In consequence Sam has "enjoyed the season", but is "disappointed that we are where we are as we were good enough to clinch one of the top two spots". That's interesting isn't it? If we were "good enough" (an oxymoron with Sam Pot at the helm), why aren't we in the top two exactly? Is Sam confessing to failure here or moaning that Satan hasn't honoured his side of the bargain?
Of course, Allardyce isn't going to admit to personal failings for he immediately adds, "but then again from where we have come from it is still a magnificent season." That's the argument I have joked about all season, "From bottom to third to top is outstanding progress!"
He continues, “The club got relegated and it was not very nice, the doom and gloom that was around the place was something that you could smell, taste and feel as a manager". You can't smell it now, of course, the stench of sulphur is too overpowering!
Listen to the language of the guy! “It was something that I had to rip the backside out of" - Ouch, Ravel isn't going to like that idea is he?
Allardyce is clearly on a self justification trip. The use of the personal pronoun is fascinating. Over and again, it is not West Ham but Allardyce. "I had to rip the backside out of and I had to start again....considering the state of the club when I walked through the door." The message is clear: Allardyce has saved us. Allardyce has carried us to the threshold of the promised land. Allardyce has salvaged the Truth from Brady's burning bush.
So, if we miss out on promotion, we shouldn't complain because, "“To have only lost eight games all season is a magnificent achievement considering the turnover of players that we have had, and considering the state of the club when I walked through the door.” To have won slightly more than the 50% of games played would have been better of course. But here we have the Allardyce philosophy in a nutshell. It's all about not losing! Eight defeats but 14 draws Sam, and it is the 14 draws that have cost us.
But we mustn't complain apparently, we must bow down in worship. Thanks Sam, we owe everything to you!
HF, We are not a prem side, that was highlighted in scrapping through barely in the last few season's. Moral was through the floor and in the wrods of Tomkins "we have more points this year than the last two seasons combined" So for F*ck sake we have had a pretty good year. You are the sort of person that makes all other championship sides despise us as it's your opinion of a god given right to be back at the top table that p*sses other sides off no end. Yes we have a squad of players of whom a few are good enough to play in the premisership, but so have many others. Yes it was only 2 years ago our #1 was Englands #1 but oonfidence and attitude play a huge part in footbal. We have done well to get where we are and yes other than stupid draws and a battering by Ipswich we have and I will argue with anyone on this, at times played some great football on the floor and in agreement with BFS if it were not for wastefulness in front of goal (which even you cant blame BFS for) we would have walked away with this league. Get a grip be a fan and get behind the club and stop this attention grabbing obsurdity please for the sake of this great club.
ReplyDeleteTotally agree with anaon. We need to get behind the club, the players, manager and the board stop the negativity and this right to be in the premier league. You have to earn it past few seasons we have danced with the devil And it finally caught up with us. Whet he has done for the club is brilliant ok on the pitch it's not been perfect but put that down to misfiring strikers. We don't get to see what he does in training.
DeleteSo I ask hammers fans get behind the club remember why we support this amazing club enjoy the roller coaster. West Ham is a way of life it's not about the final destination its about enjoying the journey!
Perhaps BFS cannot be blamed for misses in front of goal but he can be blamed for the tactics and WHO he puts on the front line and his decisions on both counts have been deplorable. Anonymous (not me), you sound like you'd prefer to stay in the Championship and win a few games than go back to the Prem. yours is the dream of a mediocre, not a Great, club.
DeleteYou seem to have forgot how bad we were under the leadership of Zola and Grant. We were not even involved in the battle against relegation - we were doomed from the beginning. Im not a big fan of Sam but we were a club on its knees backed by excellent owners and appalling so called fans like you HF. I'm just surprised that we're anywhere near the top.
ReplyDelete08.54 - who has been wasteful in front of goal exactly? It wouldn't be any of the fowards Mr Allardyce brought to the club then?
ReplyDeletePerhaps it is his inability to spot talent, and not just the ridiculously negative tactics he adopted for most of the season, that is to blame. Either way he is equally responsible as far I can see.
Having said that, his style of play has never been a secret so I'm blaming the chairman for appointing him in the first place. A good manager he may be but he was never right for our club.
While I am very disappointed to have dropped out of the top two at the business end of the season, I did get a different perspective when talking a fellow supporter and friend, who sometimes posts here.
ReplyDeleteHe said we still lost fewer games than anybody else in the league, and it is obviously the draws that killed us. When I rant about the negative tactics in many of those draws, squandering a lead late in the game, he counters. He says that we have no way to know that a change in those tactics, to play more attacking football, would have turned those into wins. Furthermore, they may have turned some of our wins into draws.
The final point made to attempt to calm me down is that Reading went on such a crazy run, and that in virtually any other year we would be fighting Southampton for first on Saturday instead of second.
Im still gutted, though.
Couldn't agree more COYI
ReplyDeleteYes USA Dave, but Reading's success means that their style of play works and ours doesn't.
ReplyDeleteIt all about started when we were top of the table and played a mid-table Reading only to suffer a humiliating defeat. That's what started their run really. And we continued to play the Sam way at home rather than attacking and finishing the opposition (like Reading have been doing to us and so many others).
Reading don't have better players than West Ham (well surely not more expensive). And yet they dominate their games (their home games in particular). And that is where Sam failed in a very big way. He should have changed his tactics in his home games and put the pressure on the opposition. He never did and the outcome is this. Too many draws inevitably lost us the automatic promotion place.
Why do people think we west ham fans believe we have a god given right to be in the prem league whenever we criticise the manager?
ReplyDeleteThe facts are that with the resources available at our club, which are largely due to excellent home support, parachute payments and two generous benefactors, we have a massive advantage over every single club in the championship. Despite that advantage, two clubs have out performed us over the course of the season and so we are left with the lottery of the playoffs to achieve promotion. Taking nothing away from Southampton and Reading, who have both been superb, we should have comfortably amassed enough points to have won this league given the availability of those aforementioned resources. Not because we have a divine right but because we are fortunate enough to have those resources at our disposal. If the league adopted a handicap system we would have started the season with 10 points fewer than both the two promoted sides.
Ultimately, had we achieved a return that was equal to the sum of all our parts we would have won the league. We haven't so that suggests failure to me and, as the man pulling the strings, I believe Big Sam is responsible. He claims that had it not been for our strikers, most of which he bought, we would have been promoted. Perhaps that suggests his tactics would have been more appropriate had we had better strikers. Perhaps we needed to create more chances than his negative home styles was ever capable of doing. Perhaps spending more time in attack would have reduced the opportunities for the opposition to score too.
I could ramble on all day, though in summary we failed and Sam needs to grow a pair and take responsibility. He is quick to claim credit for the away successes but refuses to acknowledge his failures at home. This is particularly disappointing as it is the home results that have cost us. Apparently it has been either the negative support (there's irony on a stick for you) or our miss-firing forwards.
I was against his appointment on the grounds of the style of football he was always likely to play and didn't renew my season ticket as a consequence. However I did, wrongly, concede he would get us up automatically. He has ripped the heart from our club and failed to collect the price we were promised for doing so. What else does he need to do before others accept he is wrong for our club and needs to go.