Assumptions about Sam Allardyce’s tactical outlook are based on long balls, deep defensive blocks, strong tackles and a negative perspective that looks to avoid losing rather than try winning. The gulf between his view and Marcelo Bielsa’s could not be bigger.
That is the assumption at least. Allardyce himself would have you believe differently. The former England boss addressed those expectations during his last job at West Bromwich Albion.
“I don't have to prove anything to anybody," he said while in charge at The Hawthorns. “I haven't had to prove anything to anybody for years and years.
