Big Sam, little impact
Friday, March 12, 2010 at 2:18PM From an interview, Sam Allardyce (continuing his war of words with Rafa), states the following gem whilst discussing Liverpool:
"The last time one of the big four didn't finish in the top four it was Liverpool - Everton got that spot - and I think this time it looks pretty difficult having lost against Wigan.
"They are having to rely on other teams slipping up now.
"They have a wealth of experience and that may be a telling factor when the nerve ends start jangling. We saw what happened to Tottenham a few years ago with the famous 'poisoned lasagne' scenario - which was obviously never the case - and they let it slip"
What was never the case? The fact that several of our players, ghost white in colour, left their vomit all over the pitch at Upton Park? Or was that just down to the occasion? The ear-bleeding inducing reaction from the locals singing that one same dreary song over and over and over again. Or perhaps the players having epiphanies that we had no right to gate-crash the CL and nerves got the better of them, with diarrhoea decimating our hopes and dreams, which had both left the ground before kick-off hand-in-hand to go fetch their shinebox.
Nice dig there Sam. Subtle, sort of blink and you'll miss it though. I read it on Team Talk. By accident. Not exactly back page banter. I guess too busy with your man-crush on Rafa to fully concentrate on ye old Tottenham and try and stir things up properly post-match.
Shame on me for getting all Bruce Banner there for a minute almost turning a shade of green (green because I'm citing the anger of Banner turning into the Hulk rather than going green from eating a dodgy lasagne or catching the Norovirus - just thought I'd clarify that to avoid any unnecessary confusion).
Whilst on the subject - It's far more media-friendly and joke-friendly to tag the whole incident as food poisoning even though the hotel in question was cleared - which I guess is what Sam is referencing there, bit like saying 'if its not food poisoning then its down to nothing more than bottling it on the day'. Miss Marplesque deduction.
Smash them to pieces I say.
Regardless of the dig, it's only going to rile up a couple of fans and will hardly do any psychological damage to Harry and the players, considering that game happened way way back in 2006. Big Sam, little impact.
Smash them to pieces anyway.
Hit them hard, like an Opus dropped on your head. Talking of books (I'm so smooth), something not so heavy but possibly as good a read (and far more affordable) - make sure you check out Spurs' Cult Heroes - the first published book from All Action No Plot blogger and writer Michael Lacquiere. I'll give it a proper review when I get my copy delivered. Be sure to check it out anyway, available from the Spurs official site, WHSmith, Amazon, Tesco, Waterstones and Play…to name a few. Shop around.
Blanchflower, Mackay, Jones, Chivers, Gilzean, Jennings, Hoddle, Perryman, Greaves, Mabbut, Ginola, Nicholson, Gazza…list is endless. Well, it's not exactly endless because he'd never have been able to get the book out, but its jam-packed with legends. We've had one or two special players in our history, not bad for a ickle club.
Time for a cuppa.
Reader Comments (30)
big sam. little talent. massive cunt
Big Sam , the end of football as we know it.
Bring in the cage fighters
just a quick comment on the whole lasagne gate thing.
What a load of balls that is. I hate hearing us blame everything on that. If we'd won at places like Fulham instead of conceding last minute equalisers it wouldn't have mattered.
Oh and Big Sam is a little prick just like his mate Andy Gray. Big Sam is one of the people who are ruining the beautiful game with their shite footballing tactics. Rafa is a knob but I agree with his thoughts on managers like Sam's tactics.
Lets see what emphasis on "closing down", "tackling hard", "being tight", "not giving anything away" there is compared to "pass the ball", "try to play good football", "attack" tomorrow from BIG SAM. Cock.
So he's having a go at Rafa and then does a sneaky and has a go at us. Could have been a bit more hurtful. It's lost in amongst all that Liverpool criticism.
thfc - We dropped so many last minute points that season, would have had it wrapped up long before that day. Tragic.
....and they say Harry's a crook! Weren't Big Sam and his son featured heavily in the BBC expose of skulduggery in football? He makes MPs appear honest!
Dropped points!? Sack Jol! Ah, too late.
Big Sam, long ball
don't forget also, the famous Mendes goal at Old Trafford that didn't count cos it didnt hit the net. That was that season also.
But ye, end of the day we gave it away well before the last game, and I think we will reflect on this season with the same sentiment - Wolves, Hull, Everton away, although keep the faith, we may wing it.
Either way its been a great season for us and better than we could have hoped for a year ago.
Mendes was the season before I think.
Hate SA with a passion, hate his tactics and his teams. Hope we stuff em.
The guy's always been a mediocrity. I'm surprised he can even pronounce lasagna.
I pray that Harry won't drop Pav for Crouch (citing 3metres 2 goals in an England shirt as justification), given that he hasn't scored for us in almost a dozen games. Otherwise, here's hoping for an emphatic win.
Mendes goal was season 2005. We ballsed it up again at the end losing to Boro but we were always outside chance for Europe that season.
Sam and his weasle words are nothing but puerile, sums up the little man. He and his lack of fotballing tactics are the least of of our worries. Not wanting to come over all DAVina obsessive but the pr**k in the middle HOWARD MELTON WEBB will pose a problem, the guy was installed in this game for a reason. Paranoid moi??
Is this the same Big Sam who was almost succesful at Bolton? Nope.
Is this the same Big Sam who was almost succesful at Newcastle? Nope.
Is this the same Big Sam who was almost the England manager. Don't think so.
Is this the same Big Sam who now manages a" big club" challenging for honours under his leadership.
Nope, I didn't think so, either.
Lifes full of disapointments Sam.
I don't hate SA, I just don't care when he talks about us and Crouch etc he doesn't matter and tends to ensure with his respective team we finish one position higher in the table than normal.
Anyone who's had Norovirus will tell you that...
1. It is fucking horrible, the phrase "bucketing out of both ends" does not cover it. I'm still amazed that some of those boys could even run, all I had the energy for was shitting myself.
2. You only get it in dirty places through contact surfaces, so that hotel they were in was obviously not cleaned too well...
Either way, must not dwell on the past. What happened, happened and we can't change that. It'd be good to kick the shit out of Blackburn though, with all their fancy long ball tactics.
On a side note, did anyone see who City have on the last day of the season away?
Anyone know a good Marriott in Londonl?
I was feeling all good about this match until I saw who was officiating this match....
none other than Howard Webb himself, lets see how he turns decisions against us
once again. Can't really see how he can f@%# us up this time, but then I never do
until it happens. Hopefully we win comfortably still... GO ON YOU SPURS!!!!
Perhaps Fat Sam might shut the fuck up now. Lantern-jawed journeyman also-ran northern prick with no class (no offence).
Phew just back couldn't stay for the victory toast due to work tonight, great performance but that c**t of a referee what's his problem with us everyone will discuss that/those penalty/penalties, but for their goal Samba used Dawson as a climbing frame, if Crouch gets penalsed for jumping how could Samba get away with that and Webb just stands there with that retatrded smile. What an idiot. Here is a catalogue of some of his indescretions against us: He has given some shocking decisions against Spurs:
2007/8, Man Utd (Old Trafford)
0-0 after 60mins, Berbatov rounds van der Sar and shoots, only for Wes Brown to block the shot with his arm. Webb does not give the penalty. Alan Hansen described it as "clearly a penalty" and that Brown should have been sent-off.
2008/9, Man Utd (Old Trafford)
Spurs leading 2-0 after 57mins, Webb gives a shocking penalty to United. After the game, and after a huge amount of (negative) coverage, he apologises for the decision.
2009/10, Chelsea (Stamford Bridge)
1-0 to Chelsea after 55mins, Keane is through on goal but is brought down by Carvalho. Webb doesn't give the penalty. It was described by the Guardian live text as "Absolute 100%, 24-carat stonewall penalty to Spurs. Not given."
2009/10, Liverpool (Anfield)
Liverpool leading 1-0 after 35mins, Kyrgiakos is all over Crouch in the box. Webb gives a free-kick to Liverpool, described as a "strange decision" on BBC Sport's live text.
After 47mins, Defoe capitalises on a mistake in the Liverpool defence to score, but Webb disallows the goal. The match report on the BBC Sport webpage says "the exact nature of the offence was not clear".
200/910, Blackburn (White Hart Lane)
Spurs leading 2-0 after 65mins, Bale is brought down in the box by Salgado. Webb doesn't give a penalty. BBC Sport's live text states "I'm not sure how or why that wasn't a penalty".
Jesus, have you got a rifle and a list at home?
I'm using that info in an article. If you don't mind.
Harry Redknapp's Blue + White Army !!
Still in the cup and 4th in the table - great days to be a yido !!
Heres a thought thats giving me a nice feeling.
Lennon on one flank, Bale on the other.
Hmmmm nice .....
great response day of triffics. Howard webb is a total C**t
Use as you please, as said don't want to come over obsessive. but H.M.Webb is an absolute donkey of a ref. I know I have my Lilywhite tinted glasses firmly on. and the only discussion should be the sensational result for SUPER SUPER TOTTENHAM. but that dickhead really grates and breathe out.
WE'RE THE SHELF., WE'RE THE SHELF......
Very impressed overall with the professional way we dispatched little sams 'football' team. As soon as robbo went off injured they lost their only creative player. Those long ball into our penalty area were bound to cause problems eventually. Don't get me wrong, there were lots of positives, but a couple of things worried me.
1. Kranjcar was really not on his game today. Not until we were 2-0 up anyway and the fancy flicks came out. I argued with someone a while ago that he wasn't just a luxury player but today didn't help my cause.
2. There were occassion where bale or Charlie had made great strides down the right but only 2 spurs players were in the box waiting for the cross. No one from midfield gambled to go with them. This has annoyed me about spurs for years now.
This is nitpicking though. Good solid result despite Howard plebb and now we've got a very tricky game at Stoke. I'd go with crouch and pav for that one
I dream of a Spurs XI like this:
Gomes; Corluka, King, Bassong (Woodgate), BAE; Lennon, Palacios, Modric (Hudd), Bale; Pavlyuchenko, Defoe.
Had we had this team more often, with no Injuries at all, and we´d have won a few dodgy games like that at Wolves.
If we can field this Starting XI at Wembley against Chelski, we´ll have a hell of an edge against those soulless glory-hunters! (or Villa, whatever).
And still counting on the fact Burnley might be already relegated when the last Prem League round comes. Feel afraid of matches like these...
Anyway, we´re living the dream, let´s keep this flame alive!
Hey guys,
In case you don´t know yet, I just saw at SC Internacional´s 'unofficial' website that we signed Sandro! Here´s the link (in Portuguese): http://j.mp/bqo2C3
But he´ll only come after Internacional plays Copa Libertadores...anyway, a good signing!
BTW, is there any disappointment from fans after Palacios declared he´d like to move to a 'bigger' club after WC?
on the topic of Wilson and more important to us right now, has everyone noticed how he seems to have gotten his mojo back over the past few games? Not that he ever lost it, but he has not been 100% for a while now. It seems the threat of this imminent 9th yellow card has worked in his favour. If he gets through to 11th april without a booking he should be home and dry as it will get extended to 10 cards or something like that.
Come on wilson, COYS.
Big shout out to: bale bale bale bale bale bale bale bale bale bale bale bale bale bale bale bale bale bale bale bale bale Bale....................