ENGLAND BOSS SAM READY TO WIELD THE AXE
Big Sam vows not to hang about as England boss
SAM ALLARDYCE is ready to be ruthless as England manager.
The new national boss has only been in the job for little over a week, but already he is planning to make tough calls.
He said: “It will be very important for me to make some really difficult decisions with England.
“Some players will fall by the wayside, some will emerge and some will come back in.
“Yo u have to be prepared to make quick decisions and make sure you get them right.”
SAM ALLARDYCE is prepared to be just as ruthless as England manager as he was when keeping Sunderland in the Premier League last season.
That means no-one’s position is safe as he attempts to create the sort of spirit that saved the Black Cats, and was the hallmark of winners Portugal, Iceland and Wales at the Euros.
“You have to be prepared to make quick decisions, and make sure you get them right,” he says.
“I did that at Sunderland, and 14 players left in less than 12 months because I felt they needed to.
“By hanging around, those players were a disruption to those who were fighting for us. We got rid of that distraction for the squad’s benefit.
“That built a team spirit and a better environment. It helped us to be successful in the back half of the season.
“So it will be very important for me to make some really difficult decisions with England. That’s why I’m here. That’s why I’ve been managing in the Premier League for so long.
Any player playing in the top flight on a regular basis has to come into contention
“Any player playing in the top flight on a regular basis has to come into contention because there are so few of them.
“Some will fall by wayside, some will emerge and some will come back in.
“For example, Luke Shaw is coming back from injury at Manchester United, then you’ve got Andros Townsend, who could re-emerge by playing regularly at Palace.
“I hope that Marcus Rashford continues to get games for United. He’s a talent and if plays like he did last year, he picks himself.
“But Jose Mourinho’s job is to win the title and he’s brought in Zlatan Ibrahimovic. So Marcus might not play as much.
“I have to consider fringe players at top clubs when only 31% of the Premier League is English.
“Picking the first XI is the most important thing. The next is to make the right substitutions because they invariably determine whether your team wins or loses.
“That’s my responsibility, so I’ve got to get that right.”
Allardyce’s comment that Wayne Rooney must wait until the squad is named for the World Cup qualifier against Slovakia next month before he decides on the captaincy has provoked speculation that he’s considering a change. But that’s unlikely. R oy Ho dg s o n wa s accused of
shoehorning Rooney into midfield at the Euros just to get him in the team, but Allardyce is quick to defend his predecessor.
“Wayne had been playing there for United, and I didn’t think he did too badly in France,” he says. “I thought he had a good tournament.
“Wayne is a vastly- experienced player and he’s great at scoring goals. Where I play him will depend on where United play him.
“What happened in the Euros was disappointing. But before the tournament,
the players looked very good. Perhaps it was a little too soon for them.
“I have a rough idea of my first team, but it will be formulated by the start of the Premier League season and what condition the players are in.
“You only have a few days together, so it’s about trying to get over the right amount of information in short bursts.
“At a club you can do it slowly. When you’re bringing an international team together, you can drown a player if you give them too much detail.”