Football
9y

West Ham's Sam Allardyce: A 'fact' Man United played 'long-ball' football

Sam Allardyce has stood by his comments that Manchester United played "long-ball" football against his West Ham side in Sunday's 1-1 draw, insisting it is a "fact" that they did.

Louis van Gaal produced a four-page dossier this week to argue that his side were not so direct in their style, but Allardyce, who places great faith in statistics, said the numbers show United are more of a long-ball team than ever before.

And the West Ham boss, who says his initial comments were light-hearted, is adamant that his analysis of United was correct, although he concedes he has no problem with their aerial approach.

He wrote in his Evening Standard column: "Speaking from experience of years of criticism that teams managed by me always play the long-ball game, I felt it was right after the match against Manchester United to make the comments I did.

"It was, to a certain extent, tongue in cheek but I believe I was making a factual point. The fact was I saw United play, for a time against us last weekend, in a way I had never seen them before."

Allardyce responded to Van Gaal's criticism by adding: "What I didn't say afterwards was that we played fewer long balls than them -- my comment was that United played long-ball football more than I had ever witnessed from them in the past. As it happens, the statistics seem to bear that out over the season.

"Had I not mentioned the facts after the match, would anyone else have pointed it out? Dare I make those comments because it is Manchester United? Yes, I dare, because it's a fact.

"Louis' response obviously created a bit of a furore and he obviously felt he had to protect himself by responding to my comments. It was clear he didn't want to be saddled with the same sort of tag that has been my lot over the years."

Allardyce did defend Van Gaal, however, by saying that his tactics ultimately worked, with United scoring a last-minute equaliser.

He added: "The perception we have to play a certain type of football is nonsense. It's akin to football snobbery. Louis might have felt I was criticising him but the opposite was true. In fact I was praising the way he changed his team to escape from the predicament they were in against us."

^ Back to Top ^