Surprises me there is so much talk about performances already, it’s far too early into a new manager’s tenure to judge how we’re playing. It takes months and a few transfer windows to get a cohesive team together. And it’s not like the players he’s working with are his. Half these lot won’t even be here next year. Actually, this team will look completely different in 6 weeks when we’ve made a few signings and players are back from injury. The new players coming in will need time to settle and it might even take until next season before we see the best of them. And the squad is on its arse; Sam essentially said the other day that DCL is shattered and shouldn’t be playing but Niasse is shite.
It’s not like I’m an ardent Allerdyce supporter but anyone who’s played footy at a half decent level (I played for Boston, Hitchin and Cambridge City
#bigtime, I know) knows how hard it is for a club to transition between managers with differing philosophies. Compounded by the change being made, midsession.
I’ll hope for an upturn in performances in the new year but I won’t truly judge him until after he’s brought in his own players and had a preseason. That would be my outlook regardless of whether we had Pulis or Guardiola in charge.
That said, if we’d had Baines, Coleman, a fit Bolasie, Barkley and a proper striker playing against West Brom, the performance would’ve been better, regardless of the manager’s approach.