The difference between Sam Allardyce and Roberto Martinez

Over the last week there has been a lot of media coverage on the lack of perceived first team players available to West Ham manager Sam Allardyce.  West Ham have 6 first team squad players injured at the moment including their first choice defensive partnership with Mark Noble, James Tomkins, James Collins, Winston Reid, Ricardo Vaz Te and Andy Carroll all injured at the moment and skipper Kevin Nolan missing via suspension.  They went out of the FA Cup to Nottingham Forest and are near the bottom of the table.

Something you may not know, unless you are an Everton fan, is that Everton also have/had 7 first team squad players also missing over this period, oh it also includes their first choice defensive partnership with Leighton Baines, Sylvain Distin, Phil Jagielka, Darron Gibson, Arouna Kone, Gerard Deulofeu and Tony Hibbert all missing over the same period and had suspensions to Tim Howard, Gareth Barry and James McCarthy at the same time.  The media don’t seem to have latched on to this one.

There is a reason for this – The approach of the managers.

Sam Allardyce has his approach wrong

Arouna Kone V Andy Carroll

You may have heard that West Ham purchased mystery man Andy Carroll in the last transfer window spending £15m on the lanky striker.  He has subsequently been injured for the entire period.  Obviously a huge loss to the club……. And Big Sam certainly lets you know it, he constantly refers back to it after every loss, how big a loss it is and how they are struggling to cope without him.  It certainly puts very little faith in the first team players that are coming in and with the ridiculous decision to not sign up Carlton Cole despite lacking, it further emphasises how badly Sam has dealt with the situation.

Compare that to Everton losing Arouna Kone for the season.  Martinez said the loss was a big one for the club, but then chose to focus on the other strikers.  Praising the professionalism of Nikica Jelavic and then bringing in Romelu Lukaku.  All the emphasis has been not on the loss, but what the replacements can do.

Keeps reminding us Carroll is missing

Losing your best player

I refer back to it again, but Sam Allardyce keeps bleating on about Andy Carroll and what the team miss, rather than focussing on the strengths of the players brought in. No wonder they can’t score.

In contrast, when Evertons best player, Leighton Baines got injured – straight away Roberto Martinez focussed on the strength of his replacement – Bryan Oviedo.  Oviedo went on to put in a string of man of the match performances from left back, including 2 goals and a number of assists.  The manager has constantly praised the Costa Rican and said how well he has performed and even before he made the squad the manager said how well equipped he was to come straight into the role.

Transfer Window

Big Sam threw his entire transfer budget into a couple of players in Andy Carroll and Stuart Downing.  2 talented player who had been a failure in a failing Liverpool side.  West Ham didn’t have a good squad, yet the manager risked it all on 2 players, plus minimal signings like Roland Rat!

Roberto Martinez took a different approach, he knew Everton don’t have a massive transfer budget and worked on making the best of the loan market to get in players that could expand the small first team squad, buying players that he knew could do a job and settle straight in, offloading players that wouldn’t suit his style and filling a number of key positions.  He brought in Gerard Deulofeu, Antolin Alcaraz, Gareth Barry, Arouna Kone, James McCarthy and Romelu Lukaku.  All of these players apart from Arouna Kone (due to injury) are having a big impact on our season.

Downing – All Eggs in one basket

Losing your defense

When Big Sam lost his defence, the media certainly knew about it.  A song and dance was made about it in the press and all and sundry was told that he would be throwing in some untried youngsters that were in the first team squad.  West Ham lost James Collins, James Tomkins and Winston Reid and boy were you reminded.  I couldn’t even tell you the lads that filled in for him as I doubt Sam has mentioned these to the press.

Compare that with Everton, who lost Leighton Baines and defensive stalwarts Phil Jagielka and Sylvain Distin (Who at the time, boasted the best defence in the league).  Martinez said what a big loss this was, but then focussed the accolades onto the “special” players that he had coming into the side.  19 year old John Stones, a player making his Everton Premier League full debut and Antolin Alcaraz, a player who had been injured all season and was making his Everton debut.  Alongside Bryan Oviedo, the paid have been outstanding and the press (and certainly the players) were made to know.  There has hardly been a mention of the missing two (except to say how they may struggle to get back in the side) – The focus has been put on how good the player coming in are.

Martinez talks about the positives with the 19 year old

Maybe if Allardyce would have gone along this route, his side wouldn’t be near the bottom and they would still be in the FA Cup.

99% of stuff that comes out of Roberto Martinez mouth is positive and he always acts with class, dignity and intelligence.  The way he has coped with a number of key injuries is as impressive as the Everton start to the campaign.  Long gone are the days where we were mentioned as “Plucky old Everton” – Roberto is starting to put us back on the map as one of the big boys.  The 4^th most successful club in England.  Where we should be, Near the top!

In Martinez We Trust IMWT.

What do you make of this?  Are you a West Ham fan?  Do you agree or disagree?  Have your say at www.theevertonforum.com