Journalist Nick Miller has been speaking on the latest edition of the Tifo Football Podcast about news from around Europe.
One of the topics that Miller spent some time on was West Bromwich Albion’s 0-0 draw with Newcastle United, which left the Baggies eight points from safety with ten games to go.
Miller talked about Sam Allardyce’s impact at The Hawthorns, and revealed that he believes one of the reasons that West Brom have struggled so much is because Allardyce has not had long enough to work with this team.
He said: “There is obviously the compressed, chaotic schedule that he’ll have to deal with.
“I don’t necessarily want to make excuses for him, just to say the only reason he hasn’t saved them is because he hasn’t had as much time as he wanted, but that’s obviously a factor.
“You suspect that if he did have a little bit more time; some more time to work with players on the training pitch, maybe – then he might have improved that, he might have improved players like [Ainsley] Maitland-Niles and [Conor] Gallagher.
“But he just hasn’t been able to; he took this job on too late.”
Do you think with more time Allardyce could have kept West Brom in the Premier League?
No, he is finished
Yes, he could have
TIF Thoughts on Allardyce…
Since West Brom decided to sack Slaven Bilic and appoint Allardyce, the Baggies have won just two league games in 15.
The Baggies have also achieved five draws, so from 15 games they have picked up 11 points, which is only four more than Bilic managed in 13 matches.
The Croatian was sacked not long after his side drew with Manchester City in December, as the board decided that Allardyce was the man that could keep them up, but with ten games to go, West Brom are second-bottom and are far behind 17th-placed Brighton & Hove Albion.
So, we disagree with what Miller said as Allardyce has done nothing in his time as the Baggies’ manager to suggest that he could have got them out of this – even with more time.