Allardyce Crticicising Everybody EXCEPT Himself!

Just in case youngsters Hall, Spence and Potts missed his post match rant, Allardyce has put his criticism into print and warned them that they are in danger of being shipped out of the club - and this is on the back of one bad TEAM performance. As man management goes, this really is scraping the bottom of the barrel and pretty cowardly.

There were some senior pros out on the pitch, and they must carry more responsibility than the kids, but strangely Allardyce doesn't mention them in his Standard article. Why isn't McCartney cited? I didn't see the game but I was amazed to read that young Potts was pushed out of position to accommodate the Irish carthorse rather than vice versa. Play a kid in a makeshift defence, play him out of position, then name and shame him in a high circulation newspaper three days later under a headline reading "Players put their careers in jeopardy" - brilliant, the young lad's confidence and motivation must be surging!

Of course, when Allardyce is the target, he thinks it is so unfair, and like Enfield's Kevin he complains it is all so personal. I wasn't one of those who criticised our performance against Sunderland and I agree with Doctor Evil that we dominated the game, but his complaint that the criticism of our style of play "is a personal thing" because "they don’t particularly like me for whatever reason" is pathetic. Allardyce is happy to name and shame young kids after a team he selected are taken apart by Wigan but when anybody dares to criticise him, he comes over all precious.

For the record, whilst I was happy with our performance against Sunderland, the free flowing football of Southampton in the second half against Villa put our tactics to shame. The Southampton players are certainly no better than ours, and the Sunderland players are no better than Villa's, but the Saints looked like a top notch team because they passed the ball at pace and showed great movement. If Sam wants to be loved, I suggest he watches a tape of that game and thinks, "If Lambert, Puncheon and Lallana can do that in the Prem, what might Jarvis, Vaz Te and Benayoun do if used correctly?" He might also note the affection shown towards Adkins despite Southampton's miserable start to the season.

The Standard article is a fascinating read beacause the arrogance of the man sweats through virtually every sentence. He even turns a tribute to John Bond into an Allardycefest, writing,

"John even tried to sign me when he was manager at Norwich. It didn’t quite come off which was a pity because, two months after that, he moved on to Manchester City and had I been at Carrow Road and doing well, he might have taken me with him."

How insulting to Norwich City! And how brashly, crassly arrogant to squeeze this into a eulogy! Mind you, Allardyce then adds that Muffin "always gave you his full attention when you talked to him". Slight typo there, Allardyce meant, "always gave you his full attention when you talked AT him"!

Is the criticism of Allardyce personal? How could it be otherwise when he comes across as such an insensitive arse?