What they say about Sam

To some he’s a long-ball manager who plays “19th century” football, but those who know Sam Allardyce well describe a different character.

A picture emerges of an expert man manager with a passion for sports science, statistics and psychology.

Here, with the help of his former players, we take a look at the aspects of the game that Allardyce uses to gain every advantage available…

Game plans

The England DNA initiative highlights the importance of game strategy and the need to “devise a specific tactical plan for each fixture” before “making relevant tactical changes” during the match itself. There was little evidence of that against Iceland at Euro 2016 and Allardyce’s former player and coach, Phil Brown, doesn’t believe he would make that mistake.

“He knows exactly what to do in any given circumstance,” Brown told Sky Sports. “That is where we let ourselves down in the Euros. The game against Iceland, I thought we looked devoid of ideas, it looked as if we did not have a gameplan. Sam would never go into a game without a gameplan and certainly a change of plan, if something went wrong.”

Sports science

Allardyce had a spell in the United States with the Tampa Bay Rowdies midway through his playing career and the experience had a significant impact. As he recounted in his autobiography, the sight of three masseurs was three more than he had been used to in England and he took much of what he learnt there about conditioning into management.

“You have to look at the contributions of recovery, fluid, nutrition, supplements, massage and ice baths,” said Allardyce earlier …

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