After the chaos which had engulfed and inflamed the turf of White Hart Lane in a calm and serene interview watched by millions of football fans, Sam Allardyce made a reference to the fact that if he was a foreigner his achievements would be more appreciated and lauded by the press and media of this country; after his side had just romped to a 3-0 win at Tottenham Hotspur; a club who’ve been put together for hundreds of millions British sterling without a recognised striker.
It’s hard to disagree with, the London press who in my opinion have always enjoyed a love-in with the lilywhites preferred to focus on the short-comings of Tottenham than praise bold and gutsy tactics from Big Sam which gave us our first win at the Lane in 14 years. I guarantee if the situations were reversed and Andre Villas-Boas had won 3-0 at Upton Park utilising a system made famous by Barcelona and the Spanish national team; the tabloids would’ve heralded him a footballing messiah.
Like the rest of you reading this I thought the best we could do was maybe sneak draw on Sunday; if we were lucky, defended well and Spurs didn’t take their chances…instead what we got was a game we thoroughly deserved to win, there was no luck involved, we were simply the better side and it was all down to Sam and his incredibly brave tactics.
Sam at long last dropped the underperforming duo of Matt Jarvis and Modibo Maiga, changed the formation to an incredibly fluid 4-6-0 and out-foxed AVB and his incredibly expensively assembled Spurs team. Sam set up his side to not only hassle, harry and frustrate but also attack with when in possession, hit them on the break and of course utilise set-pieces and it worked a treat.
So much of everything in this life, in this world is about appearances; if you’re an AVB with your slick hair, exotic accent and skinny suits its somehow easier to identify him as a progressive student of the game, than it is to see a man from the midlands of this country with a northern twang in the same way.
I sincerely hope the footballing lesson we dished out at the Lane on Sunday is the springboard needed to get our season up and finally running; I also hope it goes some way to proving to the football fans and the media of this country that appearances can be deceptive…all hail Sam Allardicci.
easy tiger. … Great result against Spurs BUT had we have lost, we’d be 3rd from bottom and Sam wouldn’t have the courage to suggest such a thing. 1 result on the positive side is a bit earlier to start with statements like that.
Let’s not forget the previous results where his caution led to persistent selection of Maiga, persistent conservatism with Morrison, persistent cold shouldering of Vaz Te, and an insistence on his team formation. … He changed to 4-6-0 but the screams on the forums, on twitter etc from numerous fans for a change in formation, meant he did it much later than many fans would have done it.
We didn’t lose though, we won. IF we’d beaten Everton, we’d be 7th but we didn’t so we’re not. You’re wrong about Sam not having the courage to say such a thing if we’d lost because he’s said it before, several times.
Last season many of the fans on the forums & twitter etc were calling for Paolo Di Canio to be given Sam’s job. Are those same fans now saying “oops, sorry got that one wrong”? No, they’re all claiming credit for telling Sam to change his formation.
EA sports have got a lot to answer for.
Oh and “persistent conservatism with Morrison”?!?! Sam has succeeded with Morrison where one of, if not the, greatest managers of all time, failed.
Ferguson sold Morrison to West Ham for £650,000. He has a buy out clause for £19m and the board are about to offer him a bumper pay rise to remove it because they’re worried that someone might trigger it. He played for the England under 21’s tonight. His name is all over the papers, the forums & Twitter. I think any criticism of Sam’s handling of Ravel Morrison borders on insanity.
I think Sam does the best he can wih what we’ve got,to many of our grt fans think money grows on trees,we cant go out and spend millions,thank god we now have owners who love the club,and are willing to spend there own money to dig us out of the huge hole were in.As i’ve said before Sam is the best manager we’ve had in years,dont worry about morrison,sign Big Sam for another 5 years
All hail ‘Allardicci della Grosso’ !!
Indeed, if BFS was a little more humble, a little less whiney and a lot more ‘sexy’, he’d be managing Chelski or some other Oligarchic laundry service….
Sunday was a pure joy to watch, not from a traditional footballing perspective, but from a tactical and ‘screw you and your £100million plus team’ point.
I felt the knock on Jarvis was unfair. give him a striker to pass to and he’d be leading the league in assists.
…”underperforming Matt Jarvis…” Just what games are you watching mate ???????
Whats is the fella supposed to do.. get a record number of crosses in season after season (check the official stats.) then sprint into the middle and finish his own supply off because the strikers are useless or non-existent ???
If we are going to critique players, then lets be fair and take the whole picture into account.
Spence55 Football is all about opinions, I think most West Ham fans would concur that for 10.75 million pounds Jarvis’ performances this season have not been good enough, we all know Jarvis is limited but very good at what he does which is getting to the byline and whipping crosses into the box which he did to excellent effect against Cardiff on the opening day…since then his performances have been poor he’s not beating his man and his crosses have been poor; hence why he was dropped for the Spurs game.
I’m not saying Jarvis is a bad player, but I am saying he’s been poor so far this season and I stand by that.
So wrong on all counts.
…”Jarvis is limited…” HES A WINGER…he stays wide and crosses the ball and tracks back when needed. Its like saying Jussi is limited because he stays in an 18 yards box and never supports the forwards..POINTLESS !!
Kwame. The unfair stick that people give Matt Jarvis is an irritant for me, and many others.
Wingers RELY on supply and on the forwards getting on the end of their service. No ball fed to Jarvis = no end product, simple. Having a EUFA B Coaching Licence and having coached for over 30 years at a decent level, ive lost count of the times ive told a team to feed the wide men early, and for the forwards to attack the box, find space, and get on the end of the supply. You CANNOT blame the wide men if they supply the ammo and no one fires the gun. You CAN blame them if they fail to cross or delay their crosses causing the strikers to abort the runs they have made. Every single Premier League stat show Matt is THE ideal cross provider in terms of number and regularity. I would love to play as a forward with him in the team. Quick, direct and regular…just what more can you ask of him ?????
Opinions must be based on some sort of factual background, not blind prejudice or hearsay. Take time to study his performances and you will realise this guy is quality and a throw back to the great days of wingers.
Kwame – come on my old bean admit you’re wrong about Jarvis and move on.
“there was no luck involved”. First 2 goals were lucky, considering the rebounds…..
great result but it was only one game not a season the main thing that pisses me of with sam is that he gave it the bigun after the spurs game i.e look im a great manager cos i changed our formation and we tonked spurs what about all the other hammers games hes been in charge of when hes refused to change from hes boring one up front routine and forget the crap in papers 3 up front we all know its 1 up front
Lucky? Who cares?! We deserved it! Think you are just about spot on kwame with an excellent piece! Just hope it does indeed kick start our season and quieten the moaners and the haters! COYI!