Michael Owen has told new Leeds United manager Sam Allardyce that he is ‘wrong’ to suggest that he is on par with the likes of Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp, and Mikel Arteta.
The 68-year-old returned to the Premier League on Wednesday when relegation-threatened Leeds sacked Javi Gracia and replaced him with the survival expert.
And upon Sam Allardyce’s arrival, he didn’t disappoint in his first press conference when he claimed ‘nobody is ahead of me’, not even the likes of Pep Guardiola.
During ‘Big Sam’s’ career, he has managed the likes of Bolton, Blackburn, Newcastle United, and his ill-fated one-game reign as England boss.
Whereas Guardiola has won a lot on the domestic stage, including dominating English football since 2016, as he has the chance to win the treble this season.
Either way, when Owen heard those comments coming out of Leeds United, it’s fair to say, he found it hard to register, as he told Premier League Productions (03/05/23 at 7:30 pm).
“Wrong,” responded Owen to Allardyce’s comments. “Sam Allardyce is back in football, isn’t he?! He has a great record of keeping teams up.
“Absolutely, you have got to respect that. He has had a great career. A great managerial career. But ‘as good as Pep Guardiola?!’ I mean, come on!? He’s obviously got things running through his veins there, hasn’t he? He’s ready for it. Four games to keep Leeds up and you don’t blame him being pumped up.
“But he would be nowhere near Arteta, Jurgen Klopp, or Pep Guardiola. Nowhere near! He is quite brave (to make those comments) and he has Man City at the weekend. Fair play to him, fair play. You have to do something to be different. He has got four games to save Leeds.
“I played under Sam Allardyce (at Newcastle United). So, I can say from experience what he is like. Very, very capable. Willing to adapt to move into the new times. He’s all for listening to sports science. But tactically to even mention Pep Guardiola in the same breath as yourself. He is one of the best masterminds of all time. Allardyce has had a lot of success scrapping around the bottom of the table – so to compare yourself to Guardiola, it’s something I am still trying to compute, at the minute.”
TRYING TO DEFLECT
It wouldn’t be a surprise if Allardyce is trying to take the heat away from his struggling players and forcing the media to shine the light more on him.
Those sorts of tactics are going to be needed because this Leeds side isn’t built to defend the way Allardyce would want them to defend.
From senior players to big-money signings, all of them have struggled to do the absolute basics, so if Allardyce can get any points out of his first two games – Manchester City and Newcastle United – then he really has worked his magic.
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