In praise of West Ham

  • by Staff Writer
  • Tuesday, 16th December 2014

Praise for Sam Allardyce and his squad has been widespread in recent weeks - and coming from unusual quarters.

Whilst the media are finally recognising West Ham's excellent first half of the 2014/15 campaign, it's taken a little longer for that recognition to filter through to the terraces of fellow Premier League clubs.

Not so long ago supporters of fellow Premier League surprise package Southampton would chant "hoof" every time West Ham launched an aerial pass longer than 10 yards. However Saints fans have, rather unusually, been effusive in their praise of West Ham this week.

Over on SaintsWeb, where any mention of West Ham is usually followed by a string of expletives or condemnation, the locals have been largely impressed by United's record in their opening 16 games of the current campaign.

And key to West Ham's success, according to several members, was keeping last season's squad together. "They already had a decent defence", wrote 'Window Cleaner'. "They signed Song and a couple of Franco-Africans who actually score goals. Top six? Who knows, it depends if injuries hit them."

Those thoughts were echoed by 'doddisalegend', who added: "The difference is they didn't really lose anyone of note in the summer and brought in some decent players to boot. West Ham are stronger than they were last season and are probably about where they should be."

Another poster, 'saint-crinny', attributed West Ham's current success to the plethora of striking options available to Big Sam. "They have a lot of different options going forward, which is huge in the Premier League.

"You've got to have different goal threats. Sakho and Valencia are pacy and decent finishers. Carroll, despite what many people think, when fully fit, is a real handful however you look at it.

"So they're not in a false position at all for me. They've played well after the first few games of the season and beaten some decent teams along the way (like City and to an extent Liverpool, both of whom we failed to beat)."


More Saints on Irons

Saint Tony: "They've played some good stuff this season, have beaten the top sides and have good attacking options. I would expect them to finish around 10 points above us, they have a chance to finish top six."

DuncanRG: "They've been absolutely terrific. I bet some of their fans are frustrated we've been lauded as the 'surprise package' with fewer mentions for their team. I can't blame them."

Junior Mullet: "Out of ourselves, Newcastle and West Ham, the Hammers have the best chance of getting top four. They're strong all over and with Sakho, Valencia and Carroll they have three good strikers who can all score goals in different ways. Good luck to them too - as others have said, it would be great to see someone, anyone break into the top spots."

CB Saint: "They absolutely deserve it - a few games back we were grizzling when other clubs had the temerity to suggest that we didn't deserve to be in second place. Fair play to them for keeping their momentum."

shurlock: "As much as I dislike West Ham the table doesn't lie. We are now virtually halfway through the season and every team has played each other once. Whether they can sustain their position is another matter and will depend on injuries, AFCON and their spending in the window."

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