His perception as a footballing dinosaur is totally wrong and he was one of the first coaches in world football to use analytics and he is also a very good man manager and gets players to raise their game and want to play for him. He is also very thorough in game preparation and I suspect he knew this appointment was on the cards for longer than the 4 days or so he has been in the job and knew instantly what he wanted to do in the couple days of training available to him. Big Sam was born  and raised in Dudley which is a 12 minute drive to the Hawthorns and signed youth forms with the local club. He actually grew up a Wolves supporter (you are one or the other in that area) which he needs to keep quiet, but incredibly, this is the first real Midlands club he has taken charge of and must feel like a homecoming. He will get the best out of Albion, whether that is good enough only time will tell, I have spoken of them playing well at times for 20-30 minutes but not for the full 90, Sam will probably take that, look to make the most of the "up" period and make them as solid as possible for the other hour and I also suspect he will be allowed to do some trading in the January window . I do expect WBA to improve and make a decent stab at survival under Alladyce who already has his full coaching staff in place .Fans’ favourite James Morrison has been promoted from the academy to join the set up alongside new recruit Robbie Stockdale. The duo are the final additions to Sam’s backroom staff which already includes long-time Assistant Head Coach Sammy Lee and Goalkeeping Coach Gary Walsh.Morrison made 341 appearances for the Baggies before taking on a coaching role with Albion’s academy following his retirement as a player in 2019 and knows what makes the club tick. Former Middlesbrough defender Stockdale teams up with Allardyce for a second time having worked with the Baggies boss during his successful stay at Sunderland.  Albion travel to Anfield next and it feels like today will be the (far) better chance to get this survival bid up and running and odds are good.

 

They lost 3-0 to Villa, but we can forgive them that, they conceded one early before they really got set and two late and played an hour with ten men and looked solid for the other 80 minutes or so , despite the numerical disadvantage. The upturn in self belief and performance level at Liverpool was clear to see and it is obvious what Big Sam and his staff have brought to the club already and that will improve with every day on the training pitch. They face a stern test today, but United are not at their confident best right now and WBA know United well from recent Championship campaigns and the last two meetings at the Hawthorns have ended 4-1 and 1-1 and the Baggies dominated both. Leeds are the better team, but Albion's chance today is greater than 27% , quite a bit IMO and that is all we need to know.