If you only read the papers you’d be forgiven for thinking that Newcastle fans can’t wait to see the back of Big Sam Allardyce. He’s been underperforming and Mike “The Gut” Ashley has already got his eye on possible replacements, with current over-performer and lover of the North East Harry Redknapp the latest apparent target. Points must be taken from our difficult run of three games or the managers position will be untenable, apparently. Of course, the more sensible among us who chat about this stuff over a pint and a pie know that this is complete hokum. We don’t like to see four goals conceded at home, and some might even boo when it happens, but I’ve yet to meet a fan who even privately wants rid, let alone one that’s gone so far as to try starting a chant of “We want fat Sam out” which would surely be met by derision from all around. It is safe in this knowledge that we must still be able to question a few of the new man’s decisions in the hope that he won’t repeat his mistakes; here are (in my opinion) his biggest gaffes….

Rebuilding the defence
It’s a long held consensus opinion that Newcastle’s defence is a joke. The fact that it’s bollocks shouldn’t get in the way of Lawro and Hansen having a jolly old laugh at every defensive error we might make. Of course our defence didn’t actually do too bad last year. We conceded less than Tottenham, Blackburn and Bolton anyway, and they all finished well above us. No, our problem was always attacking; we didn’t score enough because we had £17M in the physio room all year and £10M doing the grease lightning in the reserves.
On the day he arrived at Newcastle though, Allardyce showed the door to a host of defensive players. His decision was generally greeted with approval. The players made to walk the plank were deemed either surplus to requirements (correctly - Srnicek, and Bernard) or not to be good enough for Newcastle United (Bramble and Moore). Oguchi Onyewu probably fell somewhere between the two. The approval at the time was given in the belief that better replacements would be brought in.

Unfortunately the renovation work done on our back four has been a job done on the cheap. Allardyce has replaced like for like, but the new players had none of the benefit of joining an existing unit that’s already gelled. Rather, they need plenty of time just to become as cohesive as the cobbled together ramshackle organisation that we already had. The £13M spent on five or six defensive players would have been far better spent on bolstering what we already had with two players of real quality. Almost half that money may have gone on Enrique, but that doesn’t alter the fact that I can’t think of a game where we’ve put out a defense that includes 2 players who were acquainted before the season started.

In making a rash decision on players he’d seen very little of Allardyce suggested to me that he places little value in his own ability to evaluate a player. His decision was based entirely from an outsiders point of view, in order to cater to the perceived problems at the club rather than the actual problems he should’ve taken the time to assess for himself. This is a fact also backed up by his reliance on OPTA stats, he’s been their biggest supporter for years with his scientific approach, but why does he rely on them so much? It’s all there on the pitch, he watches all the games. He needs to start evaluating the problems he sees with his own eyes, not the ones that other people perceive or that the statistics might suggest.

The creative Spark
Newcastle have been dull to watch this year. We’ve been horrible in fact. For thirty minutes in the first game against Bolton I was impressed by the neat play, the enthusiasm and the dynamism of the team. I don’t know what was said at half time, but since then we’ve been as unimaginative as any time under Roeder. This belies the fact that we’re fifth top scorers in the league at the moment. We’ve put more in the net than Chelsea or Man City, and just as many as Liverpool. What have the fans got to complain about?

Well we aren’t scoring all these goals with any style or panache. If we were winning it wouldn’t be a problem, but without points or pleasure it’s just self flagellation. It was my main concern when Allardyce arrived, he’s never been known for his attractive style of play and as much as people insisted he was just what was needed to sort us out, I always wondered if the Toon Army had the patience to sit through his boring football. I knew they would when we won, but a short run of defeats without really asking much of the opposition can see all that turn to nothing.

So Allardyce’s second big mistake was selling Dyer and Solano. In doing so, he let two of our most creative players go. In replacing them with Geremi and Barton, he indicated exactly what we as supporters had to look forward to. For nine games he got away with it, because we never went three games without a win or two without a point on our way to our “best start in 10 years” and all of that, but as soon as a few results in a row have gone against him the pressure is on. Just three winless games has been enough to raise hackles, no-one was complaining about Zoggy being played out of position before the Reading game, no-one was that bothered about the long ball being employed to supply two of the more dwarf-like strikers in the league. If Allardyce is going to survive the odd barren run that every team has, he’s going to have to change the style of play (either that or win every other game which you can never guarantee). It shouldn’t even require a great deal of spending in January. If you play our existing midfielders in their natural positions they should be more than capable of passing and moving with pace rather than being bypassed completely by a ball over their heads, which leads me onto his last big mistake….

The backroom staff
It seems that Allardyce came into the club believing that an overhaul was required from top to bottom, as well as the revitalised boardroom that he had nothing to do with we’ve had the changes of personnel listed above. The players that remain have talked about his new methods of varying training times, meal times, emphasis on fitness etc. The years of injury crisis seem to have abated somewhat so it’s only the odd bit of bad luck we have to put up with, rather than the constant flow of sick notes we’d become accustomed to. He’s obviously gone for a big shake up and it’s paid dividends in some places, but in my opinion he’s left the biggest obstacle in place. The one thing that remains from the days of Souness and Roeder is the backroom boys.

It’s a difficult one to argue, because so little of what the training staff do is actually visible to anyone off the training field, but very little seems to have changed in that regard, and what has changed has been forced. It’s just a personal doubt, but Terry McDeromott, Lee Clark and Nigel Pearson obviously had little to give to Souness or Roeder in their time at the club. Who can forget the image of Pearson slouched in his seat as if the ghost was well and truly given up when we had nothing to offer against Reading last season. Allardyce seems to have actively pursued change in all of the areas that grab the headlines, but maintained the status quo where there’s little publicity.

Steve Round has been the only unforced change that Allardyce has chosen to make in this area, while Terry Mac and Nigel Pearson remain in place despite being part of the backroom team that have twice been deemed unacceptable for our club. What also remains a constant is the unmotivated, lackluster performances from players we all know can do better; they just need the benefit of tactical guidance.

It may be unfair of me, the coaches that remain might have been as exasperated as everyone with managers who refused to budge on tactics, but I can’t believe that upon arrival at the club two of Big Sam’s first choices of first team coach were already at the club, why hasn’t he been chasing down his own preferred people? People he knows and respects and could feel assured share his vision which they could impart to the playing staff? In settling for men who’ve adapted to which ever incumbent was currently in charge in order to collect a pay packet I can’t help but think he’s settling for second best.

by

Happy Face.