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Football

12th Mar 2019

Sam Allardyce is not convinced Solskjaer is a ‘master tactician’

Jack O'Toole

sam allardyce

At this rate Big Sam will soon erupt in a massive explosion of gammon and pro-Brexit bile

England manager for one game Sam Allardyce has hit out at the fact that he – Big Sam – was always considered lucky when he defeated one of the Premier League’s top sides, but that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is considered a “master tactician” for doing the same.

The Red Devils followed up their upset win over PSG with a 2-0 loss to Arsenal on Sunday with United now dropping down to fifth place in the league, just behind Tottenham and the Gunners, something which you would assume made Sam very happy.

United have won 14 of their 18 games under Solskjaer and had not lost a league match under the Norwegian before Sunday, but Allardyce believes that the club will have to buy some new players if they want to compete for the Premier League title.

”I was always lucky when I beat Manchester United, or Arsenal or Chelsea,” Allardyce said on BeIN Sport, unprompted, after referring to the British press as “rubbish”, again unprompted.

“I was never a master tactician, I was just lucky because they had a bad day. Now, he (Solskjaer) is at Manchester United and he’s a master tactician because he’s at Manchester United, not lucky.”

At this point it’s probably worth mentioning that very few people, if any, have attempted to make Solskjaer out as a master tactician, but Big Sam has never let facts get in the way of a good rant.

“If he was in my position with a lesser team than the opposition who have spent hundreds of millions more than you…. and you beat them… then they’re below par and you’re lucky,” he continued, speaking with the sort of transparent bitterness that is quickly replacing crap, route one football as his trademark.

He then paused and took a deep breath, like your weird uncle at Christmas quickly trying to change the summer after a rant, and actually said something that made real sense.

“That aside, he has to find better players so Manchester United can challenge against Liverpool and against Manchester City as quickly as possible,” he said.

“As good as a crest of this wave will be, the test will be where do you go next season and how quickly can you get those players.”

His criticisms follow his earlier critiques of the United squad under Solskjaer where he envisions forward Marcus Rashford struggling to compete until 30 because of the demands of modern football.

“[It will] probably be very difficult [for Rashford] to get to 30 because of the demands physically and mentally and the fatigue that he will suffer. He will have three weeks a year off, that’s it,” Allardyce said on talkSPORT.

“He’ll play all over the world because there’s no pre-season anymore, he’ll be playing straight away across these tournaments.”

Earlier this week, Allardyce also criticised foreign managers for k̶e̶e̶p̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶h̶i̶m̶ ̶o̶u̶t̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶w̶o̶r̶k̶  slowing down the pace of British football and removing the “cut and thrust” from the game in England.