It's got everything to do with the Premier League coverage rather than our manager.
It's not like things have been any better (far worse imo) since about 2007 on the road.
This is how it has panned out for me.
Did regular away games for 10 years but have got fed up with weekends away being planned and ruined by fixture changes. No thought whatsoever for the fans. And it seems to have got worse since we got back in the PL.
The time and money involved is bad enough without having to revise family plans just for a game of football.
I don't remember too many successful away seasons in that ten years either. My decision was nothing to do with Sam and his football. Saw more than enough poor away performances before he came. Been there at some of the very worst.
Isn't it possible Sam was trying him out in that sort of job in order to see if he could fit him in the team somewhere ? If Zarate is playing , where can he put Ravel ?
And Zarate, as the Chairmans favourite player, has to play ....[/quote]
But playing him deep to try and create from there makes no sense,he isn't clever enough to do anything from that deep.Get him doing the same near their back line and he'd be a nightmare to defend against. Who used to play that deep and had a brain to go with it and who do you think told Alladyce to play him there ? got to be Sheringham.
Pulls up Trees wrote:
I really think if he had played in the hole, we would have created something. We've all seen him grab the ball, beat a few men, then play killer passes inside full-backs etc... Exactly as Zarate was trying and failing to do in the first half.
Which is why you need more than one player on that wavelength. whats the point of Zarate or Morrison sliding a killer pass for Cole or Carroll.
Right now we are caught between two stools. Some days it will work well enough but when it goes wrong it will be like saturday because the players that need to play to implement the new style aren't going to be the sort to grind out a result on a bad day.
SammyLeeWasOffside wrote:
Right now we are caught between two stools. Some days it will work well enough but when it goes wrong it will be like saturday because the players that need to play to implement the new style aren't going to be the sort to grind out a result on a bad day.
To be honest apart from the top four would most premier league managers change a side that won 3-0 away from home the previous game and had been well praised for their performance. If he had changed that side and the same thing happened last Saturday can you imagine the grief he would be getting.
He cannot win with the fans now, Southampton's goals were all down to poor organisation. If a manager has to tell professional players to concentrate leading up to half time and especially at set-pieces he is entitled to question their professionalism.
And/ or didn't understand how dire the situation was in the first place so are then unable to put what he's done here this last three years into context.
Allardyce is seemingly always a couple of bad performances away from the sack, or pressure of some sort, be it from the fans or Sullivan.
It's why they should have changed the manager in the summer imo.
He has little depth of support (from Sullivan or the majority of fans) that will carry him through a period of bad results or bad performances. This despite doing much of what was asked of him.
Allardyce has to be on the front foot all the time, to keep the speculation at bay...............and that's hard for him do.
Already, I think the next couple of results are vital to his future.
Hockley Hammer wrote:
He cannot win with the fans now, Southampton's goals were all down to poor organisation. If a manager has to tell professional players to concentrate leading up to half time and especially at set-pieces he is entitled to question their professionalism.
Thats the problem we face. We can't get top level players by and large, so they all have flaws. Our creative players seem to have pretty **** attitudes at times and that can lead to a day like Saturday. Vaz Te can't be arsed and Zarate has a bad day, all it takes is Noble to have a rare stinker and the whole thing falls apart.
Hockley Hammer wrote:To be honest apart from the top four would most premier league managers change a side that won 3-0 away from home the previous game and had been well praised for their performance. If he had changed that side and the same thing happened last Saturday can you imagine the grief he would be getting.
He cannot win with the fans now, Southampton's goals were all down to poor organisation. If a manager has to tell professional players to concentrate leading up to half time and especially at set-pieces he is entitled to question their professionalism.
Exactly what I was thinking, every decision he makes is under the microscope and is wrong in a lot of "fans" eyes, I read loads on here on sat about every decision he made being wrong. Every misplaced pass was his fault, Reid and vaz playing badly was his fault and so it went on, diame coming on, playing wide was his fault (despite replacing vaz)
SammyLeeWasOffside wrote:
Which is why you need more than one player on that wavelength. whats the point of Zarate or Morrison sliding a killer pass for Cole or Carroll.
I was thinking more about killer passes to Downing or whoever is playing on the left. I don't think through balls down the middle are Rav's style.
Maybe if we didn't instruct Vaz Te and Downing to line up as auxiliary full backs when defending they may be a bit more productive. In the first half against both both spurs and Southampton (didn't see the palace game so can't comment) we line up as a back line of six, with full backs pushed inside and and Vaz Te and Downing level with the back four but further wide. Give Vaz Te the freedom to attack and he will be much better. Southampton didn't get Long and Tadic to drop deep when defending. They were encouraged to let the defence and midfield defend and to focus on attacking play. Get rid of the support player behind the striker, play a proper DM, and give the wide players an attacking and not a defensive remit. A 4-3-3, rather than a 4-5-1. I don't want to see so called attacking players lining up so deep and focusing on defensive duties, especially at home, where it should be up to us to force the game
OnePaulHilton wrote:As there is a long time to go to our next match I have a little game to play.
Imagine we have no manager but you could choose from the 20 premier league managers. Where would Sam come.
17th for me.
Good game...
Can you justify who is above him?
17th would means two of - Monk (5 minutes in management), Warnock (it's Warnock), Pearson (3 games in the Premiership), Dyche (3 games in the Premiership), Irvine (even West Brom fans aren't convinced) are above him. This confuses me on the qualification criteria - I guess it is based no who you do and do not like, not what's best for the club?
In terms of who is above him - he probably sits somewhere between 8th and 13th... there is probably a good debate between him and the likes of Hughes, Pardew, Harry and Bruce... others still have a lot to do apart from the obvious candidates
Does anyone here think that our home for might have something to do with us fans?
Love him or hate him Sam's job is being made pretty impossible. As soon as we start struggling the fans turn hostile. I understand the frustration but for our players it's gotta be hard to play in that environment
worboyes wrote:Does anyone here think that our home for might have something to do with us fans?
Love him or hate him Sam's job is being made pretty impossible. As soon as we start struggling the fans turn hostile. I understand the frustration but for our players it's gotta be hard to play in that environment
Yes, and it's not a recent phenomena, if we struggle at home we struggle to get behind the team, it's a downward spiral. We also struggle in games against lesser opposition but if Man U turn up then it's back to the place rocking.
I know that a lot of the Sam stick posters feel he should have gone in the Summer but seeing that he hasnt, we should get behind him.
My question to those posters is, at what point are you prepared to say f*** it, we gave him too much credit. How many games need to pass by with continued -''it was one of those days'' or '' we were unlucky'' or ''I thought we did everything we could'' or ''you twisters are all poisonous''
At what point is someone prepared to have the balls to man up and say this is not working. - Genuine question - when?
BTW pink palermo, we have your answer from a few pages back - when we are back to the state he found us in. For me that is too late (stating the bleeding obvious - sorry)
I am really struggling to hear all this tactical analysis of good team selection and substitutions, transfer window activity, revenue earned for the club in the last 3 years etc etc. The convenience of jumping from one argument to the other to avoid tackling the issue head on. We are not performing and i some instances appear to be going backwards. our high point after 3 games is beating a managerless **** hole team who shouldnt be in the league.
Come on lets hear it - call your limit - at what point is it time to say we got it wrong?
