Sam Allardyce is renowned as a manager who got ahead of the game with his dedication to data usage and sports science (Sky Sports), but he seems to have ignored one statistic when it comes to an accusation he’s made about Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool.
As per Daily Express, the 68-year-old was quizzed about the topic of time-wasting in his pre-match press conference ahead of his Leeds side facing Newcastle on Saturday, whose boss Eddie Howe complained about Arsenal eating into the clock during their 2-0 win over the Magpies last weekend (football.london).
The Whites manager bit back by asking: ‘Who doesn’t do it? Who complained?’, at which point it was put to him that the German and his Manchester United counterpart Erik ten Hag have spoken publicly about opponents slowing down the game to waste time.
Allardyce angrily retorted: “He [Klopp] time-wastes, he [Ten Hag] time-wastes as well. They all time-waste [in the] last five minutes when they’re winning 2-1, don’t be daft. That’s rubbish.”
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Just like Richard Keys – who sarcastically tweeted about Alisson being booked for time-wasting against Brentford last weekend – the Leeds boss is barking up the wrong tree when it comes to accusing Liverpool and their manager in this particular regard.
Figures from Opta Analyst (via SPORTbible, see table below) illustrate that the Reds are the least guilty of all 20 Premier League teams for squandering time, delaying for just 23.3 seconds on average before restarting play.
Klopp’s side are among seven in the top flight who’ve wasted less time than Leeds (27 seconds) in getting play restarted, although virtually all of that average from the Whites came from before Allardyce’s recent appointment.
Nonetheless, the figures show that his accusation about Liverpool simply doesn’t stack up; and having just last week boldly declared himself to be ‘as good’ a manager as the German, the 68-year-old has given over quite a bit of his press conference time to bang on about other clubs and coaches.
It might be in his best interests to concentrate fully on keeping Leeds in the Premier League, rather than taking misguided public cheap shots at his top-flight peers.
Well what else would you expect from Allardyce. Without the subterfuge, gamesmanship, bending of the rules and general all round shithousery, what actual footballing philosophy does he possess?