Ha well it could happen. I'd like to see you not fighting relegation for a change but will admit it would hurt to see you actually qualifying for Europe if we fail to gain promotion. I'm expecting SA to turn you into a solid, reliable, boring 13-15th placed side for a year or two and then fans to start muttering about boring football and it not being the Sunderland way before you bring in a foreign manager to "take you to the next level" and promptly get relegated around 2020. As for us. I have no bloody idea. No-one does. That's the scary bit.
im really happy with the way our football is going at the moment, Sam has turned it around and the KKK SIGNINGS HAVE BEEN FANTASTIC .cant wait for the new season with him in charge
Anybody who says we have played the long ball game since BSA took charge have obviously not watched us play..
Last time I watched you, it looked good against Norwich and Everton. The football was good and fast flowing, intense and committed. Before that, against us and City... Long balls upto Defoe. Sam was on Sunday Supplement this morning saying he will tell his players to play the way they have to play for each opposition because some teams are better than his team. He is the master at frustrating teams that are better than his team, Wenger hated him in his Bolton days for it. His aim is to build Sunderland so that teams have to adjust their game to cope with Sunderland's style, but to achieve that he needs his own squad and plenty of time.
You're in a similar situation to Newcastle, your owner needs to back your manager and give him what he needs and you get the sense that if it happens you could finally be turning the corner. Allardyce certainly isn't the only answer for you but he's a bloody good one.
Exactly, you can't put a label on your style. You adjust where necessary so you can't say you're one or the other.
I have watched Man U, Spurs, Leicester and virtually every other team play long balls as well, so the same could be said for all of us..
Yeah, we played it to good effect last season with Fellaini as a target man. Very few teams will stick religiously to one style... Apart from Pep's teams, never have a plan B.
I couldn't give a monkeys if we play the neat passing game or the long ball game. What interests me is what we do when we get the ball in the final third, creating chances and having an attacking urgency is what makes football enjoyable, for me as a supporter. Under Sam we are creating more chances each game than we have under any other manager, since Steve Bruce. It does seem ingrained in all the Newcastle supporters that football is boring under Sam Allardyce and that the clock is ticking before we get sick of him. He actually won them more points, per game, than Carver, McClaren or Rafa Benitez. They seem to be judging him on what he done at Newcastle and not looking at the football he has served up since at both West Ham and Sunderland. I can assure them that this second half of the season has been really enjoyable and many games have had us on the edge of our seats, and long may it continue...
If we don`t know, the players don`t know then the opposition can`t know. ****ed if I know. Hardly a glowing wossname though is it? Window & pre season. That`s the indicator for me. Last season both were a complete shambles. Pre season especially. I`m looking to Sam to make serious improvements there even with the same squad. The last one was an abortion.
I noted on the BBC website that we have only failed to score in one of our last 14 away games (at WHU), when was the last time we had a record like that. Surely this shows Sam's attacking intent for,the future and is one reason why I have high hopes of us not repeating our great escape routine in the foreseeable future.
Endorsement? I've said the same about pre-season myself, mate. It was a disaster and some of our players have came out and spoke openly about not being fit at the start of the season. Sam is massive on his sports science and keeping players in peak condition, he wont allow the same to happen again...
Not sure if anybody else has noticed but Sam has got the SOL to become a bit of a fortress again, no other manager has done that since Reid. We have only been beat twice at home this year and that was against Leicester (fair enough) and Man City. I'm still not quite sure how we lost against Man City, we were great that night. If this is what Sam has done in the short space of time, then I'm excited to see what he can do with a full season. I honestly think we'll be comfortable and that we'll have a solid home record, next season.
Not only are we creating more chances and converting them, but he's also made us difficult to beat as well and added much needed grit and determination. Against Norwich and Everton we won the majority of second balls where normally we would lose those and lose possession, he's turned that around and for me that has been very significant in the final half dozen games or so.
