‘Big Sam’ believes the route to safety lies in getting his players in the right frame of mind rather than drilling them relentlessly
”. If that boast by Allardyce had been an attempt to deflect attention from his relegation-threatened players it worked. But the Premier League’s man of the moment has always been a bit of a chameleon and now he was reminding his audience he has always been rather more three-dimensional than initial appearances may suggest.
On Wednesday, Allardyce emerged from two years in retirement carrying his 6ft 3in frame with a hint of a swagger and dominating the room, but Friday revealed a more nuanced, more emotionally intelligent and, perhaps, counterintuitive Big Sam. Admittedly, he replied “absolutely” to the suggestion that, in Pep Guardiola’s shoes he, too, would be challenging for the treble, but that was about as far as the grandstanding went.
“I’ve just tried to make everybody feel better,” said Leeds’s third official manager of the season almost self-deprecatingly. “I’ve had a lot of chats with the lads in my office and lighthearted conversations on the training ground. We talk about all sorts. Nothing to do with football or coaching, just life in general. They sometimes give me odd looks when I crack a joke!
“But finding out about people’s personalities gives you a better understanding of them. And a player’s mind is everything. I have to talk to them about controlling their minds, about mindfulness. If you’re not in the right frame of mind it’s very difficult to produce your best.”
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