Monday 21 January 2013

West Ham Fans Should Get Off Allardyce's Back

Bloody hell, I can't believe I wrote that headline. Am I sickening for something? Has Doctor Evil slipped me some drug that distorts the thought processes. I was one of his biggest critics, and I here I am defending the great big Northern bastard!

There's a few reasons why West Ham fans should get off his back. Firstly, his dealings in the transfer market have been bloody good. We don't know how much say he has, but I can't see him as a puppet, nodding through deals for players he doesn't want. From Nolan to Joe Cole, he has proved himself astute - and the fact that somebody like Cole has agreed to sign gives a lie to the myth that Sam is simply a Warnock style kick and run merchant.

What is more, he has offloaded players at the right time, and retained those that we needed to keep hold of. Diame may slip away because of that release clause in his contract, but who else has gone that we wanted to keep? Has Rob Green torn up any trees since taking his terror of crosses to Loftus Road? Has anybody noticed how Spurs are suddenly scoring less goals now that Parker has replaced the injured Sandro in midfield? Dear God, Allardyce even turned on his favourite son on Saturday, taking off Nolan and thereby proving that sentiment does not come into his decision making.

Why did the fans boo when Chamakh was withdrawn? Simply because it meant we stayed 4-5-1 / 4-3-3 / 4-2-3-1 / 4-2-4-1. But the point is, that was the right decision! We were bossing the midfield and creating chances, what we weren't doing was converting them, with Chamakh the principle offender. How much better did Carlton look after replacing the Arsenal loanee? So Allardyce was right!

Of course he is not above criticism. I would have liked to see Taarabt man marked and kicked early doors and Cole released from the wing earlier. But second half changes were made and we absolutely dominated the game. Allardyce cannot be blamed for the failure of Chamakh twice, Nolan, Reid twice and Joe Cole to score from great positions.

Allardyce critics will point to the huge money spent on Jarvis and the huge wages being paid to Carroll, but I fancy those two will deliver over the final third of the season. And the football is better than many are willing to admit. How often do we hoof it from the back? Rarely. Actually, even at Old Trafford with a virtual reserve team out, we played the ball through midfield more often than not.

So I say get off Allardyce's back. He has reshaped the squad superbly and if he keeps us up, he will have done a great job. But having typed that, I really do need a lie down. There's only so much humble pie a guy can eat without vomiting!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

WHAT YOU HAVE WROTE IS SO TRUE , I WAS NEVER SURE ABOUT SAM BUT HE AS PROVED HIMSELF TO EVERY ONE THAT HE KNOWS WHAT HE IS DOINGAND WHAT A GOOD MANAGER HE IS.

Unknown said...

I'm hopeful that Nolan will start to be used as a sub instead of starting. Its obvious he can no longer play a full match and while he still is a good player, he would be even better with a little rest and going all out in the last half hour. Also think we should do the same with Carlton as his knees are shot and has looked great coming off the bench as well as starting. Hopefully Chamy will start scoring as I think he can lead the line he just needs someone to help, which Nolan doesn't anymore. Overall I think we're in a good place

Basildonia said...

I wasn't his biggest fan but he has done all the right things. The dropping of Nolan was well overdue though.

Phil Parkes & Recreation said...

Really nice to hear you talking so positively about the team these days, and great that you're willing to eat some humble pie too. We definitely won more games with Carroll in the team so hoping we'll replicate that when he gets back and push on to end up top 10 by the end of the season, it's not out of the question, would love to end up above WBA and Swansea. Praying we don't get pulled downwards though, think Sam should see us through, best thing you can say that he's done is bring back some convincing team spirit, it's great to see our players running and chasing the ball like they really want it, can't fault their work rate this season, just finishing really.

ianthehammer said...

BFS did what I never thought would happen. Not only did I have a great day at wembley but as we won i had an even better evening at the green man. And i'm wembley born n bred so i walked home to my mums house and crashed there. As far as I'm concerened hes the best thing thats happened to my football club. I'm 45 and WHUFC have always been a 2 bob outfit. Look how they never built on the cheap sucess of 85-86 and how we never won the league in the 60's can only be put down to a lack of management of some of the best players ever.

Anonymous said...

Well it shouldn't trouble him much if the people commenting on here get on sams back,there's room for ALL 5 of you.

Anonymous said...

How depressing, three lumbering centre-forwards that can't score for toffee (Cole, Carroll and Chamakh). Big Sam's vision has now been realised. See you in the Championship?