Micah Richards has defended Leeds United boss Sam Allardyce in his Daily Mail column following his comments in which he compared himself to the likes of Pep Guardiola and Mikel Arteta – which prompted plenty of fan reaction.
Indeed, Allardyce was in the headlines last week before the 2-1 loss to Manchester City when he told reporters that there he was on a level playing field with the best. The likes of Jurgen Klopp, Guardiola and Arsenal manager Arteta.
Of course, his comments were taken slightly out of context on Twitter. He meant in terms of Premier League know how, in terms of experience, in terms of perfecting his style – in which Klopp, Guardiola and Arteta have also done.
But given it is Allardyce, and given they are currently the top managers in the Premier League and Europe – it was always going to provoke a reaction. Richards, though, defended the Leeds boss – saying it a was a deflection tactic.
“Plenty of sniggering and criticism for Sam Allardyce after his comments. But what is it we want? Managers who say a load of meaningless words? He could have been trying to set a positive tone for a squad short on confidence?
“Perhaps he was trying to put the attention on him? They lost, but left the pitch in a positive frame of mind. He is a lovely fellow with plenty of belief. He’ll back himself to get enough out of Leeds’ players – where’s the crime in that?”
Micah Richards defends Leeds boss Sam Allardyce following comments
Richards is right. Leeds did a decent job on Saturday and while it was always going to be domination by Guardiola’s City, Leeds kept the scoreline down and stopped Erling Haaland. Rodrigo even got a goal which will help his belief.
Unfortunately for Leeds and Allardyce, the results on Sunday went against them. Everton shocked everyone with a 5-1 win at Brighton, and Forest did what was needed against Southampton. Leeds have now slipped to 19th place.
The job has just got a whole lot harder and while Allardyce will not have been expecting anything against City on Saturday, the weekend’s results mean Leeds now desperately need to pick something up at home to Newcastle.
