Graeme Souness believes Sam Allardyce needs to be “more pragmatic” in his approach when Leeds United face Newcastle at Elland Road.
The Whites sit two points adrift of safety with three games remaining following their 2-1 loss to Manchester City in Big Sam’s first game in charge, and face tough fixtures to turn things around.
But with their penultimate home fixture up next, Souness is not expecting things to be easy for the Whites because of the expectation of the crowd and the short time that the group have had together.
“The unpredictability of the Premier League means that the smallest margins will now dictate who gets relegated from it. I mean, half a percent. One per cent,” he wrote in his Daily Mail column (12 May).
“I don’t see it being easy for Leeds, playing Newcastle in front of a huge and expectant Elland Road this weekend.
“I will be interested to see what system Sam Allardyce tries to play and whether the players have been able to take on board Sam’s thoughts and ideas. I am expecting more pragmatism there.”
Impossible task
It’s been described as mission impossible for Allardyce by some, and it’s hard to see it any other way even if you’re a Leeds fan.
Everything is stacked against us right now and everyone knows it too. But Big Sam is trying hard to use that feeling to muster something up in the group to get them to fight back and do something unexepected.
Newcastle will be coming to Yorkshire fired up and looking to secure Champions League football for themselves next season, but the fans will be electric and the players will be fired up and confident after their improvements against Man City.
But as the manager repeated several times in his press conference, we have to score first and be clinical with our chances while also being strong defensively if we’re going to get anything from the game.
If we have any chance it’s slim, but this is what Big Sam signed up for.
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