Allardyce issues a warning to Cardiff, Newcastle and Stoke

West Ham boss has warning for Cardiff, Newcastle and Stoke

West Ham manager Sam Allardyce.
Friday, August 9, 2013


Sam Allardyce has warned West Ham’s early season opponents that his side will be determined to start the new campaign with the same gusto that saw them settle back into top flight football so easily 12 months ago.

The Hammers lost just one of their opening six Premier League games last season after Allardyce had guided them to promotion through the play-offs the year before.
A home game against newly-promoted Cardiff will usher in the new campaign for West Ham, with Stoke and Everton also visiting Upton Park in-between trips to Newcastle and Southampton.
Allardyce is keen to chalk up as many points as possible in the early weeks of the season and knows that replicating last season’s home form, which saw the Hammers amass 34 of their 46 points at Upton Park, is key if his side are to improve on last year’s 10th-place finish.
“The fixtures have been reasonably kind but there are no easy games in the Premier League as everybody knows,” said Allardyce.
“A good start for us like last season, we got 14 points out of the first eight games, is something that we need to target yet again if we want to be as good as were last year.
“With that group of fixtures, not that I’m saying that they’re easy, but if you started off with Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool or Manchester City in the first eight, that would be difficult. But we haven’t got that to begin with and we need that strong start yet again.
“Our home form was the key to our success and our away form, in the end, wasn’t very good, considering that when we got promoted the year before our away form was better than our home form. So it was quite strange from that point of view.”
Four players have been signed so far, with the club shelling out a record fee to make Andy Carroll’s move from Liverpool a permanent one. Romania captain Razvan Rat joined on a free transfer whilst goalkeeper Adrian moved from Real Betis and young midfielder Danny Whitehead was signed from Stockport.
Allardyce will be hoping his new charges can help secure a second successive top-half finish but admits that is also dependent on what business the clubs in and around West Ham do before the window shuts at the end of the month.
“I think the fans will all be itching to get the season started again,” he said.
“When they see everybody coming back for pre-season, everyone starts looking forward to the start of the season. With great expectation, every club will be expected do better than they did last season.
“From our point of view, we have to look at everybody else’s spending throughout the summer up until the deadline. Then we’ll have a better idea of if the Premier League is going to be any stronger from last season - and that’s the challenge you have to face up to.”
Former Bolton, Newcastle and Blackburn boss Allardyce has been known for his use of innovative technologies and player performance monitoring in recent years and the 58-year-old believes it is a sign of the times that players need to be at the peak of their fitness to enable their club to succeed.
“The change in fitness over the last five years has been one of the biggest improvements of football in the Barclays Premier League,” he said.
“You can see the increase in the physical activity that a player has to reach in a game of football from the stats that are gathered.
“That fitness is the first part of our training in pre-season, to get that level as best we possibly can.
“Those who are better prepared mentally and physically get the early results that you need and when you get the early results you can see what benefit you get.”
Allardyce will be a hoping a pre-season which has seen his squad travel to Germany and Portugal will have built up their fitness and make the manager’s wish for a dream start to the new league season a reality.

We sucker punched em at the start of a season before and we can do it again with or without Miller!

Yeah, Sam - remember when we beat you at the start of the season a couple of years ago? We're better now, mind...

Big Sam--Big Wanker.

Never liked him.

Always liked Big Sam think he's a good manager.

Toad

ive got a warning for sam dont under estimate us i think if west ham dont get those early points they are looking for they could be struggling again we caught them cold on the first day to seasons ago when mm had to put a team together in weeks this time we are a diiffrent outfit and well more organised right through the club and dont forget we will have three thousand city fans there this time to drive them on city to win two nil

Toad

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Couldn't get hold of a decent toad but a frogs close enough!

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Yeah, Sam - remember when we beat you at the start of the season a couple of years ago? We're better now, mind...

As are West Ham.

Football Manager says he wants to wn his games shocker

Talk about stating the obvious, what he wants is not necessarily what he will get

Yeah, Sam - remember when we beat you at the start of the season a couple of years ago? We're better now, mind...

Given Carroll is out then perhaps we should put a big physical side out and take them on at their own game.

Not impressed with the rest of their signings.

Be happy with a point there though.

I'm sure malky and our players will want to get off to a good start too.