West Ham manager Sam Allardyce has hit out at the critics who have labelled the Hammers as a long-ball team, according to ESPN.
The 57-year-old became infamous during his time in charge at Bolton Wanderers for his side’s direct, physical approach which riled several Premier League managers including former Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez, who once sarcastically compared Bolton’s style of play to that of Barcelona’s.
The addition of Andy Carroll on a season long-loan from Liverpool at the Boleyn Ground has led many to argue that Allardyce is looking to emulate the style of play which saw him bring relative success to the Trotters in the Premier League. Additionally, Allardyce also has three former Bolton players in Jussi Jaaskelainen, Kevin Nolan and Ricardo Vaz Te in his first team.
However, ‘big Sam’ has refuted these claims and argues that West Ham’s style of play is much more subtle and varied than the direct style of play he employed at the Reebok Stadium, “The best way for a team to play is to have variation and we have shown that since the beginning of the season. We go short, we go long, we go forward, we go diagonal and we go in behind. It makes us very hard to play against and luckily we have the players like Ricardo Vaz Te and Mark Noble who can adapt.”
The Hammers’ boss, who spent just under £20 million on new acquisitions this summer, also admitted that he was delighted with the current crop of players he has at his disposal this season, “We have a lot of talent – young, old, home grown and foreign – and it all adds to the mix to form a very strong squad, which you need in this league. Also, we have Matt Jarvis and Yossi Benayoun, who are both ready to make an impact.”
West Ham have made an impressive start to the campaign winning two of their first three Premier League games so far this season. As a result, the Hammers could temporarily propel themselves to second in the Barclays Premier League table if they can overcome a struggling Norwich City side at Carrow Road in Saturday’s early kick-off.
The newly-promoted outfit will be without newly acquired star striker Carroll who has been ruled out for six weeks with a hamstring injury picked up on debut in West Ham’s comfortable 3-0 victory over Fulham.
