Sam Allardyce's plans to help Leeds avoid relegation

Forum 1 year ago

Sam Allardyce's plans to help Leeds avoid relegation

Soon-to-be Leeds manager Sam Allardyce recently explained his approach to relegation battles and offered his thoughts on the Yorkshire side's season.

Allardyce has agreed to join Leeds as they prepare for their final four games of the season in a bid to avoid relegation, with the boss tasked with picking up points against Manchester City, Newcastle, West Ham and Tottenham.

He will become the third Leeds manager of the season, following Jesse Marsch and Javi Gracia, and he offered fans an insight into his approach towards relegation battles during an appearance on the No Tippy Tappy Football podcast in March, just weeks after Marsch was dismissed.

Asked whether he thought he would have done better than Marsch at Elland Road, Allardyce responded: "Absolutely."

He continued: "I have certain ways of working, and the one way of working that everybody sees as a negative - which is actually the best positive of all - stop goals going in. Everybody down there [in the Premier League table] concedes more goals than anybody else.

"The players are suffering from a huge lack of confidence, and so you go in and set the structure. The structure is not to get beat, because confidence is built by results. It doesn't matter how good you are as a coach unless you put those results right as quickly as possible.

"It starts with the 0-0, it starts with a draw. It's a point. And the more draws you get ultimately extend into winning football matches because confidence is built by the fact that, when you're getting up on a Sunday morning to come in and do your recovery, you're not coming in like 'we've lost again'."

Should he take the job as expected, Allardyce will have the unenviable task of taking his Leeds side to the Etihad to face champions-elect Manchester City on Saturday, knowing goal difference is all that is keeping the Yorkshire side out of the drop zone.

Nottingham Forest, who are level on points with Leeds, host bottom-side Southampton on Monday, while 19th-placed Everton, who are only point point away from safety themselves, have a trip to Brighton to look forward to.