I spent years thinking the worst of Sam Allardyce because his teams were so frustrating to play against. They not only had very good players, they were totally ruthless as well.
Every angle was covered by Big Sam. You had the usual stuff of blocking people off in the box but also different ways of time-wasting, from ball-boys taking too long or Tugay at Blackburn wandering from the far side of the pitch, shaking everyone's hand, to delay his substitution.
But it wasn't only dark arts that make Allardyce's teams difficult opponents. He also knows when to tweak a formation or expose a weakness.