Sam Allardyce leads Blackburn over Newcastle

In his first match against his old-club Newcastle, Sam Allardyce led his Blackburn side to a 3-0 victory over the Magpies. The scoreline was deceiving as while Newcastle certainly didn’t play very well, they equally were not run off the pitch either. However whether they didn’t deserve to lose by three goals or not is a fruitless debate as they now find themselves only two points above the drop zone and without a win in four matches.

After a dreary first half that certainly will not make any highlight clips for the “beautiful game”, in which Newcastle squandered a number of fine opportunities, Wigan responded with three unanswered goals. On the hour Brett Emerton sent a cross to Benni McCarthy but with David Edgar defending, the South African international went the ground. In a controversial decision referee Rob Styles pointed to the spot, to which Benni McCarthy took the penalty himself and sent the ball into the net. With Newcastle downtrodden, the Rovers struck quick and a long ball from Paul Robinson was passed on by Morten Gamst Pedersen to Jason Roberts, with the resulting strike into the net. While the two goal deficit was problem enough to deal with once again, Joey Barton was in the eye of the storm as he and José Enrique had to be separated by Sébastien Bassong. Although Joe Kinnear would later try to deflect the incident, saying that it only shows their passion for the challenge ahead, it does nothing for the clubs performance and certainly didn’t rile the club up today. Following the second goal, Newcastle offered up little threat and after his second yellow-card in ten minutes Nicky Butt was sent off with seven minutes remaining. Playing a man down, Newcastle succumbed allowing Jason Roberts to score his second of the day bringing the match to its final 3-0 scoreline as he redirected Morten Gamst Pedersen’s cross at the eighty-seventh minute.

After the match Joe Kinnear said of the penalty:

“The penalty made all the difference. It was harsh. I think that is the third time this season that referee Rob Styles has given a penalty against us.”

Sam Allardyce is TOUGH

Blackburn Sam Allardyce has felt the scorn on many but no-one should doubt his bargaining skills if he pulls this deal off.

With Manchester City openly pursuing Rover striker Roque Santa Cruz, the Blackburn leader with ice-water veins rejected the £12m bid as pithy and issued a straight forward response:

"It is down to Man City to make the offer and blow us out of the water.

"There is no price we are going to put on Roque's head - obviously, we simply want him to play for us and help us stay in the Premier League, which is the most important thing for me and this club.

"I can't second guess what Manchester City are going to do. Whatever happens between now and next week, as time goes on in this usual transfer window of mayhem, we will wait and see.

"You never say never about anything because you never know what is around the corner when January is on the boil."

Mark Hughes responded of bringing in the Paraguay international:

"We still want to bring (Roque Santa Cruz) him to the club if we can but he is Blackburn's player and they don't want to deal at the level we have made a bid at. That is their prerogative."

Roque Santa Cruz waits for the offer

With the deal to bring Chelsea’s Wayne Bridge to Man City reaching the final stages, most assume Blackburn’s Roque Santa Cruz will be the next major push of Mark Hughes. While being interviewed on the radio the Paraguay international commented he has yet to hear anything concrete:

“It seems that the circumstances needed for me to be transferred are going in a good direction, but everything is a rumour until now.

“It is forbidden to talk with the clubs directly, so I do not know a lot about it. I know that they are going to make a proposal, but I do not know the terms.”

He added: “Now it is a matter of time. We will see.

“The important thing, at the end, is that Blackburn and I are happy. There is a long way ahead until the market closes and I am fully committed with Blackburn and I will continue working with joy here.”