Allardyce hopes for ‘Big Sam samba’ with Leeds in last-chance saloon

S am Allardyce had hoped history would repeat itself but, so far at least, it is refusing to comply. In the spring of 2016 the interim Leeds manager was in charge at Sunderland and, against all odds, helped them avoid relegation courtesy partly of an inspired party trick. After signing Jan Kirchhoff from Bayern Munich, Allardyce immediately converted the Germany Under-21 centre-half into a central midfield anchor.

Kirchhoff not only excelled but played a key role in Sunderland’s survival, so it did not come as a huge surprise when, in the second game of his four-match contract at Leeds, Allardyce relocated Robin Koch from defence to midfield. Given Koch possesses eight Germany caps it initially seemed a case of deja vu but, unfortunately for Leeds, the centre-half seems only an ersatz midfield enforcer.

Not that it is Koch’s fault Leeds have collected one point from Allardyce’s first three games and have one foot in the Championship. And neither is Weston McKennie to blame for a calamitous situation exacerbated by a longstanding fixation with extreme pressing tactics and some questionable recruitment.

McKennie, a loanee Juventus midfielder, seems an admirably quick learner when it comes to perfecting the long throws that have proved such a recurring theme of Allardyce’s teams down the years. So much so that when his stupendous aerial missile prefaced Rodrigo volleying the opener in Leeds’s 3-1 defeat at West Ham last Sunday it was possible to believe this was a reincarnation of Allardyce’s European qualifying class of 2004-05 at Bolton.

Yet as he leads Leeds into the final game of the season acutely conscious that even victory against Tottenham at Elland Road may well be insufficient to avert relegation, it is