Manchester City boss Sven-Goran Eriksson has urged Newcastle counterpart Sam Allardyce to ignore the critics who condemn his long-ball tactics.

His illustrious spell at Bolton was dogged by allegations of gamesmanship and the style of play he indoctrinated into his team.

Arsene Wenger and Rafael Benitez were among those who rubbed Allardyce up the wrong way, a dislike he felt was more to do with the fact Bolton had a reputation for beating Arsenal and Liverpool which their managers did not like.

The Swede may prefer the free-flowing 'beautiful game' but that does not mean he puts style over substance.

"If you are a manager, you are always criticised for one reason or another," said Eriksson.

"But I don't think Sam listens to it.

"What he has done is get some exceptionally good results with Bolton. He got them into Europe as well, so you can only admire him for that. At the end, who cares about his style of football?

"In any case, I have seen tapes of Newcastle and Bolton and they do play good football. The point is, they do what they are good at. Isn't that supposed to be what a manager is there to do?"