SAN FRANCISCO, December 27, (THEWILL) – They call it a “New Boss Bounce” when a team produces a result with a new manager that they previously may have been unable to. But, was that it? Or was there something more when West Bromwich Albion went to Anfield, the stomping grounds of the Premier League champions, and, instead of getting a pounding, escaped with a draw and a share of the points?
On face value alone, the result was as improbable as Arsenal’s victory over Chelsea in Saturday’s head-scratching result. The reason why was not far-fetched.
Jurgen Klopp’s side were beginning to switch into the kind of gear that won them the Premiership last season. The Reds were unbeaten in their last 10 Premier League games after the shocking 7-2 loss to Aston Villa on Sunday, October 4. That streak enabled them to pull away from the rest of the chasing pack all the way to the top of the table.
Observant followers of the game had concluded a Liverpool walkover against West Brom which was going to send the Reds five points clear at the top. It was easy to consider the men from the Hawthorns easy prey as they were the last but one team on the log and did not look the part of the sort of side to present any kind of trouble to the firepower at Liverpool’s behest.
The Baggies were marooned in the relegation zone having taken seven points from a possible 42 thus far, and not won on their travels since a 3-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday in July. They were not prepared to disturb Liverpool’s progress.
However informed that opinion was, it overlooked one singular denominator: Sam Allardyce. It was factual that West Brom were relegation strugglers and had been poor this term which led to the justified sacking of previous manager Slaven Bilic last week. Allardyce was appointed with the mandate to help the Baggies remain in the top flight by avoiding relegation.
It helped in no small way that his next port of call in the fulfilling of this uphill mandate was Anfield. This was because if precedent was a factor, Allardyce had proven difficult to defeat on those grounds. In his last three league visits to Anfield, he left with one win and drew the other two. In fact, he was even the last away manager to win a league game in Liverpool while he was with Crystal Palace in April 2017.
On Sunday, he made it four unbeaten runs at Anfield. Allardyce’s charges arrived at Anfield looking for a point and departed satisfied after Nigeria’s centre back Semi Ajayi’s first Premier League goal secured a late 1-1 draw as Liverpool wasted their dominance in a one-sided game.
Although there was no fairytale win on his return, the game played out the classic ‘Big Sam’ way, pressing and keeping tight at the middle while seeking goals all the way to the end. The result moved his current employers onto eight points, which is still five from safety.
Allardyce will hope this is the harbinger of things to come as he embarks on the mission to fulfill his mandate and keep his side in the Premiership.
With such big game performance under his belt, it looks like he has been given the boost his team absolutely needs and the “new boss bounce” actually worked in his favour.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
