Allardyce close to breaking point at Newcastle

[Jimbo 175]

Allardyce close to breaking point at Newcastle

 

By Mark Ogden

Last Updated: 9:53pm GMT 26/12/2007

 

Wigan Athletic (0) 1 Newcastle United (0) 0

 

Having been subjected to nothing short of a savaging by his own club's supporters as his team suffered one of their more depressing defeats of a turbulent season, manager Sam Allardyce treated his Newcastle United players to a similarly stinging rebuke after Ryan Taylor's second-half free-kick pushed him closer to the precipice at St James' Park.

 

Booed en masse by the 5,000 travelling supporters when he merely caught a ball on the touchline, and treated to chants of "Shearer, Shearer" by the disillusioned Geordies, Allardyce opted to go on the front foot in an effort to restore his authority and shift the spotlight of blame on to his failing players.

 

It is a risky tactic. Dressing-room discontent has already been mooted on Tyneside, but if the players are unhappy, they will be even more so after having their commitment, desire and quality questioned by Allardyce - rightly so in most cases - after this woeful performance.

 

"I don't blame the fans. If I was one of them, I'd be singing what they were singing because it just wasn't good enough," Allardyce admitted. "I'm a top man in my field and I know it's not good enough. They have been watching for long enough, so it doesn't take them long to realise it isn't good enough as well. They are not daft.

 

"These are the players that I've got, but too many are showing me what they are about on the bad side of the game. In the end, some of the individuals in my team failed to live up to their reputations.

 

"The level of form that they drop to is unacceptable, but they have to accept the pressure and use it as a positive, not shrivel and die. Roll your sleeves up and go and fight because we can't rely on ability alone."

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Mike Ashley, the Newcastle owner, probably kept a dignified silence when the supporters alongside him in the away enclosure at the JJB Stadium began to vent their anger at Allardyce by chanting Shearer's name towards the end of this dismal defeat.

 

Ashley might have bitten his tongue, but he would not have been able to cover his ears to blank out the discontent. Allardyce has lost the support of the demanding Newcastle public, who continue to adore former club captain Shearer, and he will not win it back if his side continues to play as badly as they did against Steve Bruce's team, who escaped the bottom three for the first time since October thanks to Taylor's second-half goal.

 

"We're s*** and we're sick of it!" was another chant aimed in Allardyce's direction after Taylor's 20-yard free-kick. Too many of Allardyce's charges let him down, but changing a manager is easier than shipping out 20 players and that is Allardyce's problem - and Ashley's.

# Football fans' forum

 

For Bruce, only a month into his job at the JJB, the honeymoon period is still in full swing, however, and the former Birmingham manager is now confident that his team can escape relegation.

 

He said: "A month away, we looked adrift with Derby, but we have now shown that we have the stomach for the fight. Let's hope we can stay out of the bottom three all the way now."

[ewerk 30753]

"I'm a top man in my field"

 

It's arrogant comments like this along with the refusal to acknowledge any of his own shortcomings or take any share of the blame that make me dislike him so much.

[RlCO 0]

"I'm a top man in my field"

 

It's arrogant comments like this along with the refusal to acknowledge any of his own shortcomings or take any share of the blame that make me dislike him so much.

 

A common criticism, but serisously, when was the last time you ever heard a manager blame himself after a defeat? It's always 'we' and 'us'. That statement did jump off the page for me though.

 

It's articles like this that make me believe the stuff about NUFC being a soap-opera club. Have you ever seen an article like this about another club? Especially a mid-table team. Not even in the worst days of the mackems did you see such obvious piss-taking like this.

[ewerk 30753]

A common criticism, but serisously, when was the last time you ever heard a manager blame himself after a defeat? It's always 'we' and 'us'.

 

I know what you mean, he's not going to come out and admit to being completely useless but it's not even "we" and "us", he's laying the blame squarely at the feet of the players, he can't even accept responsibility as part of a collective unit, "These are the players that I've got, but too many are showing me what they are about on the bad side of the game. In the end, some of the individuals in my team failed to live up to their reputations."

 

Arrogant, conceited prick.

[RlCO 0]

A common criticism, but serisously, when was the last time you ever heard a manager blame himself after a defeat? It's always 'we' and 'us'.

 

I know what you mean, he's not going to come out and admit to being completely useless but it's not even "we" and "us", he's laying the blame squarely at the feet of the players, he can't even accept responsibility as part of a collective unit, "These are the players that I've got, but too many are showing me what they are about on the bad side of the game. In the end, some of the individuals in my team failed to live up to their reputations."

 

Arrogant, conceited prick.

 

Aye, I've changed my mind, he isn't doing himself any favours, or, he thinks he can win the battle for hearts and minds (i.e. he never uses the net). Bordering on Souness-like C-factorness.

[bawan 0]

Hes shit needs to fuck.

 

No one can say that he didn't do a great job with Bolton, but it took him 8 years and we just don't have that kind of time, therefore he needs to finish of the last of his Christmas puddings and fuck off.

Edited December 27, 2007 by bawan

[The Fish 10900]

Hes shit needs to fuck.

 

No one can say that he didn't do a great job with Bolton, but it took him 8 years and we just don't have that kind of time, therefore he needs to finish of the last of his Christmas puddings and fuck off.

 

 

why not?

 

what is going to happen in 7 years and 6 months time?

 

In my opinion he's trying a different tac with the players, he's so far protected them by and large. Maybe this is "It's down to you lot now"

 

I personally think he is being let down by the performances of a few players, but I also don't think he's totally without blame as he's suggesting in the article (which could have been sliced and spliced for all we know). I reckon he needs a proper leader, as has been said in another thread Smith has plenty of passion and commitment, but that's just not translating to leadership.

 

to be honest we've not had a true captain since Shearer, gone are the days when Speed and Shearer bossed half of the pitch with almost stateman-like presence. Now we have a pick of seasoned professionals, all seemingly incapable of motivating eachother on the pitch.

 

there doesn't seem to be anyone on the pitch who is willing to roll up his sleeves and take our team by their necks over the finish line. Well, none whom the other players will listen to.

 

Geremi doesn't seem to care himself, Smith hasn't the respect of the other players (Duff was the one holding Smith back today). The defenders are all too new to the league and haven't formed any kind of cohesive unit yet. The midfield isn't settled either, Barton and Emre cannot be captains, neither have the temprament or respect. Our strikers aren't exactly captain marvel either.

 

I'm at a loss to find a Leader on the pitch, and on the pitch is where we're losing it.

[sammynb 3375]

What utter, utter shite Dave!

How is a captain going to improve the tactics of using Viduka on his own up front and 90 minutes of trying to kick long balls at him? How is a captain going to stop Duff from being thrown straight back into the first team after 30 minutes of first team football in 18 months? How is a captain going to fix the constant selection of a midfield including Butt, Smith, Geremi, Barton week in week fucking out.

IT'S NOT

And you're fooling yourself to Gemmill and Souness proportions if you think otherwise.

 

Opposition managers are awake to how to play an Allardyce team, that's why his last year at Bolton wasn't as successful as everyone wants to believe.

All this stopping other teams play is brainless.

[ewerk 30753]

I'm at a loss to find a Leader on the pitch, and on the pitch is where we're losing it.

 

I agree, and whilst I know I'm probably going on like a broken record, whose fault is it? We all said we lacked a leader at the start of the season and Allardyce must've known this as it was so difficult to find a captain, in looking at bring in new players leadership should've been one of the main things he looked at.

[luckyluke 2]

I'm at a loss to find a Leader on the pitch, and on the pitch is where we're losing it.

 

I agree, and whilst I know I'm probably going on like a broken record, whose fault is it? We all said we lacked a leader at the start of the season and Allardyce must've known this as it was so difficult to find a captain, in looking at bring in new players leadership should've been one of the main things he looked at.

 

 

Why the hell are you awake?

[Jimbo 175]

What utter, utter shite Dave!

How is a captain going to improve the tactics of using Viduka on his own up front and 90 minutes of trying to kick long balls at him? How is a captain going to stop Duff from being thrown straight back into the first team after 30 minutes of first team football in 18 months? How is a captain going to fix the constant selection of a midfield including Butt, Smith, Geremi, Barton week in week fucking out.

IT'S NOT

And you're fooling yourself to Gemmill and Souness proportions if you think otherwise.

 

Opposition managers are awake to how to play an Allardyce team, that's why his last year at Bolton wasn't as successful as everyone wants to believe.

All this stopping other teams play is brainless.

 

Agreed, his record in his final months was worse than Roeders.

 

and as for losing it on the pitch, that is quite correct, but the architect of this failure is the man that selects formation, players, tactics and motivates them, of course the pitch is the arena of failure or success, but ulitmately it is the preparation and decision making that is the under-riding reason.

[Happy Face 29]

Arrogant, conceited prick.

 

I wrote this for N-O in October, during our "best start in 10 years". Some of it's out of date, but the main premise (that Allardyce has always been a hack) still stands...

 

Did you ever see the episode of the Simpsons where the people of Springfield decide to invest some new found wealth into a monorail system? Of course you have, it’s a classic. I get the feeling that Sam Allardyce might be our very own Lyle Lanley. He’s been to Brockway, Ogdenville and North Haverbrook and by god he’s put them on the map (see Notts County and Bolton) ask him how he sees us playing in the future and he could give you an answer but the only people that would understand it would be him and his training staff (and that includes Lee Clark).

 

You see, for all Big Sam’s successes before he came to Newcastle, it’s always fallen apart quite dismally the very moment he left. Notts County broke all kinds of records under him, won the league by 17 points, promoted in March, he’s surely a genius, but once he’d done a runner for the bright lights of Bolton the club were soon in financial crisis and later relegated.

 

He did marvellous things at Bolton, dragged them up by the scruff of their neck from the lower end of division one into the glitterati of the UEFA cup and consistent finishes in the top end of the Premier league. But what was it built on? For things to have fallen apart so badly at Bolton the foundations must have been quite shaky. It can only be that Sam is a trickster. He’s a hack, but he realises how simple football is. All you have to do is put the ball in the opposition net. Of course he’ll not admit this, he’ll wrap it all up in a package that draws the eye, that builds confidence in how astute his decision making must be. He’ll sit high in the stand so you know he’s tactically aware, he’ll wear an ear piece to show he’s passing on his wisdom to his staff in the dugout, he’ll bring in teams of dieticians and physiotherapists to show that he’s thinking scientifically, he’s on a higher plane than other managers, he’s living in the future and we’re all catching up.

 

But what do his teams do? They whack the ball forward over the top. In Sam Allardyce’s last season in charge of Bolton the stats showed that their passing and possession had them finishing 19th, but that’s not what the game is about, it’s about scoring more than the opposition, which placed them 7th. This is a style of play Wimbledon were derided for many moons ago, though it brought them success too. If only Joe Kinnear had worn an ear piece, he could have been getting considered for the England job. Sammy Lee worked under Sam Allardyce and was completely sold on the myth, he thought as long as he had a piece of plastic wedged in his lug he was a tactical genius, you have to feel sorry for him, as soon as he said anything to his players other than “whack it over the top, Anelka will score” he was doomed, so Bolton are now where they always belonged.

 

Allardyce was still selling us his story last week, “best start in 10 years”, “course we’re entertaining, we scored 3 goals”. I was a bit confused, the media were going along with it as if we’ve never had it so good since little Keggy Keegle won us 75 games on the bounce 8-6, “those Geordie rascals, never happy unless they’ve seen a 14 goals and 12 defensive errors”. Well I’m sorry that’s bollocks, I just know when I’m being sold a lie, and judging by the reaction of most people around me on Saturday I’m not the only one.

 

Consider this. Glenn Roeder got 19 points from his first 10 games in charge. That run included games against Man Utd, Liverpool and Sam Allardyce’s high flying Bolton. Now we’ve got 17 points from our first ten under Big Sam, but we’ve only played one game against anyone above our mid-table position. The impotence of Saturdays performance left many fans very unhappy, and the honeymoon is over, we don’t insist on 7 goal thrillers, but nor will we accept playing for a draw at Reading, especially when we can’t even achieve that.

Edited December 27, 2007 by Happy Face

[The Fish 10900]

What utter, utter shite Dave!

How is a captain going to improve the tactics of using Viduka on his own up front and 90 minutes of trying to kick long balls at him? How is a captain going to stop Duff from being thrown straight back into the first team after 30 minutes of first team football in 18 months? How is a captain going to fix the constant selection of a midfield including Butt, Smith, Geremi, Barton week in week fucking out.

IT'S NOT

And you're fooling yourself to Gemmill and Souness proportions if you think otherwise.

 

Opposition managers are awake to how to play an Allardyce team, that's why his last year at Bolton wasn't as successful as everyone wants to believe.

All this stopping other teams play is brainless.

Behave yourself man, captaincy isn't inexorably linked to a good performance or savvy tactics and I didn't say it was. I was talking about a subject that, while related, isn't it's conjoined twin.

 

also, this was the team people have been clammering for on the whole. Duff and Emre playing, Milner on the right etc. and now Sam is doing what you want, it's not good enough.

 

I guess I'm just fed up of hearing people bitch and moan that we don't have a good manager and they'd take success even if it was ugly and all that crap, then when we do get a good manager in but play dour football, it's the clichéd Newcastle fan who rears his ugly head.

 

4-3, we want to be entertained, 1-0 is boring etc. etc. etc.

[Kid Dynamite 7076]

If he played 442 with the players in their proper positions and the best players on the pitch the pressure would be firmly on the players now and not him.

 

As it is, hes got players out of position, our best players on the bench and hes going for 0-0 draws against the bottom 3 teams with our slowest striker up front on his own.

 

He deserves all the criticism he gets. Regardless of who our captain is!

[peasepud 59]

I guess I'm just fed up of hearing people bitch and moan that we don't have a good manager and they'd take success even if it was ugly and all that crap, then when we do get a good manager in but play dour football, it's the clichéd Newcastle fan who rears his ugly head.

 

4-3, we want to be entertained, 1-0 is boring etc. etc. etc.

 

Its not dour football that bothers me although at the end of the day I do want to be entertained. The problem (as has already been stated) is negative football, going to Reading, Wigan and the scum to play for a draw.

[luckyluke 2]

We're not just playing ugly; we're playing shite.

[luckyluke 2]

How annoyingly smug is Happy Face these days btw?

[Happy Face 29]

How annoyingly smug is Happy Face these days btw?

 

I'm gutted.

[Shearergol 0]

What utter, utter shite Dave!

How is a captain going to improve the tactics of using Viduka on his own up front and 90 minutes of trying to kick long balls at him? How is a captain going to stop Duff from being thrown straight back into the first team after 30 minutes of first team football in 18 months? How is a captain going to fix the constant selection of a midfield including Butt, Smith, Geremi, Barton week in week fucking out.

IT'S NOT

And you're fooling yourself to Gemmill and Souness proportions if you think otherwise.

 

Opposition managers are awake to how to play an Allardyce team, that's why his last year at Bolton wasn't as successful as everyone wants to believe.

All this stopping other teams play is brainless.

Behave yourself man, captaincy isn't inexorably linked to a good performance or savvy tactics and I didn't say it was. I was talking about a subject that, while related, isn't it's conjoined twin.

 

also, this was the team people have been clammering for on the whole. Duff and Emre playing, Milner on the right etc. and now Sam is doing what you want, it's not good enough.

 

I guess I'm just fed up of hearing people bitch and moan that we don't have a good manager and they'd take success even if it was ugly and all that crap, then when we do get a good manager in but play dour football, it's the clichéd Newcastle fan who rears his ugly head.

 

4-3, we want to be entertained, 1-0 is boring etc. etc. etc.

 

 

 

Point out ONE SINGLE POSTER who has said that.

[peasepud 59]

 

4-3, we want to be entertained, 1-0 is boring etc. etc. etc.

 

Point out ONE SINGLE POSTER who has said that.

 

Exactly, I cant remember anyone saying it, at the same time though I dont know any other "entertainment" where people will accept watching shite. You go to the pictures to watch a film and be entertained, if its crap you wont go to see the sequal. Im sure if they made Die Hard 5 and all Willis did was sit at a desk and bark orders out over the phone to people then itd be panned. So why do we accept it in football? Why do I fork out £500 a season to see us get turned over royally by the likes of Portsmouth and scrape a lucky draw against shit such as Derby?

 

I dont expect us to win 5 nowt all the time but just once Id like to see us actually try.

[Kid Dynamite 7076]

We're not just playing ugly; we're playing shite.

 

You stole that off me in the other thread

[TheMoog 0]

If he played 442 with the players in their proper positions and the best players on the pitch the pressure would be firmly on the players now and not him.

 

As it is, hes got players out of position, our best players on the bench and hes going for 0-0 draws against the bottom 3 teams with our slowest striker up front on his own.

 

He deserves all the criticism he gets. Regardless of who our captain is!

 

And therein lie the way I see it, sad as it may be Sam appears to have some sort of problem with building on the basics.

[JawD 99]

We're not just playing ugly; we're plain shite.

 

FYP

[The Fish 10900]

Point out ONE SINGLE POSTER who has said that.

Pud.

 

what do I win?

 

seems to me that Sam is as frustrated with the performances as we are which leads me to believe that they're failing to meet his and our expectations despite his efforts. Getting rid of him is not the answer now. I think any new appointment would enjoy a purple patch then slump back into mediochrity because he'll yet again lose the fickle crowd who will boo and hiss like panto audiences after two or three bad performances ont he bounce. Then his head will be called for by those fickle fans who will say anything is better than who-ever we've thrown millions at to get and we'll be right back at square one.

 

We are the laughing stock of the premiership and it's the fans who want results immediately who perpetuate it.

[sammynb 3375]

Point out ONE SINGLE POSTER who has said that.

Pud.

 

what do I win?

 

seems to me that Sam is as frustrated with the performances as we are which leads me to believe that they're failing to meet his and our expectations despite his efforts. Getting rid of him is not the answer now. I think any new appointment would enjoy a purple patch then slump back into mediochrity because he'll yet again lose the fickle crowd who will boo and hiss like panto audiences after two or three bad performances ont he bounce. Then his head will be called for by those fickle fans who will say anything is better than who-ever we've thrown millions at to get and we'll be right back at square one.

 

We are the laughing stock of the premiership and it's the fans who want results immediately who perpetuate it.

Dave for a man that hates to be wrong, you are so incorrect it's just gemmill and souness all over again.

I'll spell it out for you just because it's the festive season and all that crap, no-one wants to see us lose 4-5 and play attractive football, every single one of us would take butt fucking ugly 1-0 wins, week in week out.

BUT ALLARDYCE THE USELESS CUNT CAN'T EVEN DO THAT!

So there you have it my man, happy new year!