Sam Allardyce believes West Ham must show their squad can cope with the intensity of the next two months before they can even start thinking about qualifying for Europe.
The question has been asked about what West Ham can achieve if they maintain the form that has seen them rise to fourth place after nine Premier League matches. However Allardyce, who still hopes Diafra Sakho will be available for Saturday’s trip to Stoke City after the striker injured a shoulder in the win over Manchester City, struck a cautious note by pointing out West Ham have traditionally struggled in November and December during his reign.
“Most of it has come down to injuries,” the manager said. “What happens is if you start the season with injuries you have three international breaks to get your injuries fit so you have so few games in that three-month period because of the two-weeks break.
“You come to November and December and get your injuries and they miss more games because games come so thick and fast during that period. If players are out, particularly around Christmas time, they can miss six or seven games.
“They can be injured for three months during this period and only miss two games and that is why I am talking about November and December being difficult because if you get injuries you are desperate to get the player back. You are pushing to get them back when they are not really ready, but you have to.”
Allardyce would not hesitate resting a player such as Enner Valencia if he spots signs of fatigue. “I have got a much better squad and there is more strength in depth. That squad still has to be fitter now it is going into that period. New players – particularly Enner Valencia, Sakho, [Cheikhou] Kouyaté, [Mauro] Zárate – normally have a break. If they fatigue and they need a rest, the rest of the squad has to be fit to give them that rest. I remember speaking to Alex Ferguson many years ago about the fact he used to send players like [Cristiano] Ronaldo and Nani away at Christmas.”
Allardyce will make a late assessment over the fitness of Sakho, who has scored seven goals since his £3.5m arrival from Metz in the summer. “He is touch and go – we will wait till tomorrow to see what he is like and make a decision from there,” Allardyce said. “He is still in a bit of pain so while there is no dislocation or fracture, it is about the arm movement. It is whether he will be sufficiently recovered to take the risk.
“There are no injections in this scenario – it is all about whether the movement and the pain is bearable for him. It depends on his pain threshold. He could start but at the moment I would say it is about 50-50 but there are still more than 48 hours to go. There is a lot of recovery time between now and three o’clock on Saturday so we will wait and see. We might even wait till Saturday morning.”
