Big Sam Beaten on Reebok Return

Bolton Wanderers 2 Blackburn Rovers 1

There is heavy irony in that the Trotters’ two goals had something Allardyce-esque about them, with their former manager suffering his first defeat at his old club since leaving in 2007 this afternoon. Successive managers, Lee and Megson, tried and failed to move out of the considerable shadow Big Sam left over the Reebok, departing Bolton after seven and a half years at the helm. His brand of football brought the club into Europe from a sixth placed finish and since then Wanderers have never looked like they could reach those heights again which many consider to be above their station, until now.

Owen Coyle, courted by Celtic in the wake of Gordon Strachan’s departure in the summer of 2009, stuck with his promoted Burnley to lead their top flight venture last season. By the halfway stage he had the shrewdness to see that the rest of the Premier League had finally taken notice of the surprise package that Turf Moor gave visiting teams. With the clarets no longer so defensively strong at home, a trend that has continued up to now with yesterday’s squandering of a two goal advantage to lose to Leeds 3-2, he opted to return to a club from his playing days.

Fans with long memories might recall that Little Sam Sammy Lee tried to play attractive football in the wake of Allardyce’s departure and got sacked with hardly a fair crack of the whip during the 2007-08 season. Here we must draw a crucial distinction. Coyle introduced his similar philosophies during the second half of a campaign and it kept them up, whilst Lee’s Bolton only played their way into the relegation places. Wanderers under Coyle now sit fifth and are guaranteed to remain in the top six no matter what the result of the other two heavyweight clashes in this round of matches.

Turning to today’s Lancashire Derby, from the outset the tactics of the visitors were vintage Big Sam. A 5-4-1 formation designed to frustrate the passing of the home side, with three centre halves aiming to neutralise the aerial presence of Trotters talisman Kevin Davies. You can say what you like about these ploys, but in the end the former worked and the latter did not. Rovers stopped Bolton playing football, but as is so often the case three at the back didn’t work as evidenced by Davies’s assist for Holden’s eighty-eighth minute winner.

Blackburn stopped Wanderers from their passing game, but Allardyce was undone by his own tactic of long ball used against him. Today’s result is a victory for the ability to mix footballing styles up and not rigidly adhere to a set way of approaching the game when it clearly isn’t working. That said Coyle’s men nearly did carve Rovers open on occasion, but their two goals came from hoofing it up the field, whilst Blackburn’s equaliser, before they switched off from the restart, arose strangely enough from a nice interchanging of passes.

It is a credit to the character and workrate of the Trotters that allowed them to dig deep and get three points after losing a player. Mark Davies’s elbow on Phil Jones before the hour mark could arguably have been a straight red rather than a second yellow. Blackburn couldn’t make their subsequent domination of the possession count. From right back Sam Ricketts tossed forwards a number of long balls and free kicks into Kevin Davies and between them Samba, Nelsen and Givet either failed to deal with them or surrendered the second ball.

The latter outcome was the case for substitute Fabrice Muamba’s sixty-fifth minute opener. The ex-Arsenal youngster showed sublime footwork to make an opening and placed it confidently beyond Paul Robinson. From then on Wanderers lived dangerously, but still managed to create chances of their own. Martin Petrov particularly impressed, despite his increasing years. Nonetheless Rovers produced something with less than five minutes of the ninety left. Substitute Hoilett played in Jason Roberts (we all thought he was surplus to requirements at Ewood Park) to set up Mame Biram Diouf who, with the aid of a deflection, put the ball over Jussi Jaaskelainen to equalise.

What a cliché it is, but you are most vulnerable when your side has just scored. Blackburn dithered from the kick off and within ten seconds the ball was hoofed again upfield by Ricketts, Davies flicked it on and Holden volleyed home to stun the visitors. Allardyce’s men gave everything to try and level the score again, ironically ending the match with five in the frontline, but could not find a way through.

I’ve never been one to sing Gary Cahill’s praises but overall today he was pretty impressive. Of the centre halves on the England national team fringe it has always seemed to me that Ryan Shawcross of Stoke has been the one who has shined brightest. If Coyle is going to steer Bolton into a European place and emulate Big Sam then he has to keep hold of Cahill who has been consistently linked with a move away from the Reebok for quite some time.

As for Rovers they are crying out for a striker who will finish their chances and get into double figures. Kalinic was overhyped when he signed for them and still has time to become a force, but being dubbed ‘the next Davor Suker’ at such a young age is piling ridiculous precious on the young Croatian. Neither Roberts nor Benjani are long term options and Mame Diouf is only on loan at Ewood Park from Manchester United. Big Sam needs the new owners to cough up in January so he can bring in some more options.