Sam Allardyce was not unexpectedly playing the injury card at this morning’s presser ahead of the Manchester United clash on Sunday.
He revealed: “James Collins, Winston Reid, Guy Demel, Diego Poyet, Doneil Henry and Andy Carroll lie in our medical room at the moment.
“We’re not sure how many of those will make it for Sunday. With such a big week coming, three games in a week, there’ll be very few risks taken, unless they’re 100 per cent fit. If we play them it may exacerbate the injuries so we will go to battle with what we’ve got.”
And this was used to explain that the style of play we can expect against Manchester United would not be overly exciting.
He said: “We will have to be tactically very astute to limit them and when at all possible try and cause them a problems. This year at home we’ve done that very well but we can’t be too ambitious. We will need to very disciplined.”
“I think they’re getting stronger and stronger as the season goes on. Their ability up front to score is very impressive. Their squad is full of top quality players, so we need to be patient and organised and try and frustrate them for as long as possible.
His response on the possibility of Diafra Sakho being involved was subdued when asked replying: “Maybe, we’ll have to wait and see.”
Surely when all your defenders are injured, you don’t set out defensively!? It’s like going out of our way to focus the game on our weak area!
Given we have most of our attackers fit, and few of our defenders fit, surely in this game we should go out and have a go, and try and score more than them?! get after them, and focus the game on their defence and our attack, not the other way around.
You don’t seek to stifle, when the players you need to achieve this aren’t available.
Typical Dinosaur,saying we will have to frustrate them & be patient.Yeah just let them monopolize the possesion & we will try to hang-on.Ffs,everyone knows it is their defense which is the suspect part of their team.So instead of trying to get at their defense we will sit back & let them come at us.What sort of mentality does this guy have when he says ‘when at all possible we will try to cause them problems’ & ‘cant be too ambitious’.I despair of this man.We are the home team are we not,it aint at old trafford you dinosaur.With this negative fools mentality we might as well just give the mancs the 3pts & we can all stay at home for the afternoon.Of the injured players listed only one of the two central defenders would play along side Tomkins you would assume.Carroll out brings the two lads upfront together & the other guys would only be on the bench or not even in the squad anyway.Seems like he is already making excuses days before the match.
Sometimes you can appreciate the mind games between managers & hope that we will do the opposite of what he says,to have a real go at them.But you just know with this mans negative mindset what he said today will be exactly what he plans to do.So depressing when we know we have a properly set up midfield & attack to worry any defense in the league.
This photo of Allardyce will haunt me forever.It’s a wonder the name “Nolan” isn’t tattooed on there.Seriously Allardyce is out of his depth in the modern day Premier League.He has a stubborn streak a metre wide and as Dirty Harry once said ” a man’s got to know his limitations”.Allardyce certainly is limited in his thinking and that is reflected in his brainless team selections.
With the transfers we brought in in the summer to complement what we alreaady have im sure any manager in The Premiership could have taken us to mid-table mediocrity.The difference with this fool is the fact that he has somehow managed to take us back to middle table mediocrity from a strong position in the table.He got lucky when Carroll & Nolan were out injured,he had to play what turned out to be our best formation & probably our best team.To contrive to somehow turn us into a mediocre team again in terms of playing style is scandalous & how the hell can he not be found accountable will be a mystery to me if he is offered a new contract come the summer.He is a decent manager when it comes to taking a team up or keeping them up.That is his level of ability.If we want to push on to be a european places contender regularly we will never do it with him in charge.I can just imagine if we did qualify for europe this year,we would go to continental teams playing the long ball from defence to Carroll up top & the opposition will think they have been teleported back to the 70s 😉
First we had the false 9, then we had the false dawn – unless this is a false lead it looks like the old Sam’s well and truly back!
Recent team selection and tactics make it increasingly look like the great start to the season was forced on BFS through injuries – leopards and spots!
heng on boy I think he has a cunning to make MOAN U into thinking we will play one way then BANG we will have a go at them ih look I see pigs in the sky lol
O NO Injury crises what will we do without Henry , Poyet and Demel.
My God SA is such joke putting the spin on already for when we lose this and have 29% possession .
QPR please come and take this man away.
The owners need to stop and realise how much hurt and pain this person we call our manager is causing to the team and the fans. A manager is supposed to be the leader – there are lots of words for him but leader is not one. He is without doubt the worse manager we ever had and probably the most disliked. His team selection and decision making during games is atrocious. We will turn up on sunday with full of optimism until we see the team selection.
Avram Grant would get just get the nod before Allardyce in my humble opinion.
Yeah Grant was poor for sure.But he always looked like a pitiful headmaster who couldnt control his school.He also didnt build himself up as some sort of managerial wizard.BFS cant stop himself from telling everyone what a tactical genius he is,more flexible than the best managers in the league,able to adapt to all situations in a game.Yeah sure Samuel.At least Grant has taken a team to a champions league final & now a final in a major international tournament.Things that our genius can only dream of doing.Interesting that BFS is 60 & has never managed one of the big clubs with regards to champions league & winning the prem,i think his own belief in his abilities isnt viewed the same by most chairmen.The sensible ones anyway 🙂
As always good points Rads
We have a great barometer to measure our geniuses abilities in the next month.After his claims that he is more flexible than many of the better managers in the league let us see how many points he picks us up by his out thinking of these managers in the top 6.I have a feeling that Wenger,Van Gaal,Koeman,Mourinho & Pochattino/Pocahontas,what ever the spud is called are going to make him look pretty ordinary,which is exactly what he is 😉