If West Ham manager Sam Allardyce appears to be at odds with the club’s board and the fans, then it’s understandable – he seems to be a contradiction in himself.
A man who popularly carries the adjective ‘Big’ before his name is not going to buckle when facing a barrage of criticism.
But in his vehement defence of his position, he appears to have created a scenario where the gameplay of the team seems at odds with his own wordplay.
Speaking after the defeat to Wellington Phoenix, in New Zealand, Allardyce was asked if he planned to experiment with the team against Sydney FC three days later.
His response: “It’s not really experimenting; it’s about giving the squad of players as much match fitness as you can give them.”
However, after the 3-1 loss to the Australian side, the manager appeared to claim there was an element of testing new ideas on the pitch.
“We’re just working on our new style because we’ve got to try and get a bit more open, more expansive,” he said.
“It seems to be what’s demanded of the game now, so we’re working on that side of it.
“Certainly the football was not good enough to get results. With experimenting and working on more open attacking play and it hasn’t particularly worked well from a defensive point of view.”
Efforts to move towards the more “expansive” game would have been welcomed by many fans, but any signs of trying, “experimenting”, or “working on”, were nowhere to be seen in Germany.
Any regular spectator of West Ham in recent seasons would have been hard pushed to spot any indication of a new way of football. The formation, style, and personnel was worryingly similar to last year, with all too similar results during 90 minutes.
Some will point to the fact the team were more organised defensively compared to the efforts in New Zealand, but that is not progress. Progress is the materialisation of the “open attacking play” the manager claims to be working towards, on top of last seasons’ defensive prowess.
So until the team have a clear idea of what they are meant to be doing, then there is likely to be continued discord between performances, style, and results.
