‘A lot more about’: Journalist shares what he’s heard about Sam Allardyce’s training at Leeds this week

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Sam Allardyce has been drilling his Leeds players a lot more this week about defensive shape and system after a jovial first week at Thorp Arch.

Speaking on the Inside Elland Road Podcast, Graham Smyth has been discussing Big Sam’s training regime this week, and he says that the Leeds manager has really been getting into his players this week and trying to teach them how to play his way.

After taking over in the middle of last week with just days to go before the Man City game, Allardyce’s first goal was to lift spirits around the training ground, but now, he’s getting down to the nitty-gritty and teaching these players how to defend his way.

Allardyce’s training focus

Smyth shared what he’s heard about Big Sam’s training this week.

“Allardyce specifically spoke about not conceding the first goal, he said it himself how tough it would be for the players to respond after going a goal down. If they concede the first one they must not go daft and concede more. It’s about staying strong and sticking to the plan. This week has been a lot more about defensive work and shape and system. His first few days of his first week were light-hearted and jovial. He’s not dialled down the fun, but it’s about making a difference in this week between fixtures,” Smyth said.

Proof in the pudding

Allardyce is clearly trying to teach his players how to be more defensively sound, and the proof will be in the pudding on Saturday afternoon.

A clean sheet and a good result against Newcastle will give Leeds a great platform to build upon ahead of two very winnable games against West Ham and Tottenham to conclude the season, but given that Newcastle have had the tendency to score bundles of goals as of late, this will be a difficult task.

With the Elland Road crowd behind them and a week of defensive training under Allardyce, maybe, just maybe, Leeds can get something here.