Sam Allardyce appeared as a guest on Monday Night Football as West Ham defeated Huddersfield 2-0.Appearing alongside Jamie Carragher, Allardyce delivered a seven-point plan to Premier League survival and the pair both discussed Sadio Mane’s red card against Manchester City andIt’s the incident that has dominated the back pages for three straight days.Mane’s clash with Ederson, which resulted in the Liverpool forward receiving a red card and the Manchester City goalkeeper requiring stitches, has left everybody arguing whether a dangerous challenge is always deserving of a sending off regardless of whether there was any intent.While Carragher believes Jon Moss was right to send Mane off, Allardyce believes it was a harsh decision and that the rules need changing.The former England manager lamented the lack of consistency after Newcastle’s Matt Ritchie escaped a red card for a similar challenge on Sunday against Swansea.“I think the law is wrong,” the former England manager said on Sky Sports.
“I don’t think he should be sent off as it wasn’t intentional. He doesn’t see the ‘keeper.
“I think there is no consistency. For me, what needed to happen is a Mane red and Ritchie red or a Mane yellow and Ritchie yellow.”
Allardyce's blueprint for Premier League survival
Allardyce, who defied the odds to keep Sunderland and Crystal Palace up in 2015-16 and 2016-17, and was never relegated in his 15 seasons as a top flight manager, shared his tips with a seven-point blueprint for Premier League survival.
He listed seven pointers - keeping clean sheets, not losing possession in your own half, playing the first pass forward, winning knock-downs, making the most of set pieces, exploiting the opposition’s weaknesses and capitalising on opportunities in the final third - as keys to stay up.
"It only takes one goal to win a game," Allardyce said, per Sky Sports. "Clean sheets give you the platform to be successful in a season. You can't always score two or three goals.
"Crystal Palace had only kept one clean sheet in 17 Premier League matches when I got there last season, which meant the bare minimum was two goals to win a game."
It's also the little things, such as winning the knock-downs, that makes a big difference.
"If you're static, you're not going to put yourself in a good position to win the ball,"Allardyce added. "If you get on the move when the ball is on the move, then you can adjust or get into a position where you might be able to regain possession.
"Christian Benteke would flick on a big percentage of those balls, so why not put two in behind him?"
Twitter reacts
Plenty of fans mocked Allardyce's plan on Twitter: