SA’s post Watford Essay: looking forward

Malcolm Dawson writes…today was an opportunity to look at a few of the development squad and they acquitted themselves well. Of the others who came into this game Jack Rodwell, Jeremaine Lens and Seb Larsson still have contracts in place whilst Dame N’Doye and DeAndre Yedlin presumably go back to their parent clubs this summer with an idea as to whether or not Sam still has his eye on them. Just how many of those five will be back at the Acadamy of Light preseason we’ll have to wait and see. Fabio Borini and Lee Cattermole, secure in the knowledge that they will be back, joined the fans for the party atmosphere in the stands. Personally I thought we did well and this XI didn’t look out of place against a mid ranking Premiership side. Even N’Doye had a decent game, obviously preferring to play as an out an out centre forward than a wide man. Only Big Sam (and maybe those players themselves) know if today was a chance to be part of his future plans but the manager was happy with today’s performance as his post match e-mail to M Salut and others shows.

WATFORD 2 SUNDERLAND 2

Jake's take on Big Sam
Jake’s take on Big Sam
Dear Colin,

There were a few decisions that didn’t go our way today.

The fans came down and they sang all the way through and were entertained; they got to see some of our younger players, who I think stood up to the test today and played very well indeed.

We created a huge amount of chances and we got in front twice. The killer for us was Duncan [Watmore]’s goal – that would have made it 2-0 and I think it should have been allowed, however it wasn’t to be.

Eleven games, one defeat; no defeats in the last six games and 12 points from those games.

Watford played a full strength side and we only had a couple of players that have been involved in our last seven games.

What we’ve seen today stands us in good stead for the future.

We have to make sure we go into next season, build on this and don’t start the way we have done the last few years. We need a good start and to look much better, that’s what we need to concentrate on.

For now, that was a brilliant send-off for the fans, we matched Watford in every department and what we saw was very pleasing, they could enjoy their day.

Thanks for your support,

Sam Allardyce

WatfordA(FT)


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4 thoughts on “SA’s post Watford Essay: looking forward”

  1. We should send a dossier to the Referees association and the Premier League highlighting every rank decision this clown has blighted us with over the years . Don’t accuse him of bias just rank incompetence , I would be hugely interested to hear their replies .

    • To be fair the offsides were flagged by the linesmen. It’s not always easy to see just where a player is when the ball is played. Perhaps the time has come where technology could be used. It works in cricket and rugby. American Football has used it for years. Play on even if the flag goes up and review only if a team scores or wins a corner.

      • Genuinely good idea Malcolm , use of technology and playing on after the whistle . Granted the linesman flagged us offside but you must ask yourself if Friend had instructed them to pay particular attention to us and not so much to Watford . Maybe in his mind we’re a dirty team who take libertys with the offside rule . It can’t be a coincidence that something happens every game .

  2. The future seems extremely bright, my expectations today were very low kids playing with seasoned veterans and players who I thought were outside of main squad. I didn’t see the game today it was the only game not transmitted in Africa even Newcastle were on the Portuguese channel. The texual description znd the result shows we have depth. Fletcher, Graham, Wickham and the other overpriced loanees were not as good as our juniors. A clean out is needed but Sam is the man ti do it, he clear has greater incite and knowledge of the English game and we need him. Keep it up Sam

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