Well the cat is out of the bag …assuming of course that it wasn’t already!
At the risk of being described as a “master of stating the self-bloody evident ” to quote the wonderful John Cleese, we are never going to see 4-4-2 at Upton Park.
How do I know this? Not as a result of watching Sam Allardyce teams over too many years but from the man’s own lips today.
Friday is always a day when club managers have much to say for themselves and today it’s been situation normal at Upton Park.
Allardyce has touched on Andy Carroll’s return, Neil McDonald remaining at the club, Sepp Blatter’s edict that managers should be able to challenge a referee’s decisions during games (unsurprisingly, he likes the idea) and why he didn’t play Mo Diame in his favoured position.
You might have thought that was quite enough Sam Allardyce for one day but the significant piece of news, hidden away under a mass of words was his discussion about systems he may or may not adopt.
He was discussing the indefensible performance against Southampton and how the Hammers committed suicide.
Here’ comes the key sentences from his London Evening Standard column: “It is going to take time for everyone to settle in but by the end of the next 10 games we’ll know a lot about this squad of players, their strengths and weaknesses, which will help us adjust and improve.
“We can change systems if we need to but let me point out right now that it’s not going to be 4-4-2 unless my two strikers are the two best in English football.”
So there you have it. Allardyce need not have mentioned this at all but brought it up presumably because of vociferous fans.
What was that about getting the fans back onside? Not going too well is it!
Sam allardyces claret and blue amy
at this point i think its time we start reffering to him as old gaffer gamge for all the sense he is spouting…
no two strikers unless best in England? Well now I am certainly not strategic genious, but if your team was near LAST in goal scoring opportunities created, wouldn’t you want to play a formation that I dont know… CREATES MORE OPPORTUNITIES?
also, IF big andy gets back healthy (which I maintain is like saying when King Arthur returns), is he the best striker in England? By Sam’s logic it would appear to be so… and oh boy is that just wrong..
sigh, support through the pain, and hope the Davids change their minds about the fat hobbit
And how will we know we have thw TWO best strikers when BFS only ever plays ONE! GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR Pompousity personified.
And to quote Captain Blackadder, BFS has as much chance of winning over the fans “as a Giraffe wearing sunglasses getting into a polar bears only golf club!”
The man’s a buffoon…………
Well,we’ll,well why did we bother buying any new forwards we way as we’ll spent good money on more defensive midfielders what a team we could have Carroll,Nolan and 8 more like Song and Koyoute are you listening David 1 & 2 this is called giving you the finger,I hope we don’t sneak to many draws and the fact there are 3 or 4 week teams in the league this means we keep BS for much longer also I hope we don’t loose players like Zarate,Valencia,Morrinson because they are not happy sitting on the bench watching
So you don’t think SA had anything to do with buying the players for the team he manages?
As I said earlier in the week, if anyone believes an Allardyce team will to quote ‘attack attack, attack, is completely deluded. We will never see anything but one solitary striker running his tabs off, to no avail week after week after week. Valencia scores goals for his national side, always seems a threat in international football, put him in an Allardyce team he runs around like a headless chicken !!!
If Mr A doesn’t know his best team yet in 10 games time we could be sitting on the trap door to the Championship.
Nothing will change. From what I heard the Valencia deal was down to gold and Sullivan. I think Sakho was just an upgrade on cole and zarate was just a back up for Nolan or if they have a striker problem. Was excited for this season but now just want it over then next season hopefully get a decent manager who has a clue!
Adrian
Jenkinson Tompkins Reid Cresswell
Song Noble
(Or kouyate)
Downing Jarvis
Valencia Carroll
(Or zarate)
We can only dream!