Allardyce has been furious in recent weeks saying: "50,000 Newcastle fans inside St James' Park think they can pick a better team than me!"
Sadly, seeing his tactics against Liverpool ("you cannot attack Liverpool") I think 50,000 could do better ... period!
But he switched to attack against Arsenal and Birmingham and we saw a remarkable transformation, thinking at last the penny had dropped.
But he's threatening to copy Portsmouth's "sit back and defend and hit them with the sucker punch" in coming fixtures.
Is that good? You pick the system to suit the players on the books - and that is how Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger have worked it for years.
You don't see United or the Gunners playing the same system they did ten years ago, because they have changed the players.
We ALL want a team like Manchester United, but you cannot suddenly say "right, we're going to play like Man Utd" because it doesn't work that way!
Just as you cannot say "we're going to play like Portsmouth at Fulham".
Oh No - Please Don't Tell Me Sam Is Going 'Defensive' Again!
Sam Allardyce: "I watched Portsmouth against Aston Villa (last Saturday) and they're a team who couldn't win away for love nor money in the last two years.
"Now Harry Redknapp has built a team that plays better away from home than at home, who've won six on the trot away and who pasted Aston Villa (3-1).
"Now Harry Redknapp has built a team that plays better away from home than at home, who've won six on the trot away and who pasted Aston Villa (3-1).
"Villa had more passes and more shots on goal than Portsmouth, but Portsmouth are clinical in their finishing. They suck the opposition in to get big spaces to counter-attack into.
"They do that so well they're probably the best team in the Premiership now by far, I would say, away from home.
"It suits the players they've got. At home they've struggled by drawing one or two 0-0 but there's no harm in that when you're winning six on the trot (away)."