1) The first point has to be that over four games against the Premier League champions, Sam Allardyce’s defensive tactics proved ineffective against Manuel Pellegrini’s side.
Whilst Allardyce has been able to pick up points against the majority of the top sides over the last couple of seasons, adopting a defensive approach and relying on the counter-attack, that tactic has heralded very little against City.
The opening 40 minutes of this final instalment of West Ham v City predictably followed the tone of the other three. While you’d have to be a bit of a fool to criticise Allardyce for attempting to go toe-to-toe with Manchester City from the outset, especially when the champions are so ruthlessly efficient at the Etihad, once we had conceded, there was little point in sitting back in the hope we’d get something on the break.
Clearly Big Sam had learned very little about the four games against Pellegrini’s side – in the first installment at Upton Park, when the Hammers took the game to City in the second half they showed a tiny vulnerability.
Lets be clear here though: getting a result at the Etihad, against the best side in the country, is a hard task and, deploying any sort of tactic, no matter what it is, would probably produce the same end result. However, what’s the most disconcerting is that Allardyce seems to be scared of allowing us to play with any form of creativity, freedom and exuberance that it’s stifling.
It was the final game of the season and one in which the Irons had little or nothing to play for. After going a goal down and then conceding again so early at the start of the second-half, might it have been an opportunity to give it a bit more of a go and through some numbers forward? I guess not if you’re Big Sam.
2) Another worrying thing we learnt is that Andy Carroll looks half the player he was before the injury that kept him out for the majority of this season. It’s perhaps harsh to judge the big number nine in a game where he hardly had a sniff and next to no support from the ineffective Kevin Nolan, but is he likely to improve playing under Big Sam? I have my reservations.
There’s no doubt the big man is a force aerially, but he has more than just that to his game. Under Allardyce he is a target man and a target man only. In my view he is more than that but with no support and no one with pace to play off him, against the top sides he will always be isolated. How will that effect his development? Two goals since his return from injury and now a less than remote chance of making the England squad to Rio tells its own story.
3) Judging from the tweet from Jack Sullivan’s account shortly after the City defeat, he’s not the only Sullivan running out of patience with the manager. He made his views plainly clear and if the rumours are to be believed, his father, David Sullivan and Karren Brady are also of the same opinion. It means Allardyce is hanging onto his job on the strength of David Gold, who it’s believed is still behind Big Sam, but for how long?
We started the week and the build-up to the City game with a story in the Daily Mail about Allardyce being sacked after the final game of the season. Despite whatever view we have about Big Sam, just in the same way it was wrong for United to sack David Moyes so publically, it’s poor form to appear to be doing the same thing with our own boss. It also shows a distinct lack of class.
4) The City game also proved to highlight several weaknesses in the West Ham squad. The likes of Matt Taylor, George McCartney, Kevin Nolan and Joey O’Brien looked woefully out of their depth. While they have been good servants and I’d never question their heart and desire for the cause – maybe Nolan at times – they look off the pace and if we want to progress then those are areas of the pitch we need and must look to bolster.
5) The final point from the final game of the season is that we have learnt we are an ordinary side under Sam Allardyce. Both the boss and the owners were keen to progress from a 10th-placed finish last term and the Irons have failed fairly dismally on that front.
A large number of supporters are unhappy with the progress, not just in terms of results but the dire football on show and Allardyce’s seemingly
reluctance to try things a different way. It’s going to be an interesting summer with a number of ins and outs at Upton Park.
Whatever happens, it’s been emotional.
What did we learn against Citeh???
1. We haven’t got their quality of players!
2. We haven’t got their transfer budget!
3. Whilst teams have £20M + players sitting on the bench….We haven’t!
4. The fact that we didn’t win is NO surprise!
5. The “Marco Boogers” West Ham transfers i.e punt, will continue whatever manager is at the helm because financially we will always be two steps behind everyone else in the transfer market, until the club acquire REAL money.
I don’t mind Honest opinion but dislike nonsense.
With the Olympic Stadium move getting ever closer is Sam the man to lead us into a new era ? He has got and kept us in the Premier League no small achievement, thank you Sam. Can he revamp a slow and ageing squad? Personally i do not think he can, will he drop Kevin Nolan? NO. Will he buy young talented players with pace and play them? NO. Can he recapture the cavallier ALLERDICI master tactician and substitution mastermind? i really have my doubts. Will he be able to take critercism on the chin and not respond in a childlike manner? Getting into petty arguments with anyone who dares criticise the great one who is never wrong, is not the quality we want in our leader. Sam could be as great as he thinks he is but he needs to accept others have valid opinions as well.
Teams like City spend hundreds of millions of £s on their squads and can afford to buy a player who is worth more than WHUFC is in it’s entirety ! How anybody can think we can go there with a squad that has struggled in the lower half of the table all season and have a good old go is beyond me .Sam is hanging on by his finger nails ! So i don’t think he was ever going to say “have a go at em lads and if we lose 7 nil it wont matter , i’ll be applauded by the fans for trying ! Football is a financial power struggle now and without billions of £s you cannot compete with the big boys .Nearly half of Premier league managers have been sacked this year including some our fans would jump at the chance of having .We may get rid of BFS ,but we sure as hell can’t take a gamble on his replacement , with the OS looming we just have to stay in the PL no matter what .
sam is a dinosaur tactily inept he would still play Nolan if he had one leg,in 25 years he has done nothing,ge him out now,yesterday against city we were embarrising sam never tried to beat them,rather have lost 5 nil but at least could have said we tried.go sam you are pathetic.
And what would you have said about him after getting thrashed ? 5OO mil will always beat 35 mil no matter who is the manager , get real .
So when Mourinho won the Champions League back in 2004, everyone he faced, was below Porto’s team in budget? This year, Benfica played against Olympiacos twice (a draw and a lost), never beat them, and yet Benfica’s team is far superior (in players and budget value) than the greeks.
You dont need to spend a lot of money for good players – you need to spend it for known players tho – so the whole “500 mil will always beat 35 mil” is not true. How the heck did Wigan win the FA Cup last year?! (and yeah, there is a huge difference, for the better, between Mancini and Pelegrini! the first doesnt know how to play foward players!)
Agree with all of your points, especially re Andy Carroll – he is talked about as a big striker who puts himself about in the box, an old fashioned centre forward etc, but watching him in games you see that he works all over the pitch, takes the ball down and controls it however woeful the hoof/pass to him is and lays the ball off well. Unfortunately there’s no-one around him to play off as BFS shipped out Ravel. If Redknapp can get the best out of Ravel (whatever his ‘problems’ people talk about) why can’t Allardyce; that is the sign of a really good manager.
And yes, as people have said above, it is always going to be difficult to beat City and other big clubs but we need a manager who tries to WIN every game no matter who the opposition and that’s not going to happen without some tactical nous and a positive approach. We’re admitting defeat before we get out on the pitch otherwise, if we have a go at them we play well and get them rattled – then we have a chance. Playing defensively against these teams is never going to work.