Sam Allardye really is incredibly hard to follow sometimes!
A virtually unnoticed line in his latest London Evening Standard column is confusing in the extreme given that he claims he won’t be changing much in the Hammers style of play.
For, in discussing summer signings he makes it clear that he’s looking for a very different type of striker to what we’ve seen so far under his management.
He said: “One of our priorities is another striker who would give us something different.
“Luis Suarez at Liverpool, to name the best example, is a striker by name but frequently doesn’t play up front.
“Sometimes he’s on the left, other times on the right, often he’s in behind the central striker — he pops up all over the place.
Now I’m not suggesting we’re going to find another Suarez — although we’ll be trying — but we are certainly seeking someone of that type.”
Now if that’s not a change of style I really don’t know what is!
Frankly this is ridiculous. We have two of these types of players already…Joe Cole who has barely been in the squad let alone found any time on the pitch in his best position of deep lying forward, and the most promising young talent in the country in this position who we farmed out to QPR in Ravel Morrison.
A player of this ilk basically means the end of Nolan’s career, as the position in Allardyce’s formation would be behind Carroll. You could even argue Vaz Te is this kind of player too (all be it of a lower level) so the fact we have 3 players of this type on our books, and not once has Allardyce tried it even as a substitution tactic flies complety in the face of what he says.
Let’s face it, if we had Suarez on our books, Allardyce would play him wide left!