11:00am Saturday 28th August 2010
By Andy Cryer
IT is one of the longest-running managerial feuds in Premier League history. Touchline spats, post-match rants and pre-match taunts have just proved Sam Allardyce and Arsene Wenger have never exactly seen eye to eye.
The Blackburn Rovers boss would be delighted though if he is again seen as the ‘bad guy’ come 2.30pm this afternoon because it would mean his side have again upset one of the Premier League’s big guns.
It is no surprise the Frenchman is hardly relishing today’s trip to Ewood Park, more specifically pitting his wits against an Allardyce side, when you consider his record against ‘Big Sam’ over the past decade.
Allardyce’s sides have not lost a home game against the Gunners in the league since April 2002, as manager of Bolton, Newcastle and Rovers, including four wins and three draws over the last seven home meetings.
Wenger isn’t the only manager Allardyce has managed to get on the wrong side of, with Liverpool’s former boss Rafa Benitez an obvious other, and it doesn’t look as though things are about to change any time soon.
Allardyce said: “I’m not fed up with Arsene. In fact I’m disappointed that Rafa Benitez has left Liverpool because it was a nice psychological challenge.
“I always enjoy the psychic side of Premier League football. It is a wonderful thing to keep your wits about you and do little things to try and help your team to get a victory.
“And if Arsene is saying something now it means he is worried before we even start and that can only be a positive response from our point of view.
“It means they are worried about what we are going to do and how we are going to do it because last season we managed to beat them within the rules, contrary to what he says, otherwise the referee would have given free-kicks against us.
“For me it is about psyching everyone out. It is about using the psychological approach to gain an advantage. Over many years it has been very difficult for Arsene’s team to come wherever I have been.”
Wenger accused Rovers of playing ‘beyond the rules’ after their 2-1 defeat at Ewood Park at the end of last season provided the final blow to any remaining title hopes.
He has now stoked things up again ahead of this afternoon’s Ewood Park visit by suggesting referees need to give goalkeepers more protection, having seen Lukasz Fabianski outwitted by Rovers’ aerial dominance last time round, but Allardyce insists his players deserve more praise.
“You have to give our players a lot of credit for what they have and the talents they maximise,” he said. “We have players with very good aerial abilities and those abilities paid off by scoring two goals from aerial situations against them.
“I am a little surprised Arsene bites so easily. It is not just about this next game coming up, it’s been over a period of years.
“We have found a niche, an opportunity and a way to beat Arsenal. The players have gone out and produced the right quality technically and tactically and our technical and tactical ability has been better that theirs and that is why we won.
“Nothing to do with bending or breaking the rules, nothing to do with bullying. We never have got the credit we deserved for our technical and tactical work, me as a coach and manager and the players. We should never beat Arsenal, but we do.”
While many of the long-ball stereotypes attached to Allardyce have proved to be far from accurate during his period as Rovers boss, he knows the stigma will never leave him.
Not that he is too bothered though as he bids to maintain the ‘fortress Ewood’ reputation, claiming the name of the game for him is winning matches.
Allardyce said: “It is not my job to get beat 6-2 and entertain. It is my job to entertain and win and by stopping the opposition last time it meant the Blackburn crowd went home happy.
“They all stayed behind to applaud the team and the season they have had. That is my job to make sure Blackburn fans come in their thousands and continue to come in their thousands.
“While most teams seem to have dwindling gates, ours are actually increasing and my responsibility is to entertain the home fans and there is nothing more they want at the end of the day than us to win and that is what we will try to do.”
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