10-05-2021, 12:33
(This post was last modified: 10-05-2021, 12:43 by Slick_Footwork.)
I was in the minority that wanted Sam. I've always liked him since he brought my favourite player - Jay Jay Okocha - to the Premier League.
I acknowledged at the time that nobody would probably keep us up inheriting that dreadful squad put together by Dowling and Bilic, but I thought he would give us the best chance as he clearly knows what it takes to succeed in the Premier League based on history. There's a lot of pretenders out there in management - including his clueless predecessor - but big Sam isn't on of them.
As it turned out, he didn't hit the ground running like I hoped he would. I was hoping he'd feed up some "Pulis like" industrial stuff, because I think that's the only way a dreadful squad can get points. However, despite the fact he's often compared to Pulis due to age and nationality, he really isn't that type of coach and needed better players to succeed.
However, the subsequent improvement has shown that he still knows what he's doing IMO. For me we're better at both ends of the pitch. Going forward, we get bodies into the box, which we never did under Bilic. Defensively we look decent, which is hard to believe considering we have last season's defence minus Hegazi and Ferguson, who were probably our best 2 defenders.
In the summer I thought it was obvious that we needed to add a right back, defensive midfielder and proper number 9 as a foil for Pereira and all 3 went unnoticed by Bilic. As a result, teams cut through our midfield like a hot knife through butter and on the rare occasions we did play the ball forward, it didn't stick. Despite having very limited budget in January, Sam got the 'type' of players in that we needed.
Had we got Yokulsu in at the start of Jan, I honestly think we'd be in the shake up until the last game of the season. Unfortunately, he didn't come in until the last day of the window...
So I've seen enough to say that I believe he knows what he's doing and we could do a lot worse...
But do I want him to stay? I don't care until we know our financial situation.
To explain that... I think it's a massive job in the summer for whoever is manager.
I expect Pereira will leave, as his recent performances will have put him in the shop window. Also, it goes without saying that all of the loanees - Diagne, Yokulsu, Maitland-Niles, Gallagher - will go. Johnstone too.
If all that money simply goes into the owner's pocket, as I expect, then we're left without our creative player, without a proper number 9 and with Livermore and Sawyers as our first choice midfield.
I don't think that side will come back up. We stumbled to promotion last time thanks to Brentford choking. What chance have we got when we're several players down on that side (minus Gibbs, Hegazi, Ferguson, Pereira, Krovi, Austin vs last year) and those leggy midfielders are 2 years older? Okay we've added Snodgrass, Grant and Kipre who might do alright in the Championship, but generally our squad would be worse than the side that stumbled to promotion. Unless there's cash to invest, we're a mid table Championship side. The likes of Zohore coming back illustrate that.
Considering Sam isn't in favour with the majority of the fans. I'd rather he left if we haven't got any cash, because he's just on a hiding to nothing.
But if he's given cash to spend as a result of sales of Johnstone and Pereira (I'm assuming we're not going to keep Pereira, like Norwich did with Buendia) then I'd be fine with him staying. With £30m to replace the loanees and outgoings, he has the quality to build a side that can get promoted. I think we have goalkeepers who can step up, so it would just be a case of replacing Pereira and the loanees.
But without money, he'd just ruin his reputation.
I acknowledged at the time that nobody would probably keep us up inheriting that dreadful squad put together by Dowling and Bilic, but I thought he would give us the best chance as he clearly knows what it takes to succeed in the Premier League based on history. There's a lot of pretenders out there in management - including his clueless predecessor - but big Sam isn't on of them.
As it turned out, he didn't hit the ground running like I hoped he would. I was hoping he'd feed up some "Pulis like" industrial stuff, because I think that's the only way a dreadful squad can get points. However, despite the fact he's often compared to Pulis due to age and nationality, he really isn't that type of coach and needed better players to succeed.
However, the subsequent improvement has shown that he still knows what he's doing IMO. For me we're better at both ends of the pitch. Going forward, we get bodies into the box, which we never did under Bilic. Defensively we look decent, which is hard to believe considering we have last season's defence minus Hegazi and Ferguson, who were probably our best 2 defenders.
In the summer I thought it was obvious that we needed to add a right back, defensive midfielder and proper number 9 as a foil for Pereira and all 3 went unnoticed by Bilic. As a result, teams cut through our midfield like a hot knife through butter and on the rare occasions we did play the ball forward, it didn't stick. Despite having very limited budget in January, Sam got the 'type' of players in that we needed.
Had we got Yokulsu in at the start of Jan, I honestly think we'd be in the shake up until the last game of the season. Unfortunately, he didn't come in until the last day of the window...
So I've seen enough to say that I believe he knows what he's doing and we could do a lot worse...
But do I want him to stay? I don't care until we know our financial situation.
To explain that... I think it's a massive job in the summer for whoever is manager.
I expect Pereira will leave, as his recent performances will have put him in the shop window. Also, it goes without saying that all of the loanees - Diagne, Yokulsu, Maitland-Niles, Gallagher - will go. Johnstone too.
If all that money simply goes into the owner's pocket, as I expect, then we're left without our creative player, without a proper number 9 and with Livermore and Sawyers as our first choice midfield.
I don't think that side will come back up. We stumbled to promotion last time thanks to Brentford choking. What chance have we got when we're several players down on that side (minus Gibbs, Hegazi, Ferguson, Pereira, Krovi, Austin vs last year) and those leggy midfielders are 2 years older? Okay we've added Snodgrass, Grant and Kipre who might do alright in the Championship, but generally our squad would be worse than the side that stumbled to promotion. Unless there's cash to invest, we're a mid table Championship side. The likes of Zohore coming back illustrate that.
Considering Sam isn't in favour with the majority of the fans. I'd rather he left if we haven't got any cash, because he's just on a hiding to nothing.
But if he's given cash to spend as a result of sales of Johnstone and Pereira (I'm assuming we're not going to keep Pereira, like Norwich did with Buendia) then I'd be fine with him staying. With £30m to replace the loanees and outgoings, he has the quality to build a side that can get promoted. I think we have goalkeepers who can step up, so it would just be a case of replacing Pereira and the loanees.
But without money, he'd just ruin his reputation.