Zero

I have been watching nearly all the games this season and now I finally realize what he's doing, and why Bolton is so successful while we don't. Sam's true value is on his defense tactics: pressing and counter attack. And that's what he is trying to implement now, ignoring our offense (actually he did but that's another controversial issue) To play this kind of tactics, the most important requirements are player's stamina and commitment. Their technique, comparatively, is not that important. IF it is effective, it is the tactic that can bring us back to CL. Sam use it in Bolton and successfully brings them into UEFA Cup. However if it isn't then we even cannot win against Derby. It is a very risky tactic, but it has been proved successful. So a lot of things can be explained 1. Why use Barton/Smith instead of Emre A. Emre's stamina isn't good enough. Commitment is arguable though. 2. Why we cannot attack A. His priority is to play pressing rather than possession football. In other words, pressing is more important than attacking 3. Why we sucks against Fulham, Derby, etc shitter teams A. Players aren't that committed/focused. The pressing simply collapse if anyone isn't paying 100% effort on pressing. The other scenario is, we play exceptionally well against Arsenal, a match where pressing is completely executed because everyone in the pitch is fully committed. The point is, pressing is a very strong tactic and it has been proved successful before (Bolton and Newcastle under SBR) but I am not sure whether Allardyce has the time for fully implementing it. SBR needs almost 2 seasons for doing that but I don't think Sam will be given 2 seasons for such a poor display. SBR has the time due to his reputation---people always forget that we played very poorly during his first 2 seasons. Just mid-table finish. So,are you willing to give it a try? The pressing tactic? Do you really believe Sam can bring his true value in Bolton to Newcastle? This is a long term question. Rozehnal may be shipped out, Martins may become another Diouf, Given may be sold...who knows. But what we can really expect from Sam is his matured pressing tactic---the one we have been playing before. Possession football is a surplus. Sam may do it AFTER his pressing tactic is finished, but not before. Is a matured pressing tactic what you want? If yes, give him 2 seasons and if not, sack him now. Any decision within this period is a waste of money.

He is not a good choice, but unfortunately, he is our best choice.

Hire a coach to teach him "how to play like Bellamy" Or else really, get some cash back. No wonder Inter sold him. His partnership with Adriano must be a nightmare (for Inter).

If he has Bellamy's sense, I'll do that too. Unfortunately no, he is not a shadow striker.

The problem is, he also doesn't look good when playing Viduka's role. I simply cannot figure out how to use Martins tbh.

If pressing is a failure, the whole midfield is exposed. Smith also plays like that during Leeds days, anyway, the rationale for playing Martins instead of Viduka there is Martins SHOULD HAVE the pace to support both offense and defense. Could you imagine Viduka plays like Milner on the left? The fault is either Sam didn't ask him to defend or he didn't do that. Of course Sam has to bear the blame for the result because he is the one who pick the team, but Martins isn't free from blame either.

No disagreement on Rozehnal. He is finished. Butt's positioning is good actually, but if we are playing pressing game like this, Butt simply cannot remain on his own position. Still remember when Speed was here, playing Butt's position? A lot of people were blaming that his positioning was problematic, and the true reason is SBR was also playing this kinda tactics. Am I the only one who support restoring the pressing tactics?

So that's why I said, drop him. The reason is because our defense collapses from the right first. Easy, just think, right midfield exposed, Smith and Barton are going to cover the right, and then left side exposed and Derby start attacking there. Sam's defense quality is largely depends on pressing. If this fails then our defense simply collapses and that's why I am singling out Martins. We cannot have anyone on the pitch that isn't fully committed to the pressing. Just three points and you will understand the importance of pressing 1. The pressing is excellent versus Arsenal, you can see the difference. 2. That's the true value of Sam, the reason why Bolton's defense was so good despit having many shit but committed players. 3. During SBR era we also play this kinda defense, did anyone realize this?

You can see our pressing was much better in the first half, but very bad in second. Watch the game again, Butt, Smith and Barton also did it during the start of second half, but they realized something's missing, the pressing wasn't effective and so they stopped. And what makes our pressing effective again is when Duff comes in and restore our midfield in 4 players, with Milner back to the right. Face it, Martins has to bear the blame. And playing out of position doesn't mean no defense is required. What kind of logic is that? Smith is playing out of position much of the time but there's even not a second in his game that he isn't defending. The best solution is drop Martins, he contributes nothing this season with just a few close range lucky goals. Bring back Duff and play Milner on the right and lets see how our pressing performs.

Well, I agree, but the point is, at the very least, and I am 100% sure Fat Sam has done, is to ask Martins "please track back and help our defense" If he didn't do that he must be fired, and I simply don't believe Fat Sam will commit such kinda error---in Bolton even Diouf the wanker has to track back. So the fault of Fat Sam is, he doesn't have the ball to drop Martins. He wants to keep Charles, James and Obefami all happy and make such kinda unbalanced team. But of course if I said "drop Martins" people here will fire me down to the hell.

Because Martins didn't play like a right winger. Or he just play like a right winger during attack.

He should NEVER GOING TO TACKLE THE BALL. The best and only option is to slow down Kenny's play and wait for support, but not trying such a risky tackle and cost us the goal!

The core problem lies on Martins. Sam is playing whole pitch pressing but some lazy bastards didn't do their job and let our midfield become exposed. Whole pitch pressing cannot be done without every player's commitment and as a result the pressing simply failed, and let our midfield become Derby's heaven. Remember the shot which Derby almost get 3-1 ahead? Beye was helpless in that play because he is 1 on 2. Martins doesn't track back, fucking hell.

Actually the midfield and forward aren't that bad. They played ok today, not spectacular but average performance. It's the two piece of shits in our central defense that cost us 2 points.

Rozehnal is a piece of shit.

I think Barton plays ok though. Yes his control isn't fully recovered yet, but his position is immense. He appears exactly where his teammates want to and link up the play very well.

He is for centre back. Probably a long term understudy and a replacement for Ramage. Not a bad thing isn't it?

Honestly we just lose Beye only, the other players aren't that important to us.

I would say the approach was wrong but FS was too lucky to get all 3 points. I understand that we have the strongest defensive power in midfield when playing Barton/Geremi/Butt, but that's only Fulham ffs. I would have no complaint if our opponent is any other top 6 teams which we'll play a counter-attack style football like what we did vs Arsenal, but now it's only Fulham, a match which we should have at least half of the possession. FS should play Emre instead of Geremi/Barton, or in extreme cases, N'Zogbia in middle is also a good idea. Too lucky to have 3 points, but we really need them. Sorry Fulham.

Beye is simply immense. He can be our legend if he continues such level of display. If only his long ball can be better...

He even doesn't have the technique to hold down a ball.

Martins' performance is worrying. What's worst is that he seems no longer that fast anymore.

He doesn't deserve such kinda treatment. Not a lazy rebel bastard, just fake passport...

Sincerely hope that one day he will be welcomed as an honourable guest in St James before match. A true legend, and arguably our best player during the SBR era.

I can understand the logic of playing Milner on the left IF he is allowed to cut into the middle and try long shots.