Radical Sam Got It Right

Blackburn Rovers manager Sam Allardyce's decision to make radical alterations at Ewood Park on Saturday paid dividends as we secured a 3-1 victory over struggling Portsmouth.

After a poor first half performance that saw Rover booed off the pitch by the Ewood crowd Allardyce decided to make some uncharacteristic substitutions when both Benni McCarthy and Jason Roberts came on and the pair made a huge difference to things as Roberts scored twice with McCarthy instrumental in another goal.

Allardyce told Sky Sports: "I don't normally get so radical at half-time but it was our worst first-half performance this season and the fans rightly showed their displeasure.

"It boiled down to the players not coping with Pompey's system so we took our wide men off and matched it. It worked tremendously well and it got us another important victory."

Jamie O'Hara had given Portsmouth a first half lead but Big Sam couldn't fault the players for the second half showing to turn the match around and give us a very important three points. Big Sam felt that nerves got the better of his players in the first half but we recovered well to turn it around showing our true quality and strength from set plays.

He added: "The players seemed to let the nerves get to them a little bit but they overcame their nerves and got a good result, so full marks to them in the end.

"We showed our quality at set-pieces and with the third goal. We like to do it the hard way. It was a sloppy goal we conceded but we've recovered from it well."

Personally I feel that our League position has been a false one anyway, however, with this win we can now enjoy the International break and look to build on this after.


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