TRon

Yes

He would be a good appointment to be honest. Bu now isn't the time to talk about it, Allardyce needs to be given some time to turn it round. Though I have to add I doubt an Allardyce team even at it's best could dream about playing like a Capello side.

he won't be offered the England job in a million years after this season's showing.

Personally I don't think there's smoke without fire on this one, Sam has said himself that there have been words. Nowt wrong with that as long as it's understood who's boss....and no Xmas pud leftovers on Boxing day.

I agree with everything you said, but that doesn't mean that want a Roeder approach to players who clearly need a kick up the backside. To be honest I'd like to see Big Sam take a long run up with a few of them.

It was never going to happen overnight and that was made clear from the start. Some of the players would prefer to spend Boxing Day having a few drinks and eating Xmas pud, and then playing like a bunch of puds a few days later, but that's life at Newcastle.

I can't help but admire Allardyce. Not for his football ethos, or his management so far this season because he's failed to get results short term through a blinkered approach. But having seen Roeder grovelling at the feet of senior players during his tenure, It's good to see Sam showing these under-achieving muppets who's boss. Given and whoever else was involved should be 'rested' against Arsenal. There's no one at this club who is irreplaceable.

I'm not in the pro-Shearer camp for the same reason I've never been happy with the likes of Clark or Beardsley being given staff jobs. I would rather be dispassionate about an appointment, and Shearer is a legend here so fans will see him through rose-tinted glasses, much like they did when he was CF. He's got leadership qualities but management is about more than that, especially at club level.

or how about playing Beye and Enrique at full back once the specialist CB's are available again?

What sort of u-turns are you expecting? maybe i should clarify, i'm not definitely expecting them, but if sam is given a bit of time, chances are at some point we'll go on a run of form and start to pick up some points, at which point i expect a lot of 'he's finally seen the light, champions league here we come' type of comments showing up. its just human nature i suppose but i just wish people would learn to give the benefit of the doubt when things go bad if they're willing to revel in the success, i'm not out for a fight but as nufc.com said buying the ticket is only part of the deal at the end of the day people just need to remember that we're a mid table club and any finish above last years placing will be progress, sam's got a good record in this leaugue and realistically we couldnt wish to be in much better hands at THIS moment in time I think teasy is right , it's Sam who has made a U-turn and given our players some licence to get forward with intent, even away from home. Blackburn wasn't the right result but at least we gave the opposition something to think about, not just worry what they might do to us. Anyway, to sack him now would be madness. For one, there are no outstanding candidates available to replace him right now. Plus we'd always be wondering whether he might have turned things round given some time and patience. Let's see how ther next few games pan out, as I think we'll not approach them in such a negative frame as we have so far this season. At least I hope not.

Without proper centre backs I don't think there's any chance of a result - even with them it would have been hard. We need to attack them with conviction bearing in mind we can't allow too much pressure onto makeshift CB's. The four games after Arsenal are the ones we will need to get results from.

Sam has dropped a lot of points against poor sides for which he should be held responsible as it was avoidable IMO. That said, the Arsenal game is not one on which rash decisions should be made. We will get beaten, but at the moment we are short of central defenders so it's not really fair to judge on that match. Let's get to Christmas and see if any lessons have been learned.

I think Sam's made a complete balls up of the season so far but I hope he can turn it round because the man has character and a big persona. Whether he's tuned in to the right way of setting up a team to play at the top level is still in doubt.

Shame about the result, but if we had gone out with this attitude and positive intent against shit teams like Derby, sunderland, 'boro etc, I think we'd have won a few more points. We were a bit unlucky today.

I dunno. Some of the booing was pretty nasty, tbh, and some fans really had a go a Allardyce. I feel sorry for Allardyce, but he's took it on the chin so fair play to him. Joey's gob seems a lot bigger than his talent so I'd really rather he kept it shut until he can back his words with some performances.

When a bunch of players is looking second best against every side they play, it's better to do your talking on the pitch. Do that and you have evry right to expect the plaudits. To keep playing shit and then expect the fans to be patient is unrealistic and not constructive either. You can't have it both ways.

I don't think this will do the players any favours because Barton is making it look like the fans are jumping down the players throats from the off. The situtation needs to be looked at in context, and that is the booing came as a culmination of very poor, lifeless displays ended with a total drubbing at home where the Liverpool keeper could have watched from the stands. Anyway, wasn't Sam just yesterday telling his players if they couldn't stand the heat to get out of the kitchen?

I've always considered Bez as a bit of a pillock, along with his former co-fullback Warren Barton. That doesn't mean he can't be right on some things, and what he's saying here is what most of us have been saying for a while. It really is just about deploying the tactics and style to suit the players you've got available. Big Sam wants to deploy his players to suit his style instead, which is fine on the training ground. If he doesn't start picking up some points though he might find himself picking up his P45 instead. What will he have proved then?

We are performing far below the capabilities of our squad. it's no use looking at numbers or stats when we can see with our own eyes Sunderland, Derby, Reading, Boro and the rest suddenly looking like competent teams when they play us, then the very next week getting twanked once more.

We all know N'Zogbia isn't a fullback, but it has to be said he's had his best games for us this season in that role and he's been mostly shit when starting in midfield where he doesn't get anywhere near as much space. ...or support. All the midfielders have looked shit because there's no movement around or ahead of them. Everyone's stuck in their own half stuck in rigid defensive positions, hoping a punt upfield will strike lucky.

Bad news about Enrique, nothing good can come out of that. It means either Carr or N'Zogbia will replace him I would think. not to mention for all he was poor against liverpool he is the best left back at the club...or is it just allardyces way of making sure milner doesn't play on the right ? I actually don't think there's much wrong with either Beye or Enrique, they are struggling like the rest of the defence because of the way the team is set out to invite pressure without any outlet. Much easier for Sam to drop players rather than admit he's to blame though.

It doesn't matter who plays at the back, if we line up in our usual fearful formation we will lose, that is a given. We have struggled agains far worse teams than Blackburn trying to contain them. Even if we drop back away from home, it's what we do with posession that is killing us. Without forward movement the passing inevitably breaks down, which means launching long balls in the general direction of the forward. Which means Blackburn will get the ball again and we'll come under pressure again, etc, etc.

:clap: Ditto. Good post and spot on IMO.

Might that not be a case of him trying to stick to what he knows best, i.e. something that he's had success with before, whilst he tries to drag us out of the mess and consolidate our position as a club? Does that mean if he had a team of midgets he'd still play the ball long and high because it's the only way he knows?

I did a thread about SBR's football nous compared to Sam's dogma about this. In a nutshell, SBR was able to change his style to suit our forwards when we had Ferguson and Shearer even though he wasn't a committed long ball merchant. I don't see any sign of Allardyce being able to play in a way which suits the players he has right now. That's his biggest problem as far as I'm concerned.