Manager asks his players to channel spirit of Bielsa but Leeds will regret not taking 2-0 lead during draw with NewcastleWelcome to Elland Road, abandon hope of a quiet afternoon all ye who enter. Sam Allardyce had called on his Leeds players to channel the spirit of Marcelo Bielsa on Saturday lunchtime and in terms of the chaotic and nerve-shredding brand of football for which the Argentinian’s reign at Elland was often notable, he got the response he wanted.It was unlike an afternoon anyone would have anticipated with Allardyce in the dugout. The polar opposite of Bielsa in so many ways, Allardyce’s first home game in the dugout had all the hallmarks of the man who guided the club back...
The new manager saw his team offer a dogged defensive display at the Etihad that bodes well for their final three gamesSam Allardyce has waited two years to manage a competitive match, and some might suggest that wait will go on for another week. His new Leeds side suffered at the hands of Manchester City at times but there were, in the end, positives to cling on to.The 68-year-old only had three days on the training ground to impart his methods. It would appear those sessions were attack v defence to prepare them for facing an inevitable afternoon of City domination at the Etihad but Leeds used maximum effort, Allardyce’s minimum requirement. Continue reading...
As a radio co-host Allardyce was far from tactically rigid and it is delicious to imagine him beating Pep Guardiola in his first gameA couple of weeks before the start of the season, the Guardian Football Weekly panel were asked for our most outlandish predictions for the season. Barry Glendenning suggested Liverpool wouldn’t make the top four. Jonathan Wilson thought there was a good chance of Roy Hodgson coming out of retirement and ensuring Crystal Palace’s survival. Philippe Auclair was confident Chelsea would spend half a billion pounds on attacking midfielders, sack Thomas Tuchel and then Graham Potter and bring in Super Frank Lampard to oversee a 100% losing record.These predictions all seemed far-fetched, but not ridiculous. It was then...
Leeds’ run-in may pit Allardyce against two of his former clubs but first up would be Pep Guardiola, who once called him a geniusWhen Nicolas Anelka played for Sam Allardyce at Bolton the France striker described the training-ground environment as surprisingly reminiscent of Clairefontaine. Although Allardyce lacks the time necessary to transform Leeds’s weekday HQ near Wetherby into a mini-mirror image of the French national football school, Javi Gracia’s old squad should expect the unexpected if – as scheduled – he takes training for the first time on Wednesday.The 68-year-old has plenty of critics but a close examination of the former England coach’s often impressive body of work at, among other clubs, Bolton, Blackburn, Sunderland and Crystal Palace, indicates that...
The West Brom manager has a stain on his record now. But nobody should think the old magic has entirely deserted him.The summer of 2016 has a lot of answer for. What if England had not been beaten by Iceland in the last 16 of the Euros? What if they had not lost their nerve, if Joe Hart had not made that mistake, if somebody, anybody, had demonstrated any kind of clarity of vision and attempted a mode of attacking that was not just whacking the ball into the box or giving it to Wayne Rooney? What if they had then scrambled through a quarter-final against the anxious hosts, France, to set up (another) semi-final show-down with Germany?Perhaps Roy Hodgson...