West Ham’s under-fire manager Sam Allardyce has received a vote of confidence from the Hammers’ summer signing Stewart Downing.
The 29-year-old said: “Sam picks the team and it’s up to us to go out and get results, and that’s what we’ve not done.
“It’s easy to blame the manager because he’s at the top.
“He does very well at taking a lot of pressure off of the players.
“Sam was one of the reasons I came to play here, to play for a good manager like him.
“No one wants a relegation on their CV. I’ve been through that and it’s difficult.
“You’re living in the area and people are asking questions all the time.
“When Middlesbrough went down, we were a young team. But when I look at this West Ham team it’s a lot stronger.”
Despite Big Sam’s claims that the Irons ever-growing injury list was the reason they find themselves in a relegation dogfight, the former Liverpool winger refused to use that as an excuse.
He added: “It’s easy to sulk and point and blame, but at the end of the day you’ve got to go out and get results.
“Getting 11 out at times has been difficult for the manager.
“In that sense it was always going to be tough for us. But I think we’ve played quite well in a lot of the games,. but just not killed off teams.”
Yep well said that stew