After a run of three straight wins and four clean sheets in a row, relegation has cast its eyes elsewhere for now as West Ham moved, albeit briefly, into the top half of the Premier League.
But before we get carried away and make plans for Champions League away day trips to Barcelona and Milan next season, or are put through having to hear Big Sam refer to himself as ‘Allardici’ again, it might be worth keeping that optimism in check.
If Sunderland’s fortunes are anything to go by, it could prove to be a roller coaster from now until the end of the season. The Black Cats, under new boss Gus Poyet, put together a string of fine results to move away from the relegation zone and up into the top half of the table. While their supporters toasted a job well done under Poyet, a couple of defeats and results elsewhere has seen them fall back into the drop zone.
Just four points separates 10th and 18th and if any Hammers fans feel that a decent run of results, albeit much welcomed, means we are out of the woods are sorely mistaken.
What will give supporters real hope is the fact Allardyce has a near fully fit squad to choose from, Andy Carroll just one game away from a return and confidence high around the club. All is rosy then? Not quite.
While the club’s owners might be sitting back right now congratulating themselves on standing firm and sticking by the manager, there are many on the stands at Upton Park not easily fooled. The upturn in fortunes and results are merely papering over the cracks. It’s probably not a popular viewpoint, especially following the surge of optimism, but there’s going to come a point when all West Ham fans – David Sullivan and David Gold included – will need to question whether Big Sam is the man to take the club onto the next step.
He has long preached that football is all about results and places little weight on performance, which is fine for so long. Yet West Ham is a club that has a tradition of fine, attacking football, which we accept comes at a price and has a major impact on results or lack thereof.
The way Allardyce sets his teams up should mean that results against the likes of Spurs and Chelsea away from home are not a complete surprise. Make yourself hard to beat, strong at the back and hope to either nick a goal on the break or from a set-piece. Where this philosophy comes unstuck is when your team is at home, not playing a top six side and where you are expected to seize the initiative and dictate the tempo of the game. That would make the midweek victory against Norwich City a classic example in point.
West Ham fans like to be entertained, not something unreasonable considering the cost of a ticket at Upton Park, and want to see their team take the game to the opposition. Yet, under Allardyce, it’s about staying resolute and don’t get beat first and foremost. A negative mindset and philosophy.
Against Norwich it almost showed why it’s flawed but for some heroics from Adrian. That tactic, or way of playing, means you invite teams onto you, allow them to take the initiative and crucially, silence the Boleyn crowd.
So while West Ham fans can reflect on some important wins, admittedly under pressure, let’s not accept second best or be fooled into thinking winning that way is now part of who we are as a club.
I’ve no doubt Allardyce will steer us clear of the drop and he will be in charge next season when hopefully he won’t be so hamstrung by injuries. Perhaps he will then show he has another string to his bow and can add performances to results. But for now, it’s fair to say the jury is out on whether he has the credentials.
TOTAL UNREALISTIC ARTICLE. Sam has tailored this team to stay up, not be in the Champions League. Note that Jamie Carroll was not wanted by Liverpool . . . a Champions League side doesn’t play that kind of football. Until we get billionaire Russian/Asian/Arab owners, there is no money to afford a team of players that cost 30+ million. Too think that we can do it with the money that bottom half of the table owners have is silly.
Did you actually read this before commenting? By the way, it’s ANDY Carroll. Allardyce is claiming some kind of victory here, that this is all as expected, and according to plan. The few decent players we have, have dug in and fought for these results but it’s papering over the cracks. You can’t play like that every game. The culture needs to change or we will eventually run out of steam. This season I think we will survive, but progression is out of the question under Big Sam. It’s not about money. Sam Allardyce can be the clubs most successful manager and fulfill his potential with us, but we can’t play backs to the wall every week. We have to start playing with the ball, not just chasing after it.
Spot on Bob!
Some people want us to run, when we’ve ONLY just learnt to walk. Until we move into the OS or some BILLIONAIRE falls from the sky, it’s called P-R-O-G-R-E-S-S!
The “I Want It Now” generation don’t understand patience and the need to build up to….. We’re NOT Citeh, Chelski or Man U, until the finances come along we’ll be baby stepping to where we want to be…and for those with short memories, this club could easily have been fallen into financial meltdown and gone out of existence!
Usually I steer clear of knee jerking posts!
No club could ever challange for a champ leaque spot with a budget like west hams,reason being that any club that got into a position to challange the top 4 would not hold on to the manager or any of their top performers.Clubs with real money would strip away the top performers with big wage offers.West ham are a project that the brady bunch cant afford.
Totally agree with this article we should stay up but we do need a manager who wants to win games with style …….surely we deserve that. I would be happy to scrape through every year as long as we stay true to our principles and have a go!
Putting gandalf, the hobbit and BFS in the. Same article about champions league. Football is a bit far fetched, having said that do believe WestHams future. Should not or hopefully will not involve BFS. Moving to the OS will. Hopefully bring some interest from big investors and Gandalf and he hobbits embarrassing antics will be a thing of the past. I will never stop believing In my WestHam i just want to see them come good again COYI.
“West Ham fans like to be entertained, not something unreasonable considering the cost of a ticket at Upton Park, and want to see their team take the game to the opposition. Yet, under Allardyce, it’s about staying resolute and don’t get beat first and foremost.”
Lets not forget though that attractive football guarantees nothing The Arse have played it for years and merely frustrated their fan.
Harry (Spit) played it for a while & still got us relegated and did the same elsewhere twice more.
There could be more from Sam yet but face facts
1. He isn’t Pellegrini or Moaninyo
2. He’s unlikely to have that sort of cash at his disposal.
and IF we stay up we can still improve we have a very good defence
just need quality back up and a better attack
To me parts of the article and parts of the comments made sense.I’m no fan of BFS or his style(or lack of )football but so far he has achieved what the porntwins demanded of him.He is right when he says modern football is about the results.to go to whatever the next level is requires massive capital investment something the 2 Daves just don’t have right now.This may change when the Boleyn ground is sold.The move to the OS should result in extra investment,in my opinion the owner of Westfield may be tempted we will be neighbours after all.Until we gain this capital input slow,steady progress will have to be good enough.I don’t like Avram Allardyce but he is almost certainly the man to take the slow steps forward.Look around,who else is a proven Prem boss available that’s any good ?
I totally disagree with you, and your article God what do people want at Football now a days. We are not a big Club. Moving to the OS won’t make us one, what it will do is make the Board richer and we will have lost our HOME. If the OS goes belly up like other stadiums have done. Then we will have more to worry about than how we get results.WE WILL NOT HAVE A HOME Most of the Old west Ham Players say better to win the way we are than lose THE WEST HAM WAY, Which if you look back over the years WHERE HAS IT GOT US. Football has changes so much and if Lovely Football was the answer ARSENAL WOULD BE WINNING THE LEAGUE EVERY YEAR. I thinks Sam has done a good job, and now we have most of the injured back we can only hope we go on as we have been recently. The Players are playing for Sam ans to me that is all that matters.
Ann, at what point do you think moving to the OS will make “the Board richer”? I am curious as I can only see one unlikely outcome that might lead to this – and there’s every chance one or both of these already millionaires would be pushing up the daisies by then.
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