Big Sam's Bubble Bursting

West Ham United are unbeaten in ten league games, stretching right back to January. Awesome, right?! Well, no, not so much.

In that period the Hammers have won just three times, and are currently on a run of 5 successive draws. In the same period that they have accumulated 16 points, Southampton and Reading have amassed 26 and 25 respectively. This means that, despite going through February and most of March without a loss, West Ham find themselves down in third, with a 9 point gap between them and the summit.

Sam Allardyce's men began this campaign as favourites for promotion, along with expensively assembled Leicester City. Leicester have never really made a serious assault on the title, but still have an outside shot at the play offs. West Ham on the other hand, have spent the vast majority of the season sniffing around or occupying the automatic promotion spaces. Quite right too - their squad is packed full of big names with Premier League experience, who ought to be more than capable of dominating this division.

I think West Ham belong in the Premier League, which I guess is mainly due to the time at which I started properly watching football; the Hammers were a regular fixture in the Premier League throughout the nineties and produced some of England's best young players. Further to this, they have a classic old stadium which they regularly fill to a respectable level - it rankles with me to see some of the half empty, half arsed stadiums on Match of the Day when there are a few clubs in the lower leagues that can boast 30'000 attendances in the Championship or League One.

So, a good set-up, a decent squad, a manager with a history of getting teams to the Premier League and keeping them there - where has it all gone wrong for the bubble blowers? Frodo's finest ought to be pointing the finger at their boss in my opinion.

The problem with Sam Allardyce (well, one of them) is his approach to playing football. A direct, physical, rigid style will tend to be overlooked and tolerated by fans if the team is getting results and the end justifies the means. When the results start slipping however, it is much easier for fans to grow frustrated than it would be if the standard of football was more aesthetically pleasing. Take Brendan Rodgers at Swansea for example, he is having an outstanding first season in the big league with the first Welsh representatives, and doing so with a pretty brand of flowing, passing football. Next season when the Swans struggle a bit more as most expect will happen, provided they stick to their guns, I'd expect fans to be a lot more patient. The punters at the Liberty Stadium know that they are going to get a decent style of football from their team, and that engenders a lot more tolerance and patience. Those at the Boleyn Ground, and St James, Ewood, and the Reebok before, have all reached a point where they have thought: why am I paying to watch this shit?

I may be biased, being far more Yossi Benayoun than Grant Holt in the physique department, but my opinion about what type of football is easier on the eye has clearly been shared by many of Allardyce's detractors over the years. The extra factor this season is that, with the calibre of players at this disposal, and the standard of the opposition, West Ham should not have to resort to such ugly direct lump ball. They went into this league with justifiable expectations of coming out on top. They have the players who can provide creativity if given that brief - the audacious purchase of Ravel Morrison in January was a gamble on someone who can provide that bit of magic. Week after week, Morrison sits on the bench watching it get hoofed up to Carlton Cole or John Carew.

Allardyce can come across as somewhat abrasive and arrogant at times, but as stated before, there was a time when his approach to football and his attitude would be tolerated, embraced even, when things were going well. At present, the tide of opinion is starting to turn against him at West Ham and it is clear that improvements are needed, and quickly. The Hammers face a trip to Peterborough midweek, no easy task given the Posh recently stopped Reading's exceptional unbeaten run. After that is a huge clash at home to the team above them, Reading.

Win that one, leapfrog the Royals into second, and the fans will surely support their team through the final push for promotion. Struggle, serve up a poor performance of long balls and no creativity, lose...and it could be curtains for Big Sam. There will still be the second chance of the play-off's, but for a team to go in having missed out on promotion, it is often hard to raise the momentum to get over the line. West Ham may face some serious issues if they miss out on promotion, but with an upturn in form they can still do it.

Whether they can regain their winning habit and finish up back in the promised land remains to be seen. If they do, I think there will still be a question for the owners to consider, of whether the fans will be happy with more of the same? Even if he gets them up, it may be time for Allardyce to embrace the beautiful game.