he is not doing enough to get the job beyond the summer, he even saying it when talking to the media (about lack of attacking football), but he is talking about changing that as the next step, fine by me, he brought back stability and organized the defense, he now has to improve the football without losing the defensive strength, if he does that and we start seeing attacking football while not conceding too many goals, it means we will win lot of games till the end of the season which means we will finish 7th+. If he does that, he deserves the additional year he has on his contract.

 

[tonyhorne]

Allardyce seems to conform to the Bill Shankly school of "if you want to be entertained, go to the circus". He is working on the team getting results and, compared to how things were prior to him arriving, he is doing well. I reckon he should be given at least 2 or 3 transfer windows to see who he can bring in.

I'm liking what I see far more than I thought I would...

 

[Mikey_Fitzgerald]

Results over Entertainment for me, always and forever

 

[Gladystweet]

Allardyce seems to conform to the Bill Shankly school of "if you want to be entertained, go to the circus". He is working on the team getting results and, compared to how things were prior to him arriving, he is doing well. I reckon he should be given at least 2 or 3 transfer windows to see who he can bring in.

I'm liking what I see far more than I thought I would...

He's also working with the complete shambles, and players, that Koeman left us with, and somehow transformed them in to being hard to beat. I've no idea how long he'll be here for, or how much time he'll be given, but he's certainly stopped the rot.

 

[orly]

He's also working with the complete shambles, and players, that Koeman left us with, and somehow transformed them in to being hard to beat. I've no idea how long he'll be here for, or how much time he'll be given, but he's certainly stopped the rot.

A squad that qualified for Europe and has already had to play 31 games before Christmas, giving many youngsters their big break.

 

[Gladystweet]

A squad that qualified for Europe and has already had to play 31 games before Christmas, giving many youngsters their big break.

That's true, but something was seriously wrong this season.

 

[Number_25]

A couple of seasons ago we'd have lost that 5/6-0, and got a pat on the head by Redknapp and co for effort.

We were toe to toe with them across every inch of the pitch, real commitment from all involved, and a point to boot.

 

[CRIMHEAD]

Pretty tough to judge Sam with his striker, left back, and center back options, especially today.