Daily WHUFC News - 25th November 2013

Manager on Monday
WHUFC.com
The manager West Ham United is determined to put things right against Fulham
on Saturday
24.11.2013

Sam Allardyce has stated his focus this week will be on making sure his West
Ham United side come out all guns blazing for Saturday's London derby with
Fulham. The West Ham United manager watched on last Saturday as his side
were beaten 3-0 by high-flying Chelsea. A visit of 18th-placed Fulham on
Saturday offers the Hammers an opportunity to get back to winning ways at
home and set themselves up nicely for the third game in a hat-trick of
consecutive London derbies at Crystal Palace three days later. "I've got to
keep instilling the confidence in the players," Allardyce said. "I saw a
little ebb of a lack of confidence when the first goal went in against
Chelsea, which I haven't seen this season. We've always been very positive
and always given our all even though we've failed to turn lots of good
performances into wins. "It's my job to pick the players up and remind them
of the previous performances we've had home and away and make sure we get to
that level and stop those fears creeping in against a Fulham side, which
will offer us the chance to get three points.
"We must keep a clear head and focus on playing on how I know they can play.
I'm in charge and my results aren't going well at the moment and so I am
going to what I can do to put it right."

With rumours abounding over which players Big Sam and the Board may be
targeting in the January sales, the manager has stressed those stories are
of no significance to him at present, with eight crucial matches to play
before the window opens on 1 January. Seven of those fixtures are in the
Barclays Premier League, with a Capital One Cup quarter-final trip to
Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday 18 December thrown in as an early Christmas
gift. "It's alright saying we're going into the market in January but there
are too many games between now and January that we've got to make sure we
get points from. It's tough going at the minute for us and it's my
responsibility to keep their heads up, pick them up and keep telling them
how well I know they can play. "I've said to the players that because you've
thrown away the wins you know you should have had you're putting yourself
under so much pressure now you'll find it tough to play football as easy as
it was a few weeks ago. "Take that little bit of time over a pass and you
could end up passing it to the opposition and make those basic errors more
you than usually did. So we've got to dismiss all of those negatives and get
back to a positive attitude."

Big Sam also took time to praise the 'electric' Hammers fans for their
support since he guide the team back to the Premier League at the first time
of asking. He understands their frustrations that results are not going as
planned as present and vowed to get them roaring with approval again as soon
as possible.
"We've been in the Premier League for 18 months and I've had nothing to
criticise the fans for. I don't criticise them booing on Saturday because
they expected a better show against the opposition than they saw. "They
would have not booed us if we'd given a better show than we did against
Manchester City. They pay their money and if they don't see the sort of
passion, determination and desire they think they should then they'll show
their disapproval. "You've got to give them something to shout about. We
can't expect them to cheer to get a goal unless we're giving them something
to cheer. They're electric and they help us an enormous amount. "I didn't
ever think I would be sat here now when we've lost four games at home
already. Last season we only lost four at home all season and now we've lost
four in 12 so I've got a massive dilemma on how to turn that back around
again."

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'We need to up our game'
WHUFC.com
James Collins demanded more from the Hammers after Saturday's below-par
showing against Chelsea
24.11.2013

James Collins issued a rallying cry in the wake of West Ham United's 3-0
Barclays Premier League defeat at home to Chelsea, insisting the time is now
for the Hammers to turn their season around. A Frank Lampard double, either
side of Oscar's first-half strike, consigned Sam Allardyce's men to a fourth
home loss of the campaign and a second successive league reverse.
Reflecting on a disappointing evening at the Boleyn Ground, centre-half
Collins conceded that West Ham are paying a heavy price for uncharacteristic
mistakes just now. He told West Ham TV: "We knew it was going to be tough,
but the same as the last couple of games, we're not really helping ourselves
at the minute. Individual mistakes leading to goals, which are costing us.
Unfortunately we couldn't get back in the game. "It has been happening a bit
too often, individual mistakes, myself included, as well as everyone. It's
something we've got to look at, we've got to stop the rot somewhere and it
doesn't come any bigger than next Saturday. "We had a couple of chances
but again, couldn't score, and obviously we're conceding goals which we
weren't doing at the start of the season. We've got to stop conceding and
start scoring! Rapidly."

Chelsea's superlative display came as no suprise to Collins, though he
acknowledged that the visitors were given far too easy a ride in east
London, thanks largely to an avoidable 21st-minute penalty award. That said,
the 30-year-old remains defiant in defeat, calling on his colleagues to come
back even stronger.
"They were good, you know what you're going to get from a Chelsea team," he
continued. "They pass it well, move around the pitch, create chances and
that's what they did. We made it too easy for them. "Before the penalty we
were quite comfortable. I don't think they had a shot on target before the
penalty. As at Norwich, it deflates you a little bit and that can't happen.
The gaffer has just said, we need to up our game if anything, not go into
our shells, which looked like we did a bit on Saturday. That's got to stop."


Collins knows only too well that a West Ham revival must start next week at
home to Martin Jol's Fulham, who currently sit directly beneath the Hammers
in 18th spot. A trip to Crystal Palace follows just three days later,
presenting the perfect opportunity to make amends, so says the Wales
international. "Fulham's a big game, every game's big now. We've got
off to probably the worst start we could have thought of. Especially after
last year, we wanted to try and match that or even better it and
unfortunately that hasn't happened. Every game's massive now. "We haven't
gone back to back wins all of last year and certainly this year, if ever
there was a time to do it to get our season back on track, it's the next two
games. It's up to us to put it right, to get the fans behind us again and
hopefully we can do that starting Saturday. "It's not happening at both ends
and all we can do is work hard on the training pitch, stay together, keep as
a tight unit and hopefully the wins will come."

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HOW DO YOU SOLVE A PROBLEM LIKE BIG SAM?
By Sean Whetstone 24 Nov 2013 at 21:45
West Ham Till I Die

First of all let me start by saying I have the up-most respect for Big Sam.
I have met him three times since he took over West ham and have always found
him intelligent, witty and highly entertaining in person. I first met him at
The London Business Forum in November 2011 and one of the first things he
told an audience of business men was the average life of a premier league
manager was 1 year 8 months with a championship manager life span just 1
year 2 months.

He survived his time as a Championship manager by getting us promoted at the
first attempt of asking.Technically I guess he became a Premier league
manager again on 19th May 2012 when we won the play off final at Wembley.

We finished a surprising 10th place last season but the second season
syndrome has started to kick in and the West Ham natives are getting
restless. Last Tuesday made it 1 year 6 months in charge so January 19th
next year will make it the dreaded 1 year 8 months anniversary of a Premier
League manager. Will he survive until then? David Gold seems re-markedly
quiet on twitter lately but I am sure Mr Allardyce has the full confidence
of the board!

Some West Ham fans didn't like Big Sam from day one, they complained about
his direct football and pointed out he scraped Premier league promotion via
the play offs. Even when we came 10th last season they complained the
football wasn't attractive enough and he doesn't play the West Ham way.I
have backed Sam since the beginning at West Ham and have always believed his
organisation skills is just what the doctor ordered for the rebuilding of
West Ham. Only a few weeks ago Sam was hailed as a tactical genius for the
'false nine' tactic that beat Spurs 3-0. My mantra on the West Ham podcast I
co-host and my brief appearance on Talk Sport radio is "Sam's teams do not
go down!"

There has been a lot of water under the bridge since that brief moment of
glory and the tactic of playing no striker is wearing very thin and expected
by every team we play .

What was the point of signing Mladen Petric and Carlton Cole if we aren't
going to play a striker?

The news on Andy Carroll doesn't seem not good either. It appears he has
moved from his hotel & clinic in Antwerp, Belgium to Amsterdam. One can only
imagine the club weren't happy with the treatment in Antwerp and have moved
clinics. I can't see any way we can be insured for his continued injury as
it was a pre existing condition when we signed him. That's £80,000 plus out
of the club each and every week.

In the pre-match interview Sam said "We are trying to get a date out of the
guys over in Amsterdam but they are reluctant to give us any clear
indication of when he's going to be able to join us back here and start
training with the squad and getting back into the team," In the same
interview he went on to be-moan that West Ham tried and failed to sign four
strikers in the Summer but no-one would come to us. He seems oblivious that
the main reason was no world class striker wants to play second fiddle to
Andy Carroll.

However the water shed moment for me came on Saturday after the double
substitution of Joe Cole and Jack Collison for Momo Diame and Miaga to
background of the crowd chanting "You don't know what your doing!" Later on
came more disquiet from the fans which I won't repeat suggesting a reason
why Kevin Nolan was still on the pitch. When Kevin did finally get pulled
off he was booed by many in the angry crowd. I briefly joined in the knee
jerk reaction after yesterday's match by agreeing that it was time for Sam's
time to come to an end but in the cold light of day I asked myself who would
want to take over the job? The whole team is set-up for Andy Carroll with no
sign of Andy Carroll. any new manager would have to carry on with the cards
dealt to us.

In Nov 2011 at the event where I first met him he was asked the question:
What 3 things make a great Football manager?

His answers then were:

1) Ambition: He claimed his ambition is greater than any club he has
managed.

2) Job Satisfaction: A team that delivers what has been targeted by owners
and fans.

3) Publicity: Someone who feels comfortable in the lime light and media
pressure.

So what do we do with a problem like Big Sam? In the short term we back him
and hope our fortunes turn very soon.

I will be going to the Season Ticket Fans Forum on 10th December to meet Mr
Allardyce for a fourth time along with 400 fellow season ticket holders. I
think Big Sam and Kevin Nolan will be in for a hard time on the 10th unless
we beat both Fulham and Palace and give a go at winning at Anfield.

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BIG SAM HAS US BAFFLED
By Tony Hanna 24 Nov 2013 at 11:09
West Ham Till I Die

One of the most baffling decisions during our loss to Chelsea was that Big
Sam did not utilise Carlton Cole at any point during the game. Iain's game
summary on the 4/6/0 formation backed up my theory two weeks ago that the
system is not a workable one to use when playing at home. We need to play a
minimum of one up top and with Carroll, Vaz Te and Petric injured that only
leaves Maiga, Carlton Cole and Lee to choose from? Enough has been seen of
Maiga already to realise he is way out of his depth so to bring him on after
40 minutes was baffling. Lee has returned from his loan deal at Colchester
and to be honest I haven't seen enough of him to make an appraisal. The few
minutes he played on debut at Old Trafford earlier this year at least gave
the impression he is not a target man. So that leaves Carlton Cole, after
all, isn't that why we gave him a short term contract until the end of the
year – despite not being fully match fit. I was never a Carlton Cole fan but
the move to get him back was based on the fact we could not get anyone else.
However, Big Sam keeps on saying he is not match fit – so why not give him
half an hour or more against Chelsea when the match result had slipped away
from us? Why, with ten minutes to go did he bring on Matty Jarvis instead of
Carlton? How is Carlton going to get match fit when he can't even get a run
under Saturday's circumstances? That's three questions in a row and whilst
we might like to try and answer some of them, I really think Sam should be
answering them for us.

It has been suggested that bringing Carlton back to the club was not what
Sam wanted and it was David Sullivan's choice. If that is the case it is an
even sadder decision not to be playing him. Any truth in that scenario
suggests that cracks will be widening in the relationship between owners and
manager. The other tactic Sam has tried is playing Kevin Nolan for brief
spells leading the line. Again, playing with your back to goal is not
something you want to start doing at the end of your career, and to be fair
to Kevin, it is something that is hardly going to work for him or anyone
else who is not used to it.

So, in a nutshell, for the interim Sam has to play Carlton – like him or
not. Many things are drifting away from Sam at the moment which is a shame.
He has had two very good years at the club. If Andy Carroll was available at
present I am sure we would not be in this predicament. However, the past few
weeks have seen a number of players starting to drop their heads and just as
importantly, the crowd is now starting to vent their frustrations at
matches. I have been a fan of Big Sam at West Ham and I hope he pulls it all
together. We shall see?

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Sam Allardyce orders in West Ham flops for extra training as Andy Carroll
absence continues
24 Nov 2013 22:30
The Mirror

Sam Allardyce ordered his West Ham stars in for extra training yesterday
after they were crushed by Chelsea . The fuming Upton Park boss acted after
Saturday's bloodless win for Jose Mourinho's men left the Hammers above the
relegation zone on goal difference. West Ham's players were due to have
yesterday as a day off. But Allardyce, who hauled off Joe Cole and Jack
Collison before half time on Saturday, told his men to scrap their plans.
Allardyce has nominated the next two matches - against Fulham and Crystal
Palace - as must-win games. He is counting the cost, however, of bringing in
winger Stewart Downing in the summer for £5million instead of another
striker with Andy Carroll nowhere near fit. West Ham joint-chairman David
Gold wrote on Twitter yesterday: "I spoke to Andy C yesterday, he looked fit
and strong and is desperate to rejoin the first team squad. Hopefully this
will happen soon."

Privately, however, it is understood Carroll will not be available to the
east Londoners before the New Year. Saturday's defeat means West Ham have
managed just one Premier League win in their last seven matches. They have
also scored only one goal in their last four top-flight games.

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Sam Allardyce concedes fear factor is getting to West Ham players as
relegation battle looms
24 Nov 2013 22:30
The Mirror

Sam Allardyce admits his West Ham side are playing with fear as they face a
relegation battle. They have not won at Upton Park since the opening day of
the season and were taken to the cleaners 3-0 by Chelsea. The Hammers boss
accepted that their fans had the right to jeer his players, saying: "They
pay their money and if they don't see the determination, passion and desire
they think they should get, then they show their disapproval. "The players
tried as hard as they can but I think they're playing with a bit of fear.
That makes it look as if they don't have the passion the fans normally see.
"It's always dangerous when you see that body language. People say there's
pressure games at the top but it's not as big a pressure as when you're in
the bottom three or four. "It's all about 'you're relegation this, you're
relegation that' and the money you'll lose here." Stewart Downing admitted
the boos, directed at Modibo Maiga and Kevin Nolan, were taking their toll.
"It's not nice to hear it for one of your team-mates," said the former
England midfielder. "You need the fans behind you. But as players you just
have to be strong."

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