Sam Allardyce is coming under heavy fire from Hammers fans following the late equaliser gifted to Everton in last night’s FA Cup third round 1-1 draw.
Many have quickly attacked the manager for appearing to make a scapegoat of Enner Valencia who was singled out for criticism after directing a header into the hands of Everton goalkeeper Joel Robles.
After four games without a win and a sloppy late equaliser the pressure again appears to be mounting on the manager following the dramas of last season.
ClaretandHugh followers made their feelings clear on the site’s facebook forum after a blog had claimed Allardyce’s public remarks were wrong.
Allardyce had said a player of his ability should have scored and, justified or not, fans feel it would have been best left unsaid.
Fan Tom Dunn told the CandH facebook forum: “If he gave Enner more game time maybe he wouldn’t be as rusty. He would have scored that at the start of the season when he was confident.”
And another – Richard Kemp – declared: “Valencia was acting as a shield for Downing. He kept Everton’s centre backs busy and Dowwning was murdering them. BFS just cant resist going back to his favoured style, its just in his make up. I do not think I have ever seen worse substitutions.”
Steve Elcome took to the forum to snap: ” Enner is just not good enough just like Zarate and anyone else who dares to “play” football. Let’s get 11 Nolan’s Sam and then you will be happy.”
Les Sim joined the chorus of disapproval snarling: “The Valencia and Sakho partnership was forced upon BFS and became our most potent strike force since I can remember.
The fat **** split it up at his first opportunity as soon as Carroll became available. Now he is trying to undermine Valencia in order to justify his perversion for a big lump up front.”
On Twitter @chalongcircle said: We all know you’re either in Sam’s clique or not. Ask Zarate (we needed him last night). I’m sure DS knows what’s going on.
And @DjPaul Cole said: “If @davidgold and DS aren’t as baffled as the fans with Allardyce. I’d be surprised. Hopefully this will be his last season.
@poaolothehammer declared: “He’s always been the same, never takes responsibility for team selection or tactics and never blames his favourite players.”
He played Valencia as a loan striker trying to grab a draw and got what he wanted,he did not know how hard we would be to stop with Enner,Jarvis,Downing and Noble giving us speed and movement and if the CONE had been with his mate at the birthday bash we could have broke our bad run at Everton.what he did was criminal at the end of the game,we had been adventurous and showing no sign of fatigue until he tried the BFS way of holding onto a win by defending,then forgot to tell 8 defenders to Mark one person the only person who can score against us,young Mr Sullivan should not have apologised for his tweet he entitled to his opinion BFS has not apologised to all us fans for singularly destroying season .
Got news for you Bubs, he’s actually put you in a position to “make” your season and believe me that has rarely happened in our history.
Bit premature to be making such claims WHU647580. With Sahko out,Valencia being played out of position(if he gets on the pitch at all) I can’t see Cole,Nolan, Vaz Te or O’Brien making our season.As for AC everyone knows how the team operates with him as spearhead.Notice how the goals have dried up for him?Like Allardyce too predictable.
Sam doesn’t like us fans having the lofty ambition to be a reliable top 6 side……we’re getting above our station.
Young Sullivan was bang on the money.What he said was just what every supporter believes to be the truth.Hope he keeps having a moan up at his dad as well,might finally filter down the line to BFS,though im sure with his attitude he would make a point of playing Nolan more.Just as he will play AC all the time to try to justify him wanting him when maybe others wanted someone else.Stubborn geezer 😉
Nah, actually he wasn’t. He was being silly and should know better, hence he apologised because his old man would’ve been fuming. Nobody is saying Nolan should play (He should be sub at best) but a little bit of respect for one of the best captains (on and off the pitch) we’ve had for years wouldn’t go a miss.
I was listening to it on the radio and as soon as he took Valencia off I knew we were in trouble… I don’t know how many chances Andy Carroll has missed, quite a few tame headers have gone into the keepers arms, perhaps he should have scored them all also. What Sam hasn’t ever realised is that when you are 1 – 0 up and have your foot on the throat of the opposition you should continue to attack a ‘la Man Utd under Ferguson, Liverpool teams of old, Arsenal etc yes be cautious and don’t over commit but play fast on the counter attack and exploit the spaces the other team is creating. By taking off our greatest source of pace and putting on slow defensive players the outlet was gone which allowed a team who was devoid of confidence to gain just enough to snatch a draw. We all know what happens next under Sam the team lose the home replay!!!
To say I was angry last night would be an understatement and I have got very used to disappointment as a West Ham fan it goes with the territory but to singe out Valencia who should have been playing instead of Carroll for the last few weeks really wound me up. I hope at the end of the season if he continues to play this negative rubbish after we go 1 – 0 up then the David’s will look for a more progressive manager that has all of his good points tactically but more of an idea on how to play an expansive game, probably that wouldn’t be an English manager.
Valencia – and Sakho- are strikers who operate best in the channels, not as a lone striker. When they were playing together we had a system which utilised their strengths. Last night Valencia was obviously told to play the Carroll role, which he is not suited to. The “rot”t set in when both Carroll and Nolan were fit and we were treated to the BFS style of play. This has caused a drop in the team’s level of performance and results. Quite why Nolan was on the pitch is a mystery. He contributed nothing positive. He is slow and leaves gaps in the midfield which puts added pressure on the defence. How we could have done with Zarate!
Now we look forward to seeing Carroll lead the line again vs Swansea! The only good news so far this week is that Song will be available, always assuming he gets picked to start and not Nolan.
Right, a bit of perspective is required I think.
1. We’re seventh in the league. If we’d been offered that at the beginning of the season we’d have snatched at it. The way people are whingeing on you’d think we were at risk of going down again.
2. There are people that clearly don’t like Big Sam (I didn’t when he joined us but I’ve actually grown to have a respect for him for several reasons which are in stark contrast to what’s expressed above. Namely:
a) He says what he thinks rather than just pandering to the fans and has the courage of his convictions.
b) He ISN’T blindly loyal to his favourites. Nolan (clearly someone who has his respect and in my view gets a bit of a raw deal-look at how many goals he’s scored and the other players seem to hold him in high regard as a leader) has clearly been dropped on several occasions when fully fit this year as there are players playing better.
c) He is not picking on Valencia. There are too many numerous episodes to list when he has singled out players at the end of games for having either failed to score or failed to defend properly. In his time he has singled out Collins, Cole, Valencia, Nolan even, and now Valencia. It’s the same principle. Just because people have taken to Valencia (including myself-he’s got great potential) doesn’t mean he deserves to be treated to a different set of standards that BS uses for everyone else.
d) Zarate looked like a good player. Scoring 2 in 8 in your first season from mainly substitute appearances is not that bad a return for your first few games. However, do you honestly think that BS would just get rid of a good player if there wasn’t more to it that we’re not aware of? The strikers are being played on merit and based on what he sees in training. Not what the general public think should happen. With Morrison the situation is even more clear cut-take a look at the guy’s Instagram or Twitter account to realise what’s important to him in life (seems to be posing looking moody with his arm round his mates in a car to me).
My basic point is that negativity like the above needs to be tempered with a bit of empathy and looking at the bigger picture. We’re doing well overall. Our squad has overperformed to date. We were always going to have a blip. Drawing away with Everton in the cup is not a disaster. Kevin Nolan may or may not be past his best but he is not being given special treatment and he is behaving like a professional. He made a bad mistake in getting those back to back sendings off but doesn’t deserved to get booed by his own fans when he HAS contributed a lot overall.
Wow, big rant I know. But I listen to this kind of rubbish being said by people week in week out and it becomes frustrating for those of us who also pay our money and would like to get a bit of positivity back from it, especially in a season where we have done so well and could go on to do even better.
COYI
Well said Positivehammer. I was not a BFS fan when he came nor am I particularly now, but he does not deserve the torrent of criticism he often gets whenever something goes slightly awray. He isn’t my ideal West Ham manager, wasn’t my choice at the time, but he got us back up and kept us in the PL. He deserves some credit and respect.
Well said PH.
We’ve got some right nuggets as fans and little did we know it, but SA saying that there are some who “are deluded and talk B…….” was actually bang on the money.
Positivehammer a bit of perspective is needed ,sack BFS before it’s to late and all the good managers are taken by other teams,if you have taken to BFS you must have stopped taking your medication,he does say what’s on his mind all the time buts that normally before his brain clicks in,yes we all know KN has scored lots of goals for us and has been a good player and captain but his day is over, BFS has DISRESPECTED every fan and the directors of this great club,he had no intention of changing his ways and when he leaves you will be as happy as the rest of us COY!
Speak for yourself mate, he hasn’t disrespected me and honestly never felt like he had. I’m not disputing that KN is done, nothing more than an impact sub now, but I dread to think where we may of been without SA.
“Positivehammer a bit of perspective is needed ,sack BFS”
Sorry mate, but not sure that’s a big of perspective.
Who in their right mind would sack their manager when 7th, when we’re normally bottom half?
I am not sure David Sullivan, his son or David Gold read these blogs and comments, but I really hope they are, as aware of the majority of this sites participants are, that Mr Allardyce is quickly becoming a laughing stock, with his untimely and very often unjust comments about his playing staff. So far this week alone, Reid, Valencia & Zarate have all had, what I consider controversial personal comments about their abilities.
Valencia did his best last night as a loan striker, I do concede he might have tried to defend a little more, if one is really quite critical of him. The truth be told was not his saved header but;
We are not through to the next round, simply and honestly because, thanks once again to the managers defensive, negative attitude rearing its ‘ugly head’ again. To bring O’Brien in place of Amalfitano not only removed our defensive outlet, but condemned us to sit back for the last ten minutes plus extra time. We then got deeper, and deeper and eventually O’Brien and Reid go for the same challenge, thanks to a misunderstanding of duties, because Jenkinson had played at right back for 80 minutes no problem. O’Brien comes on and is in no mans land, Reid tries to cover, and the loose ball is in behind for a simple cross and bingo the guy who always scores against us does it again.
Get real Sam your glass isn’t just half full…… its empty. Can we win a replay? If Alex Song is fit, and we don’t make him play ‘piggy in the middle’ by pinging long balls up to Carroll over his head, maybe.
There we are some are for sam some against well I have never liked him and I still dont but I do like Valencia but I think the way that Sam is treatinghim he will soon want to leave west ham I hope notI saw him for about 10 minuents against leicester great to watch
Here’s a thought. Let’s change the situation: instead of Valencia missing that chance, let’s have Nolan missing that chance. BS criticises Nolan’s miss after game. Would we have this kind of reaction? No, we wouldn’t.. I don’t like how we change our standards depending on the player. We accuse BS of having his favourites, of ignoring their mistakes – but we do the exact same thing with our own favourites!!
Noland did not miss a chance he missed the game
Funny, you didn’t actually quote SA? The fact is, all he said was that it was “Disappointing Enner didn’t take his chance at a critical period”, how is that slaughtering him? It’s not exactly like Redknapp with Bent and “My Sandra could’ve scored that” is it? For crying out loud get off SA case and just enjoy the ride you negative people.
WHu647580 are you saying your enjoying the ride ? Which ride is that yesterday last 20 mins ,1-1 against WBA ,the games against Arsneal ,Chelsea, have you been in a coma for a month or do you mean the weeks when Nolan andCarroll were unfit when BFS had no choice but to pick the best players ,we have the right to voice our opinion that’s what makes this country so good it’s called freedom of speech thank Christ BFS did not that job just think Nolan captain of England
Bubby – Are you seriously telling me that a) I shouldn’t be enjoying this ride b) you haven’t enjoyed any of it?
We’ve just gone to a place where we never normally get a result and (twice) this season played really well. We’ve had our best start for nearly 30 years (and I was there for that in 85-86). We lost to CFC and AFC, oh well that hasn’t happened very often in the last 15 years has it!! We’ve taken 4 points off WBA this year, 1 point last year. I think there’s only one person whose been in a coma mate! You do realize when Sakho was injured and Carroll (and Nolan) came back we won 4 and drew 1, which took us up to 3rd?? You do know that right? You do know we’ve been relegated at least once a decade for the last 4 decades, you know that we have rarely been anything more than mid table if we’re lucky or have you conveniently forgotten all that to suit your agenda? Nobody has said that anyone isn’t allowed to voice any opinion so don’t play that card. Just enjoy what’s happened this season, don’t let the anti Sam feelings sour it.
@hammerman: This site is regularly read by everybody inside the club inc the chairmen. Promise you!
I really dont see why people should be called negative for airing views that in most cases are realistic & truthful.Nolan shouldnt be in the team-fact.Sam is reverting back to type-fact.The football on offer recently has been nowhere near the flowing stuff we enjoyed when Sakho/Valencia played together-fact.Many comments are based on what we are witnessing,not just to have a pop Allardyce.Yes we are 7th in the league & its beyond most our expections but it is going to count for little by the end of the season if we finish middle table & this will happen due to Sams brand of football he has a love-in with.Carrolls injury forced his hand earlier in the season & we were privilged to watch some great stuff with the new boys up top.Only a blind man or stubborn man cant see whats infront of him.If people are happy to see us win by any means possible then fair play to them.But i for one enjoy sitting in my seat watching an afternoon/evening of attractive football.Not 80mins of ping pong with a scrappy goal to win it.I go back to earlier in the season when other teams & football wisemen in the media said we were a real threat with the new boys up top.I see little of this anymore,just observations of a largely ineffective Carroll & a less potent Irons team.If people who dont support us can clearly see the issues then why the hell as fans shouldnt we voice our views on what is a clear problem when it comes to team selections.It doesnt make us all anti Sam.If we really want Song to stay then reverting back to the AC will always play attitude will see him walk outta door when he sees the ball flying over his head half the time from a Ginga/Reid/Tonks punt.Damn,it aint rocker science 😉
Rads. Uve absolutely nailed it. If u wanna send me your name I’ll use as a blog on the site if u want
Positive hammer is spot on. Very positive unlike a lot of the whingeing negative claptrap I read on this site.
Thanks Hugh,it just had to be said but is not worthy of a blog for sure.I cant give my name anyway.Who knows,maybe i am related to a player who will never get in the team again,lol 😉
Let me make that decision rads
What decision Hugh,i no understand 🙂
Whether it’s a blog or not