Alan Pardew full of respect for Sam Allardyce ahead of Premier League clash
Crystal Palace manager Alan Pardew believes Sam Allardyce is one of the strongest managers in the Barclays Premier League.
The Eagles are getting ready to host Allardyce's Sunderland on Monday but whilst the Black Cats are 19th, Pardew is not feeling overly confident.
"I never fancy my chances against a Sam Allardyce team, he's got a knowledge and a respect from me that I will take into the game," he said.
"I will expect a Sam Allardyce team to turn up and try their best to get a victory."
Allardyce has been in charge of the Black Cats since the beginning of October, after previous manager Dick Advocat left the club.
Pardew said: "Its a good club, its a big club and Sam understands that.
"He's worked in the north-east and he knows that both clubs up there are everything to the fans, so he will be looking to rekindle them and get them up and running.
"He's a great choice because he knows the division and if anyone is going to resurrect their season it will be Big Sam.
"I know every time I come up against a Sam Allardyce team I know they have what they are trying to achieve in place and he has a team that knows how to play Premier League games - he's going to go and try and win the game."
Palace will come into the game after a 2-1 win against Liverpool and the 54-year-old said: "For us we are in good shape. We had a great victory in our last game and one or two players have come back to us this week.
"(Marouane) Chamakh will be involved in the game, Connor Wickham will be involved in the game, we've got the guys who were playing at Liverpool involved in the game. We've got a strong hand."
Pardew has a couple of injury issues, adding: "Dwight Gayle is still out, Bakary Sako may not train but we think he will still make the game.
"Yohan (Cabaye) and Chamakh are important over these next few games. I don't expect Sunderland or Newcastle to come and dictate the game to us. The emphasis is on us to try to break them down, to try to score and to try to win the game."
Allardyce insists Sunderland must shore up their leaky defence if they are to have any chance of staying in the Premier League.
The Black Cats have already shipped 26 goals from their opening 12 fixtures this season. Only newly-promoted Bournemouth have conceded more.
And Allardyce, appointed at the start of October following the departure of Dick Advocaat, says their defensive record must improve in order to retain their top-flight status.
"My philosophy has always been you start from the back, and it goes without saying every team which wins the league has the best defensive record," said Allardyce.
"When we are a conceding on average over two goals a game, that is the first thing which we have to stop and the players have to understand that.
"If they think it is a negative, it is not, it is a massive positive because as soon as you don't concede a goal you don't lose the game, then you have got a point and of course afterwards you only need one goal to win it.
"So it should be the most positive thing in their mind, because if they achieve a clean sheet as often as they possibly can it will give them a very, very good chance of winning more and more football matches and getting safer up the league as quickly as possible."
Allardyce oversaw Sunderland's 3-0 victory against Newcastle last month, but has since seen his side slump to successive defeats at Everton - where they conceded six - and a 1-0 loss at home to Southampton prior to the international break.
"I am still experimenting because I need to find the system which suits the players to get results, and we are not getting those results," added Allardyce.
"I don't like to keep changing personnel or systems, but on the basis of not knowing my players that well at the moment and having two international windows since taking over when you lose the players to international duty means you get to know them even less.
"But trying to find the right system for a particular game and opposition is very important in trying to evolve the players and if we can find the system which gets us a result on a regular basis, then we won't have to change it as much.
"But until then I am still looking and hoping we can achieve the system to help us produce more victories."
Source: PAR
