Sam Allardyce Long Ball Merchant

The stats are now available and they aren't kind: http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/31428316
Sam cannot hide from the fact that West Ham sit snugly within a group of teams at the bottom of the league in terms of long balls played, long passes attempted, ratio of long balls to time of possession, etc. Although the article on the BBC makes me sick (because it seems like a blatant defense of Manure), there's no way of getting around West Ham being a long ball team. What I'd really like to know is how much this has changed since the start of the season when, from my memory at least, West Ham played attacking football that seemed pretty easy on the eye. I'd be willing to bet that it wasn't until the return of Carroll and Nolan that we started to play this ugly hoofball that once again seems the staple of Sam Allardici's method of play. If you think this is a beat up, it's because it is: Swansea BEAT Manure without the long ball and now they are one point behind us. Thoughts?