• Mishits

Allardyce: Tippy-tappy football can be a 'load of b******s'

Sam Allardyce says he understood the fans' frustrations after a disappointing first half against Hull © PA Photos

Enlarge

Pep Guardiola was celebrated for bringing "tiki-taka" to Barcelona - but West Ham boss Sam Allardyce has dismissed tippy-tappy football as a "load of b******s."

Those were his words after West Ham's 3-0 victory against Hull on Sunday. His team were booed off at half-time by the Upton Park faithful after they failed to break down Steve Bruce's men with a more "continental" approach.

Allardyce, though, told his players to be more direct in the second-half and was immediately rewarded as goals from Andy Carroll, Morgan Amalfitano and Stewart Downing condemned Hull to even more misery.

It also sent West Ham seventh in the Premier League - a far cry from last March, when Allardyce cupped his ears to fans booing at the end of the club's 2-1 victory against the Tigers.

"All this tippy-tappy stuff - everybody keeps on going about the right way to play football - is all a load of b******s sometimes," Allardyce said after their victory.

"Getting the ball into the opposition box as quickly as you can with quality is definitely sometimes the best way forward and that's what we did in the second half and that's why we won the game."

"That's what we did in the second half and why we won the game."

However, Allardyce could see why the fans were frustrated this time around - particularly after their thrilling, last-gasp penalty victory against Everton in their FA Cup third round replay last week.

He added: "When you've had an expectation of what an exciting game it was on Tuesday night then look at how poorly we played in the first half, it caught them cold.

"I haven't seen us play as poorly as we played in the first half all season. That can only be a legacy of the efforts they put in [against Everton] on Tuesday night."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd