Apologies if this has been said before, but the one guy who has had a huge influence on the fortunes of our team is Jason Puncheon.

Appointing him as captain was a master stroke by Sam. The guy is a born leader. He demands excellence on the pitch, communicates with the players during a game, boosts morale, tells them off when they are doing something wrong and has that all important passion! Dann is a great player, but does not possess the above qualities. The players have total respect for Puncheon - you can see by their body language on the pitch.

The other thing I have noticed (sorry to sound boring) is what he now does when he receives the ball. Six months ago I complained that all he ever did was do a 180 degree turn, then pass the ball back to the defence. A player lacking confidence. Now, he looks up and passes into space where he knows Zaha/Townsend are going to running. He is shooting more as well.

Lots of positives are certainly on the horizon with Sam at the helm.

Amazing if true, to think he started on the bench during the final. Beggars belief!

Sorry to be a Jonah, but AP persevered with him as a starter throughout the Anus Horrible of 2016, when his form mostly mirrored ours, so was always going to be on any winning team.

Still agree with thread starter though.

That was in Monday's Evening Standard. Since we've been back in the PL we've not one a game without him. I think perhaps it's more a testament to his fitness and lack of injuries meaning he's played in most games.

I recall the debate, when BFS first signed up, was whether he would have the balls to drop "one of our own". It would have been an unpopular move but one, at the time, that would seem justified. Instead, Sam made him Captain.

That shows how much better his management skills are compared to Pardew. He was reading the players' personalities as much as their footballing abilities, and using them accordingly. That's why everyone - even Kelly - is functioning better under Allardyce than under Pardew.

Allardyce can see the whole man; Pardew can see only the inside of his own colon.

Edited by Ray in Houston (12 Apr 2017 3.18pm)

We don't do possession; we do defense and attack. Everything else is just wa**ing with a football.

Well he plays in nearly every game and we don't win that many so not that amazing really