This season, compared to most others, West Ham United have come so far. Starting the season with 27 points from just 15 matches, all looked promising for the supporters and the club. Most fans believed, or at least it occurred to some, that West Ham were serious contenders for a European spot.
The club began the season with great depth within the team and a formation that was working: Enner Valencia and Diafra Sakho together up font, Stewart Downing in a better position, Alex Song, too; with Aaron Cresswell being without a doubt the best left-back since Julian Dicks. Andy Carroll had also been tremendous this season and showed us his brilliance against Swansea at home, to name an example. However, Big Sam’s tactics of last season soon started to creep up again when he put Carroll upfront either alone or alongside Valencia, even though it’s clear that he impacts Valencia’s level of performance. Even when Sakho isn’t fit enough to start, Sam started with both Carroll and Valencia even though he knows this approach is just as useless as putting Cole up front alone.
The Hammers have had injuries this season and there’s been a few of them. Even with these injuries, Allardyce never tries to improvise by finding a method that will cope with the problem. He just goes back to what he knows best: one up front with Downing on the wing. He knows this doesn’t work and loses us possession, chances and causes us to lose games, but still he uses this familiar 13/14 season approach whenever the team has a wall to climb over. The one time this season he took a chance was when he put Nolan in a more defensive position due to injuries, but it worked. Big Sam just has no idea when it comes to coping with problems.
The London club never expected the club to beat Chelsea, or even Arsenal, but it was expected to come away after the match knowing a fight had been given. From those games around Christmas onwards, for at least five or six matches, the club either drew or lost and that was because of the philosophy of attack, score and then defend all out; letting the opposition change the game and come onto the side. Yes, he did change that approach, but it took him until the match against Everton to do so. That’s twelve precious points, give or take, that at the end of the season, could make the biggest difference. Now the club are 11th in the table and have got their hands on 8 points out of a possible 36, with Everton also on 44 points and Palace just two behind.
Again, regarding the January transfer period, it’s understandable that deals just don’t go through. Carlton Cole was said to move to West Bromwich Albion and turned up there awaiting his medical. When both him and the fans believed he was moving to the club, West Ham United them told him he couldn’t due to the fact the team had no strikers and had made no other signings. He might not be the greatest footballer at the club, but it’s no excuse for the club to take advantage.
Unless Big Sam shows the fans and the squad that he can take a bad situation head on and turn it around for the better, no matter how much of a struggle that challenge might be, the hope from man fans is that the board chooses to not renew his contract for next season.
Main image:
