The honeymoon is over, we have a one dimensional manager, a team of journeyman and a mid table place secured for yet another season.
Starting at the top, this was an abject performance from Allardyce himself. 1-0 down to the worst team in the premiership he brings on like for like Martins for Owen, replaces a midfielder (Geremi) with a centre back (Faye) then swaps the right back (Taylor) for another right back (Faye). There were no tactical changes all night, just different players shuffled within the same pattern.
Meanwhile, Ameobi was totally inadequate, Milner is a right winger not a left, it is entirely uncertain what Alan Smith does or why he is in the team. Starting with Smith, Butt and Geremi in midfield against Derby is a criminal act of negativity. You felt we could have played for a month and still not created a goalscoring opportunity.
Of lesser importance on the night was that Taylor is not a right back, N'Zogbia needs some new studs, Beye looked promising and Harpers only real action was picking the ball out of his net.
We seem at the moment to be somewhere between Roeders Newcastle and Allardyce's Bolton and personally I'm not enjoying the journey or looking forward to the destination.
Some drastic action is needed by all of Mike Ashley, Chris Mort and Sam Allardyce. Here's some suggestions:
sell Ameobi in January, he is Championship standard at best
sell Michael Owen in January, he is the same as but less effective than Obe Martins and neither of them really fit Sam's battle plan
sell Alan Smith, it's beyond me what he does
buy a young target man to understudy Viduka
buy a young goalscorer to understudy Martins
big buy a top quality creative midfield player who will match Lampard, Gerard, Scholes and Fabregas
Sam please go on a tactical training course and work on plan's B and C for when your 4-3-3 full frontal assault is not working
Mike Ashley please invest for the future i.e. make some of our £30 million TV money available for a quality midfield playmaker.
Personally I am fed up watching the rubbish constantly served on the pitch by one of the richest clubs in Europe.
