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This was the answer to the goal scoring problem Westham were experiencing last season,the appointment of Teddy Sheringham to work with the forwards.A top striker who has played at the highest level and who knows a thing or two about scoring.This was Sullivan's comments on the appointment:
West Ham co-chairman David Sullivan insists Teddy Sheringham's arrival as attacking coach does not undermine the position of manager Sam Allardyce - but admits the club must target a top-six finish.
The Irons' board backed Allardyce following showdown talks in the summer sparked by a campaign which ended in 13th place, but only after a late pull clear of the relegation scrap.
Sullivan believes 48-year-old former England international Sheringham, who enjoyed a three-season spell as a player at Upton Park, can bring a cutting edge to the team and work well alongside the manager, who sustained a third campaign in the Barclays Premier League following promotion via the 2012 play-off final.
"Yes, we suggested the idea, but Sam liked it. We didn't undermine him at all," Sullivan said in the Daily Mirror.
"We had a lot of people approach us to become our attacking coach and Sam picked the one he wanted.
"I think he has analysed the performance of the team last year and agreed that we would like to score more goals. It was a weakness of the team and he has brought in an expert to try and improve that.
At present Westham are the 8th highest scorers in the league with 40 goals..Of that number 29 goals were scored in 17 games before Christmas,but only 11 goals in 13 games since then.Over that same period Westham conceded 18 goals in 17 games and 19 goals in 11 games.It was looking very bright up until Christmas, Westham were playing some of the best football fans have watched in a long ,long time and then it all starts falling apart,the results ,the performances apart from a few exceptions,and the slide down the table.So what has gone wrong ?
http://www.soccerbase.com
http://www.soccerbase.com/teams/team.sd?team_id=2802&season_id=144&teamT...
Yep they have dried up
But so has the passing flowing football and the attacking style well not so much dried up as stopped.
And that is the problem had big Sam carried on with the same players and style and it went pear shaped that is Ok but we were flying and he changed It the style the players why ?
I agree with Mr Turk, he
I agree with Mr Turk, he should've kept with the same formation and players, the introduction of Carroll means we'll only play one way, long and direct, up to that point we had pace and movement up front with Valencia and Sakho which meant our better players in midfield, Song and Kouyate were also heavily involved in the game instead of watching the ball go over their heads, I think this is a major part of why Song's form has dipped as well
I have gone on about this for
I have gone on about this for months every time the Sakho/Valencia partnership develops a head of steam either the injury curse strikes one of them or Allardyce breaks the pairing up for his favourite Carroll.I want to make this perfectly clear ,I rate Carroll,I think he is an excellent centre forward,a valuable squad member,but whenever he plays that beautiful flowing football through the midfield disappears.Song is not comfortable with the long ball style 'he made that quite clear when he spoke to the media earlier in the season,its not his game,he plays the modern pass and movement style of football, characterised by Barcelona and Arsenal,sadly his game is suffering.With his game off ,the whole team performances suffer ,because he is the main playmaker,the prime mover of Westham's attacking play when it comes through the midfield.But it's not just the long ball that is the problem, it's the way Westham attack,it has become so one-dimensional and predictable,there is far too much reliance on wing play and banging in the crosses ,there is no variation in the attack whatsoever,all midfield creativity seems to have dissappeared.And fans wonder why the midfield have gone off the boil ,it's obvious.The game yesterday against Sunderland exposed this problem ,first half especially it was dire.Allardyce using the 4-5-1 formation, I find anti-midfield,because it knocks out all creativity played through Kouyate,Song and Noble,it makes Westham play one dimensional football in attack that is easily read by the opposition.It would work fine if Allardyce learned to mix the attacking style up,but he never seems to be able to accomplish it.Another issue is why Allardyce uses Sakho in a 4-5-1 taking on that centre forward role ,when he is not really a target man,he never really posed much of a threat with his head in yesterdays' game as Carroll would have done.Surely, playing to a players strengths is the key to getting the best out of him.For Sakho that is playing though the midfield as we saw earlier in the season,with those decisive through balls.The beauty of the Sakho/Valencia partnership is they are very good at pulling defences all ways with their darting runs,we had none of that yesterday,Sakho was a man who had to play a role that doesn't suit his game.Why couldn't he pair him up front with Amalfitano,Nene ,Zarate would have been ideal with that early season form he showed,all of them have an eye for goal,which is the main requirement and have good movement.I remember another three strikers whose careers Allardyce destroyed ,Baldock,Maynard and Maiga,because he played them in roles they were not comfortable with.
Like a broken record Chippy
I think everyone has been saying what I have said for quite some time now.
Sadly many even predicted even as the great run was in process what would happen as if they were fortune tellers.
All very good points and I
All very good points and I totally agree, having signed the player at least use his strengths instead of trying to adapt his game, you can see Song always looking for a Hollywood pass because he's getting starved of any of the ball, him and Kouyate are as good if not better than most central midfield partnerships in the Prem, Sakho and Valencia have abilities far beyond anything we've seen at West Ham for years and yet he tries to make them adapt their game, as he tried and failed with Baldock and Maynard
Great post Essex
If you look back at preseason, we were in MISERABLE form. Sullivan took it into his own hands to bring in some good players and FORCED Sam to play a different style. Guess what, it worked. Then we were soaring, head into Christmas and face Chelsea and Sam decides to field a weak team and basically give the game away. It all went down hill from there, and basically he has now ruined a good season. We can't really finish higher than 8th, nor will we likely finish lower than 11th. BORING run in, ALL SAMS fault.