Sam Allardyce was not surprisingly at the Manchester City Liverpool game on Sunday, where for only the second time this season, City didn’t win at home.
 Sam Allardyce – wants a good performance tonight
They ended up with a 0-0 draw to have a home record of won 9 and drawn 2. But Sam has used this to point pout that Manchester City were very defensive during that game to try to at least contain the strong Liverpool side who pushed right until the end for a goal which really would have seen them gain a deserved win.
Allardyce said:
“When you go out and see the Premiership in its entirety, and you go and watch a game like Manchester City against Liverpool and see City set up at home and say we are not going to get beaten, well, Sven is getting all the (good) headlines and he is putting up a 4-5-1 formation at home.â€
“I watched the whole game live and he didn’t let his side go out to attack. From the front three (Martin) Petrov down the left, (Stephen) Ireland down the right and (Darius) Vassell up front, no one else got anywhere near the Liverpool 18-yard box. But he has got nine wins and two draws at home.â€
“ So you know the balance of play in many occasions is that he sets up a team not to get beaten against a Liverpool side that if you try to attack, will punish you and win the game.â€
We tried a similar formation against Liverpool earlier in the season, but Newcastle failed badly on that occasion, mainly because the defense didn’t bother turning up for the game along with a few more players. That 3-0 defeat, which followed our 4-1 defeat against Portsmouth and 1-1- lucky draw at Sunderland, is probably our lowest point of the season, so far.
We are now on a possible 3 defeats in a row, and it’s a very good time to produce a performance like we showed against Chelsea and a win. We think a performance like that will be good enough tonight to get all 3 points, and Sam is certainly looking for another good performance from his team.
Allardyce added:
“We need the spirit and performance we showed against Arsenal and Chelsea where, but for the assistant referee, we should have had a draw.â€
It’s really a good time, being the first game of the year, to put in another gritty performance like we gave against Arsenal. And if we do that, because of Manchester City’s form away from home not being all that good. we can certainly get the win.
Starting the New Year with a win is exactly what the Doctor ordered. Let’s go for it lads.
Comments welcome.
21 comments so far
awc88
Jan 2, 2008 at 10:14 AM
Comment #1is it me or sam can not get the team playing in a way that lats them win and in doing so being able to do it so in a way that suits the team, every time we get a win i.e birmingham or the draw against arsenal it has to be an absolute huge effort and strain on the team and a level the cant sustain. Change youre tactics team or formation to suit the team and not your ego man
Graham
Jan 2, 2008 at 10:20 AM
Comment #2I wish i could share your optimism, Ed. I think we’ll do what Man City done against Liverpool and try to contain them. Unfortunately, as we all know we’re not very good at containing teams.
would love tosee Allardyce put out an attacking formtion with Enrique gettig a stat and pushing Zog into an inside left position (or Emre) with Duff on the wing.
2 men up ron also Sam, Martins is no good out right – least f all when the ball comes to him from 250ft up in the air!!! Why spend all that money on a great pitch if we’re not going to use it.
However, I can only see a score draw at best from us tonight. If we play t contend them then im afraid its 3 defeats on the bounce for us.
Andreas
Jan 2, 2008 at 10:26 AM
Comment #3Ed, have you forgot Derby away, Derby at home and Wigan away? Think those games are way worse than losing 0-3 to Liverpool (although we were miserable that day) and although a 1-4 loss to Rednapp hurts like hell they are a 10 times better team than Derby/Wigan.
The “lowpoint” so far is that our manager try hard to “contain” whatever team we’re up against instead of trying to win.
If SA would at least send out the team trying to win against lower placed teams in a positve manner he would have the backing of the vast majority of fans (i.e. “time”).
Graeme
Jan 2, 2008 at 10:27 AM
Comment #4PLEASE, can we at least have players playing in their natural positions. For a start, lets have Enrique at LB and Zog in Midfield. I still assume Enrique is playing for us!!!!
Perhaps Martins playing as a CF instead of a right winger would help him score more goals, presumably thats what we bought him to do???
After the performance against Chelski, there is no reason we can’t expect a win against Man City, but it must be to our advantage if the players are playing in a position that suits them – your call Sam!!!!!!
Whumpie
Jan 2, 2008 at 10:27 AM
Comment #5Right with you on that, awc – although if I’m looking for some sense in BSA’s rantings, I think he’s basically saying he’ll get the defensive bit right first (to emulate City) and worry about winning games later – probably next season. Depressing, but if he succeeds it’ll be worth it.
My problem is that I’m having trouble believing Sam’s got what it takes to do it. So far, he ain’t no Sven, but on the other hand I don’t think Sven started with such ingrained defensive failure.
BSA needs to show that he can do it both ways and be open to other ideas where they are appropriate – then we may believe that he does what he does for other reasons than stubbon egotism a lack of tactical adaptability. Setting up to defend against a top team is one thing – but against Derby and Wigan? WTF??
Zero
Jan 2, 2008 at 10:29 AM
Comment #6BSA must change his tactics, and use the players that we have effectively, no long ball non sense, we often find that out best players are on the bench. Emre, Martins, Owen, Duff, Nzog, must start, and we need to attack
Whumpie
Jan 2, 2008 at 10:36 AM
Comment #7Yes, we need to attack – but we have to learn to defend first, and that’s clearly what BSA is trying to do. It will probably take the rest of the season and at least two more new players to do it.
But that doesn’t explain why he’s playing a winger as a RB when he has an expensive specialist RB on the bench. Or any of the other mis-positioninings for that matter. And he should also note that Sven doesn’t try to defend against basement teams!
toonmy
Jan 2, 2008 at 10:40 AM
Comment #8big talk sam..
hahah..
if just that u can do..
see another team tactic..
hate him so much..
Graham
Jan 2, 2008 at 10:48 AM
Comment #9Whumpie – teaching defenders to defend is one thing; getting the other 6 players to keep the ball and stop some of the pressure on the defence is tactics. Not humping the ball 80 yards up the field and it coming straight back at you because our player’s only 5′ tall and their dender is 6’6 – no wonder we’re conceading goals – the defence is under pressure all the time bacause we dont have ANY tactics
Ausgeordie
Jan 2, 2008 at 10:49 AM
Comment #10Methinks another gay performance is on the way.
toonmy
Jan 2, 2008 at 10:54 AM
Comment #11keep the big sam quiet and make him focus to improve Toons Army tactic. useless Big sam..
Whumpie
Jan 2, 2008 at 11:00 AM
Comment #12Yep, Graham – quite agree. I’m just trying to make sense of what BSA is doing and saying. Not easy as I’m still mystified as to what the hell he’s doing outside of the defence. Is it that hard to at least set things up to be able to attack, even if you are focused on the defence for now?
I’m not at all confident about tonight, because you’ll have two teams with a flat-back-10, and City will be better on the break because Sven will put players in the right places.
Edd Case
Jan 2, 2008 at 11:02 AM
Comment #13We need another performance like the one against Arsenal – we do evey single game, not just because it’s Man City…
Marguerite
Jan 2, 2008 at 11:06 AM
Comment #14What Sam fails to mention is the citi formation contains players with extreme pace, who could have hit on the counter attack, given the opportunity whilst still playing a containing game. (Remember Pompey). Unfortunately, we no longer have those sort of players available to us.
toonmy
Jan 2, 2008 at 11:13 AM
Comment #15Draw with Arsenal him want to be proud..
what a Big Stupid Sam thinking..
we need a win..
Graham
Jan 2, 2008 at 11:27 AM
Comment #16Whumpie – dont try to make sense of what allardyce is doing – i tried and come to the conclusion that it doesnt make sense at all!
But i’ll be brave and say 2-2 tonight – at very best…
Tom_Toon
Jan 2, 2008 at 11:50 AM
Comment #17oh fkin great, this means a har working draw, bugger off sam!
Leo
Jan 2, 2008 at 11:59 AM
Comment #18theres that need word again not confident tonight like
toonmy
Jan 2, 2008 at 12:18 PM
Comment #19i hope we lost tonight and say your last prayer Big Stupid Sam..
James
Jan 2, 2008 at 1:17 PM
Comment #20He’ll have egg on his face when he sees the City line up against us is all out attack because they regard us (like everyone else does) as 3 easy points.
toonmy
Jan 2, 2008 at 1:34 PM
Comment #21maybe big sam can get Wenger title was Jose give to him as ‘voyeur’.. because like to criticism or peeping than do something to our army. booooooed big sam…