Sam Allardyce

[Hickson9]

Just sick and tired of people who try make out that having ANY expectation whatsoever for our club is a bad thing mate, yeah shouting we should be winning the league before the season starts would be unrealistic in the current game, but trying to act like we should be happy by not being murdered (pun intended) by the rs or Chelsea at home and happy with a point and being dominated to a frankly absolutely crap West Brom team makes me sad for people who follow us and think that's the pinnacle of what we should aim to achieve.

It's a journey. The expectation to dominate teams should come further along in a couple of months at the earliest.

It's unfair to slay a manager over performances when he's been here less than a month and took us over in dire circumstances, especially when we have been unbeaten throughout and he's got us up to level with 8th.

 

[Stanley Parker]

I am not bothered to vault what he said in the past.

If Big Sam got 7th with this squad I just have to hold my hands up.

We have ended up with an unbalanced squad including several new members. It was demoralised and performing well below par. Sam has stiffened the defence and, with help of some rather fortunate results, restored confidence to produce greatly improved performances.

The Premier League has six big clubs and two or three superior ones. Beyond that, the standard is modest indeed. Sam should certainly be able to lift us towards the best of the rest with the benefit of two or three influential players in January.

Sam has shown his ability to restore confidence in the squad, but performances - even in defence - still leave much to be desired. Sam has indeed made a good start, one quite good enough to banish thoughts of relegation. But spectators require much more if they are to enjoy the spectacle.

It is much too early to announce him as the Messiah.

 

[Zatara]

There’s no probably about it mate that’s his style! Defend in numbers then launch it and feed of the scraps (knock downs) then go from there! That’s why he does ok in the relegation fights, unfortunately we’re stuck with him even though we’re not in one and never was.
It really is painful to watch at the minute.

*awaits the “would you rather us attack and get beat shouts”

No I would like us to attack and defend as a team with positive results.

The reason he does well at rubbish teams who should be relegated is because he is a very good manager. He's proving that already.

So we didn't actually get humiliated in the space of a few days by Atalanta and Southampton then? One who hadn't won away all season and stuck 5 past us on our own ground, and another who stuck half their seasons goal tally past us in 1 game and have been getting hit for 4 and 5 home and away since we played them?

Tough start...tougher than Burnley's away games where they picked up a win at Stamford Bridge, and got draws at Wembley and Anfield? After our tough start we then faced a run of fixtures against Limassol (H), Burnley (H) and Brighton (A) and couldn't win any of them. In reality our team was dire under Koeman and similarly as spineless under Unsworth where the humiliations against average sides continued.

Allardyce has sorted that out and made us hard to beat. People also seem to be forgetting/ignoring Allardyce managed to snatch us our only win away in the league in the last 11 months.

I cant believe he's got us 2pts average per game, its like a Xmas miracle.

hahaha that is actual nonsense and is the classic top out argument. For 6 million quid a year we would have had (and did have Silva, Fonseca etc) plenty of takers, we just chose the low risk/low reward option and hopefully we will correct that in the summer.

So you want to get rid of someone whose averaging 2pts a game with no left back and no centre forward...

lol

Enjoyed that, thanks.

The man just speaks plain English, common sense. He’s done exactly what he says in that video so far & more.

When he arrived (right after us being humiliated by the might of Atalanta & Southampton), nobody would have given him a hope in hell of going 7 unbeaten. Not only has he done that, but 4 wins, 5 clean sheets & just 2 goals conceded. It’s an incredible turnaround. On Boxing Day, on top of already being without Coleman & Baines, he was missing Rooney & Gana. That’s some really key players there, yet he’s able to rotate & the players coming in know their jobs. When players are struggling, he’s not afraid to make 2 subs at HT & make the balance right. If it was Mourinho, he’d be the special one. Yet some of our fans complain. And that’s before he’s even had the opportunity to deliver on the 2nd part of his plan, bringing in players in Jan.

Does anyone actually think Guardiola could have done better?

No one could have done this well...its an incredible feat and if he gets us 7th this season there will be huge optimism amongst the players going into next season...at the moment theyre probably feeling unbeatable.

Sam has played one way in nearly all his managerial career, what makes you think he's going to change?

he hasn't though has he? He played a negative style of play when going to rubbish teams and saving them from relegation. He did the same at Bolton but then gradually adapted it to go short and long even on a shoestring budget. He's pragmatic.

What you're saying is partly correct in my opinion but I think you have to view things with a sense of perspective. If he has us in 9th with 45 points in March and he's taking us to places like Swansea still playing this cautious when we have added a few names in January and got players back from injury then people are right to be frustrated. I even understand the frustration with how poor we were yesterday from a fan perspective but Allardyce has a specific job to do for the time being and he doesn't want to take risks.

By being more attacking and ambitious yesterday, it would have meant we were more likely to concede and Allardyce doesn't fully trust the players to be able to hold out playing that way. So he's going to be stubborn for the time being and while the points total is going up steadily I think people should be pleased in the short term that we're getting further away from the relegation places and staying within touching distance of Leicester in 8th, and possibly catching Burnley. We were nowhere near that before he came in.

Games like yesterday are awful compared to 2013/14 going to the Emirates and Old Trafford and getting 4 points in the space of a week, but they're no where near as bad as some of the horrific defeats we've witnessed away since then, like the 3-0s at Sunderland and Southampton under Martinez, the 2x 4-0 derby defeats, the 5-0 at Chelsea last season under Koeman and the 3-0 at Atalanta and 4-1 v Southampton this. Any point away is OK for where we are at the moment.

If Marco Silva was doing this and following the Diego Simeone style of play everyone would be raving...they just don't like sam allardyce.

Its quite bizarre...champions league next season and they would still complain...you have to wonder.

I'm struggling to understand why people think it will develop much beyond what he's serving up now.

What gives people hope from his career that we will? What gives people the idea we've even got that much money to spend on new players? The fact is that we have completely ballsed everything up and being best of the rest is all we can hope for in the foreseeable future.

Look at the squads in the top 6. Littered with quality players. We have spunked the majority of our money and are actually a worse team for it.

That doesn't make sense...weve just turned over a 30mil profit and have a lot of players we could sell and more tv money.

Guardiolas mother would pick a more attacking team than us, we are a disgrace to our whole history.

Which team do you support because Guardiola couldn't do anything with this team nor his dear mother.

Of course I want that.

But it's simple infeasible and unrealistic to expect that right now. Literally one month ago yesterday we lost 4-1 at Southampton in one if the worst things my eyes have ever seen.

Yet people think it should all be fixed in less than a month. It's insanity to be expecting that right now. In fact it's a Christmas miracle that we are looking so solid at the back currently.

He's here to make us solid after being so unbelievably poor. To do that you start at the back and become hard to beat. It's absolutely basic.

But yet people think we should be playing like Man City (IT'S AN EXAGGERATION DON'T TAKE THIS TO HEART) already. It's impossible.

Snowflakes / Geordies etc etc its bizarre.

We get smashed at Southampton in one of the worst games since the 90s and yet people are going mad about earning an away point against a west brom side with a new manager who have a good home record this season.

Just sick and tired of people who try make out that having ANY expectation whatsoever for our club is a bad thing mate, yeah shouting we should be winning the league before the season starts would be unrealistic in the current game, but trying to act like we should be happy by not being murdered (pun intended) by the rs or Chelsea at home and happy with a point and being dominated to a frankly absolutely crap West Brom team makes me sad for people who follow us and think that's the pinnacle of what we should aim to achieve.

Has anyone claimed that though?

If we keep Allardyce and some of our snowflake fans get behind him then we will compete for top 4 next season...no doubt in my mind.

 

[hktoffee]

Just sick and tired of people who try make out that having ANY expectation whatsoever for our club is a bad thing mate, yeah shouting we should be winning the league before the season starts would be unrealistic in the current game, but trying to act like we should be happy by not being murdered (pun intended) by the rs or Chelsea at home and happy with a point and being dominated to a frankly absolutely crap West Brom team makes me sad for people who follow us and think that's the pinnacle of what we should aim to achieve.

Realism? With this squad. After Koeman was sacked right after the Leicester game the team got 8 points from 10 games. Things do improve recently.

 

[Zatara]

LOL. If you believe anything more than 0,1% that @Bungle posts, then more fool you.

I'm suspicious his name is even @Bungle

 

[hktoffee]

We have ended up with an unbalanced squad including several new members. It was demoralised and performing well below par. Sam has stiffened the defence and, with help of some rather fortunate results, restored confidence to produce greatly improved performances.

The Premier League has six big clubs and two or three superior ones. Beyond that, the standard is modest indeed. Sam should certainly be able to lift us towards the best of the rest with the benefit of two or three influential players in January.

Sam has shown his ability to restore confidence in the squad, but performances - even in defence - still leave much to be desired. Sam has indeed made a good start, one quite good enough to banish thoughts of relegation. But spectators require much more if they are to enjoy the spectacle.

It is much too early to announce him as the Messiah.

Indeed in particular things had gone wrong under Koeman after he got us 7th last season. Still early days.

 

[boris]

Sam should get 7th with this squad, anything less and he should definitley be shown the door in the summer imo.

Even if he gets 7th though, it maybe not enough.

 

[Zatara]

We have ended up with an unbalanced squad including several new members. It was demoralised and performing well below par. Sam has stiffened the defence and, with help of some rather fortunate results, restored confidence to produce greatly improved performances.

The Premier League has six big clubs and two or three superior ones. Beyond that, the standard is modest indeed. Sam should certainly be able to lift us towards the best of the rest with the benefit of two or three influential players in January.

Sam has shown his ability to restore confidence in the squad, but performances - even in defence - still leave much to be desired. Sam has indeed made a good start, one quite good enough to banish thoughts of relegation. But spectators require much more if they are to enjoy the spectacle.

It is much too early to announce him as the Messiah.

Don't you enjoy an average of 2 pts per game lol

You cant be real.

How good do you think our squad is?

I think
Pickford
Coleman/Kenny
Holgate/Keane
Gana/Rooney

Are all very good players but the rest need experience or aren't good enough.

 

[Zatara]

Sam should get 7th with this squad, anything less and he should definitley be shown the door in the summer imo.

Even if he gets 7th though, it maybe not enough.

Do you realise that to get 7th he would need us to show champions league form from when he took over until the end of the season?

 

[Kev50]

Worst team in our History, errrm no mate it is far from that, unless you think our history started about 10-15 years ago.

As you quoted form though, we beat Huddersfield and Newcastle who where 19th and 20th in form when we played them, beat Swansea who where 19th when we played them, and where very fortunate in those games with pens and them hitting the bar/post etc, held on for dear life at home against Chelsea without having a shot on target all game, and scraped a very fortunate draw against the rs (something we've managed 4 out the last 7 away games at the pit - so hardly earth shaking result wise) topped off by a backs to the wall all out defending game against West Brom - a team without a win in 18 and the worst form team in the league.

The day unrealistic expectations include expecting us to be able to beat west brom and Newcastle away and swansea and Huddersfield at home and expecting a little more than all out defending with no desire to try win a game at home and in a Derby is the day the fan base is well and truly f'cked forever

I think you have unrealistic expectations of what can be achieved at the moment . We are a pretty crap side, and given our performances this season have no right to expect to beat teams like Newcastle West Ham and Huddersfield.

Just sick and tired of people who try make out that having ANY expectation whatsoever for our club is a bad thing mate, yeah shouting we should be winning the league before the season starts would be unrealistic in the current game, but trying to act like we should be happy by not being murdered (pun intended) by the rs or Chelsea at home and happy with a point and being dominated to a frankly absolutely crap West Brom team makes me sad for people who follow us and think that's the pinnacle of what we should aim to achieve.

equally, cryarsing about a guy who has saved us from a nightmare when he’s a month into the job seems the height of unreasonableness

 

[boris]

Don't you enjoy an average of 2 pts per game lol



How good do you think our squad is?

I think
Pickford
Coleman/Kenny
Holgate/Keane
Gana/Rooney

Are all very good players but the rest need experience or aren't good enough.

Its a lot better than many of the clubs we’re comoeting against right now. For example, is there a player in Burnley’s squad (the team currently 7th) who’d currently get in our team, anyone, just 1 player.

I assume they’ll have a left back who’s got 2 legs so probably him, although I’d imagine we’ll address that issue in January but bar that they haven’t got 1.

 

[hktoffee]

Do you realise that to get 7th he would need us to show champions league form from when he took over until the end of the season?

6 points behind Burnley. Not impossible.

 

[boris]

Do you realise that to get 7th he would need us to show champions league form from when he took over until the end of the season?

It wouldn’t, it would mean us just keeping up steady form until the end of the season.

We’ve got to make 6 points up on Burnley and average 1.5 points per game which is well within this squads capabilities. There’s only Leicester who should really challenge us for 7th.

We’re showing that form now despite being shocking and it’s the minimum I expect.

 

[Zatara]

I think you have unrealistic expectations of what can be achieved at the moment . We are a pretty crap side, and given our performances this season have no right to expect to beat teams like Newcastle West Ham and Huddersfield.

equally, cryarsing about a guy who has saved us from a nightmare when he’s a month into the job seems the height of unreasonableness

agreed

Its a lot better than many of the clubs we’re comoeting against right now. For example, is there a player in Burnley’s squad (the team currently 7th) who’d currently get in our team, anyone, just 1 player.

I assume they’ll have a left back who’s got 2 legs so probably him, although I’d imagine we’ll address that issue in January but bar that they haven’t got 1.

With burnley theyre a bit like the moyes team we had with bent up front...greater than its parts, built over several years and well drilled.

We're currently playing martina, Williams, schneiderlin, lennon who are all poor + davies who is massively out of form. That's half a team.

6 points behind Burnley. Not impossible.

It wouldn’t, it would mean us just keeping up steady form until the end of the season.

We’ve got to make 6 points up on Burnley and average 1.5-2 points per game which is well within this squads capabilities. There’s only Leicester who should really challenge us gir 7thz

We’re showing that form now despite being shocking and it’s the minimum I expect.

So, what you both are saying is that when Allardyce took over after getting smashed by Southampton the minimum you expected was 2 points a game and to finish 7th?

That's 2 points per game which would mean a champions league place over a season with no left back, striker and no confidence...

lol

 

[hktoffee]

agreed



With burnley theyre a bit like the moyes team we had with bent up front...greater than its parts, built over several years and well drilled.

We're currently playing martina, Williams, schneiderlin, lennon who are all poor + davies who is massively out of form. That's half a team.





So, what you both are saying is that when Allardyce took over after getting smashed by Southampton the minimum you expected was 2 points a game and to finish 7th?

That's 2 points per game which would mean a champions league place over a season with no left back, striker and no confidence...

lol

The confidence and clean sheets are coming back. He is getting a striker too. Burnley could slip up who knows. Not necessarily 2 points a game it depends on how the current 7th place team doing before May.