Sam Allardyce has talked about Eriksson’s England record ahead of our game today with Manchester City.
When you consider what Sam says it really does point out how similar England and Newcastle have been over the last 40 years or so – good teams with some great players, but cannot win anything.
Let’s see what Big Sam has been saying.
Sam Allardyce – defends Sven Eriksson’s England record
This what Sam said yesterday regarding Sven and England:
“When you look back at his time with England a lot of people say he failed – but he didn’t really, did he?†“When you look at penalties and refereeing decisions and three quarter-finals he didn’t do badly.â€
“The refereeing decision which disallowed the goal in Portugal in the last minute, for something that was never a foul, can hardly be his fault.â€
As we mentioned yesterday Eriksson’s actual record with England is an excellent one, but probably because of this, the expectation was high that we could win something again. England are a bit like Newcastle – good teams with good players but just cannot win anything – well at least for the last 40 years 🙁
For England, our last win was our fabulous world cup victory in 1966, which is still engrained in our minds (they think it’s all over – it is now!) where our players were just truly magnificent. For Newcastle it was our brilliant Moncur-led victory in the Fairs Cup in 1969 – which I watched from the Newcastle University dorm on Leazes Terrace, just across from the stadium. Oh the memories 😀
But we digress – Sam continued:
“England got knocked out again in Germany – and they lost on penalties again.†“A lot of what is said about him being a failure is not true because there is such a thin dividing line and most of it was out of his control.â€
“He was never guilty of the wrong selection or choosing the wrong team.†“The results would then have suffered and he would have carried the can for that.â€
“But when it comes to a penalty miss or a disallowed goal, all of sudden you are supposed to be a failure because of that!†“Those are the pressures you are under with the top job in England.”
These are good points Sam makes because certainly he prepares for almost any eventuality but there’s nothing much a manager can do about certain things that happen during games. As we mentioned yesterday Eriksson will soon cement himself as a great club manager again at City. He had very little time before the end of the transfer window but he moved so quickly to bring in new players to City – who look really good.
Sam Allardyce also offered a glowing opinion on Manchester City defender Micah Richards as an “outstanding” talent ahead of today’s game.
Allardyce said:
“Micah Richards has gained a vast amount of experience in a short period of time and has used his outstanding attributes to become not just a regular player for Man City but for England as well.“
“I think has still got a good bit to learn from a tactical and positional point of view but his pace gets him out of trouble when he makes a wrong decision and that makes up for it.
“In particular, his move to a new position from full-back has helped and he is now a truly outstanding central defender.”
We think this was such a sage move by Sven. Certainly a great player in the making Sven moved Richards from right-back to a much more important position in the defense, center-back, where Micah can and has had a great impact. It’s little things like this that makes Sven so good. But against Fulham last week Dunne and Richards did not have one of their better games – we expect them to return to form today against Newcastle.
Well, certainly Sven and Sam have formed a mutual admiration society and we’re really looking forward to the game – which we hope is a good one – and a victory for our lads.
Comments welcome.
5 comments so far
Graeme
Sep 29, 2007 at 8:48 AM
Comment #1A 2-1 win for the Toon would be a great result and move us ahead of Man City with a game in hand!!! Not a bad start to the season lads, certainly better than we were expecting when the last season ended!!!
Just goes to show what a good manager, backed by his Chairman & Boardroom can really achieve. Long may it continue.
Ed Harrison
Sep 29, 2007 at 8:52 AM
Comment #2Agree – 3 points today and we’re back in Toon Heaven.
Lamesley Mag
Sep 29, 2007 at 9:14 AM
Comment #3I’m a big admirer of Micah Richards and would love to see him play for Newcastle United one day.
Hope he has an off day today and Martins scores a few as we need the 3 points………
Dingo
Sep 29, 2007 at 9:41 AM
Comment #4I was listening to the legends the other day (for those that dont know, they are Bernie Slaven, Micky Horswill, & Malcolm Macdonald who have a radio show on Century FM about the 3 N.E teams called ‘The Legends’) and a bloke called in who always places a bet on Newcastle to win 3-1. He has been doing this for 20 yrs!!!!!!! He had a dream that he bought a boat with his winnings after the season ended… so for him (and me) I am going for 3-1 to the toon to take me to Blank n White Valhallah.
I hope hes right 😛
evil dick
Sep 29, 2007 at 9:46 AM
Comment #5I’m off to the Sydney FC match and then racing home to watch the toon live on tv. Let’s hope it’s a good night!
howay the lads!