First of all, I respect the opinion of all of my fellow West Ham United supporters. None of us are right or wrong, we all want what is best for our football club, we all want success, but then there’s wanting success, and then there is being realistic. After what I would call a successful season back in the Premier League, I still hear some unrest amongst the supporters over the manager, Sam Allardyce.
We have all read so many articles about Big Sam. Most have been edging to either loving him or hating him. So I want to write one which highlights the good and bad bits of Allardyce, why I want him to stay at the club, and why I think he is the man to lead us into a new dawn at the Olympic Stadium.
The first thing I want to get off my chest is the fact that Big Sam seems to be ignoring our Academy players. Rob Hall has been on loan all season, as has Ravel Morrison. I thought when Hall returned from Birmingham City, he might stay with the first team and get on the bench, knowing that when we are safe, we can blood him in the starting 11, and get him some Premier League experience. Instead, we loan him out again, and I understand his contract is up at the end of the season, yet have we done anything to keep him? Morrison has been a shining light in the Birmingham team in the second half of the season, yet we recently read that it is likely that he will be loaned out again next season. I was hoping that Morrison would be used in the first team next season, as an eventual replacement for the club captain, Kevin Nolan. Jordan Spence is another – I thought he performed well in the FA Cup against Man Utd at Old Trafford, yet Allardyce doesn’t seem to trust him to slot in and replace the ageing Guy Demel. So that is my biggest complaint against Allardyce.
However, he has also been a massive plus for us too. Look at the way he has changed this club around. Most clubs who go down lose 3 or 4 top players, but keep the core of their squad. But Allardyce had to get rid of 19 players and had to replace them. He made shrewd signings, Nolan, Faye, Vaz Te are just 3. The club was on its knees under Avram Grant – the future looked bleak. Look at the likes of Coventry, Leicester, Leeds, Wolves and Blackburn since they got relegated. Yet Big Sam kept us in the top 3 all season. Some say he should have won the league, but who knew Reading were going to put such a run together? Fact is, he was tasked with getting us promotion, and he achieved it. Not only did he change the playing staff, he changed the negative mentality into a winning mentality. All of a sudden, we can defend. We can hold onto games and not self destruct and fall apart. Big Sam has brought this over to this season, whereby we have kept 10 clean sheets.
Allardyce did well in the transfer market. The Chairmen backed him, and it saw the likes of Andy Carroll, Momo Diame, and Matt Jarvis all sign on. However, this leads me on to something else that baffles me about Allardyce, We sign a striker, Modibo Maiga, and he doesn’t play him. The same goes for Wellington, Sam Baldock, Nicky Maynard, Diarra and Chamakh. Is it a personality problem? Have we signed these players based on ability, but when they get in the dressing room, there attitude stinks? Who knows, but it’s something Allardyce needs to rectify.
So how has Big Sam done tactically? Well, our home form has been excellent all season, and even in the defeats we suffered, we still played well, and were either undone by bad luck or belting goals! Our away form has been poor for the majority of the season, but has picked up of late, picking up points here and there, and getting a good win at Stoke. Some fans are unhappy about some of the negative tactics shown by Allardyce away from Upton Park. But I try to point out that things don’t happen overnight. Away games in the Premier League are hard. We have to take small steps in order to build our team. Allardyce will hopefully replace some of the squad with better players in the summer. Getting players like Maiga and Diarra off the wage bill will be key and we lack wide players, meaning that if Jarvis or Vaz Te don’t perform, we don’t really have a player to change things.
Away from home is about playing quick counter attacking football, unless of course you have the quality of one of the top 4 or 5. Counter attacking play requires pacey players, who have a good touch, a good final ball or a finish. Jarvis is already in place, but he is so quick that the likes of Carroll, Nolan and Vaz Te don’t keep up. But I think this is where a quick front man would benefit us – someone along the likes of Remy (he is just an example although I wouldn’t say no!). We also need someone through the middle to replace Nolan – my choice above was obviously Ravel Morrison. And finally, someone down the right who is just as quick as Jarvis, but has a better touch and a more consistent performance than Vaz Te (Shaun Maloney anyone?!).
Another thing that needs to be addressed by Allardyce is the lack lustre first half performances. Man City and Newcastle on Saturday were terrible first halves, but second half, we managed to raise it and trouble the opposition. Have the team got one eye on their summer holidays? Maybe, but it is up to Allardyce to motivate them to finish the season strongly. With Everton away and Reading at home, I could see us taking 4 points if we play at potential.
Finally, I’m fully behind Big Sam, the points I raise above are simply things that I think Allardyce needs to improve in the coming season. I feel that patience is needed. We have played some excellent football this season, and the stats show that we are not a long ball team. The likes of Arsenal, Swansea and Liverpool have all played more long balls than we have – so much for ‘tika-taka’ football. I ask my fellow supporters to get behind Big Sam, look at the incredible work he has done within our football club, and with new horizons approaching, Allardyce has got us back to being a solid Premier League team again, rather than languishing at the bottom of the Championship. He will lead us to better things, he will sign better players, and we will be top ten again next season!
COME ON YOU IRONS!!
Allardyce makes the wrong call in his substitutions. Against Newcastle we needed more creativity and pace through the middle yet Nolan the untouchable remains on the field. When plainly he was out of his depth every time the ball went to him it ended back with a Newcaste player, his first touch is shocking. I would put JC in his central role, push Vaz Te alongside AC . Let’s go for a win rather try to not lose!
I don’t really care if we played “ugly football” this season. And these academy players ‘ll get a chance. We can, sort of, counter-attack proven vs. West Bromwich Albion. Ricardo Vaz Te is NOT a winger! Because of this, he can’t get early crosses in for Andy Carroll.
A bit of an unrealistic thought, but Carlos Tevez? He’s set to return to Boca Juniors in the summer. But, he did say that he’d come back to his “birthplace”. Eyes open, Big Sam!
Come on, his failure to name any of the upcoming kids even on the bench yesterday was nigh on unforgivable. I’ve been defending him up til now, but…..
He misunderstands us completely if he thinks we will stand for that. And what does that say to our promising kids? No point staying here – i’ll never get to play! Looks like Rob Hall, for one, has seen the writing on the wall and will be off in the summer. Yes, we will get a tribunal fee for him but his lack of first team playing time hardly speaks to us valuing him highly.
Pogatetz was the only real defender on the bench. Has ANYONE except BFS seen anything to indicate that he can (defend) or that he is in anyway better than Potts, for example? I realise that I might have slightly romantic rose tinted glasses when it comes to pottsy, but everything I have seen from pogatetz indicates that he is the worst player to have donned the claret and blue since Boogers!
BFS – my support is waning.
He’s done a top job, top ten first season, you simply just have to sit back and enjoy not being: Fulham 40
Aston Villa 40
Southampton 39
Sunderland 38
Norwich 38
Newcastle 38
Wigan 35
One of the above! Are all thier managers rubbish? No, just our one is a little better.
Nice one SAM, you’ve done really well and derserve a chorus of Sam A’s claret and blue army at Reading, I hope the supporters deliver.