Allardyce on Arteta and Defeat

Big Sam has shared his views after the weekend game where a cruel last minute goal robbed Rovers of a point.

The main talking points afterwards though, apart from the cracking goals Rovers bagged, was the sending off that never was for Mikel Arteta after the talented, yet highly arrogant individual poked Morten Gamst Pedersen in the eye.

As usual, Allardyce wanted his say!

Big Sam, speaking to rovers.co.uk said - 'He has poked him in the eye, it is clear and plain for everyone to see,'

'The rules are clear - you can't mess with anyone's face and that is pretty dangerous. It is a red card.

'Morten gets booked as well and that was a bizarre situation. That is young referees for you, he struggled to cope with some decisions today.

This is all fair comment where I am from. You cannot raise your hands and expect not to be punished. A yellow was a joke for an incident where Pedersen's vision could have been compromised. The ref did bottle it.

But the next, short bit is the part which has shocked me to my very core.

Big Sam is a well known buck passer and usually blames the defeat on some sort of refeering/opposition tactic/weather blunder.

So this next bit was right out of left field...

'But that was a not why we lost. For once our defending let us down.'

Good god.

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