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Cape Town - Sam Allardyce is not getting carried away with West Ham's
early-season form and insists they will reassess their pre-season
targets in January.
The Hammers have made a blistering start to the campaign and currently sit on 26 points in third place having won eight of their 15 games, including two massive scalps in the form of Liverpool and champions Manchester City.
The influence of new-signings Diafra Sakho, Alex Song and Cheikhou Kouyate as well as the return of Andy Carroll have been instrumental to the club's impressive run and Allardyce has now been praised for steadying the ship at Upton Park when it looked like he could be sacked earlier this year.
According to Football411, however, the former Bolton boss has urged all involved with the club to remain grounded heading into the frantic festive period and says targets will be assessed at the end of January.
"If we're still here towards the end of January then we'll reassess our aims," he is quoted as saying by The Irish Independent.
"By that point we'll have played 20 games, we'll have played everybody once so we should have a good indicator of where we are. So we'll see what everybody has got in their locker, everybody would've seen what we have in ours so it'll be a question of whether we can carry it on.
"We might have a little worrying spell during the Africa Cup of Nations in January, that's why I'm not prepared to do any more predictions until they come back.
"We don't want to get carried away. We just want to keep on playing the football we're playing at the moment. Everyone is enjoying themselves, there's a good buzz around the training ground which is always a good sign.
"I think competition for places keeps everyone hungry, there's quite a few disappointed players because they haven't played as much as they wanted and that is very healthy from my point of view. It keeps them on their toes and gets the best performances out of them."
The Hammers have made a blistering start to the campaign and currently sit on 26 points in third place having won eight of their 15 games, including two massive scalps in the form of Liverpool and champions Manchester City.
The influence of new-signings Diafra Sakho, Alex Song and Cheikhou Kouyate as well as the return of Andy Carroll have been instrumental to the club's impressive run and Allardyce has now been praised for steadying the ship at Upton Park when it looked like he could be sacked earlier this year.
According to Football411, however, the former Bolton boss has urged all involved with the club to remain grounded heading into the frantic festive period and says targets will be assessed at the end of January.
"If we're still here towards the end of January then we'll reassess our aims," he is quoted as saying by The Irish Independent.
"By that point we'll have played 20 games, we'll have played everybody once so we should have a good indicator of where we are. So we'll see what everybody has got in their locker, everybody would've seen what we have in ours so it'll be a question of whether we can carry it on.
"We might have a little worrying spell during the Africa Cup of Nations in January, that's why I'm not prepared to do any more predictions until they come back.
"We don't want to get carried away. We just want to keep on playing the football we're playing at the moment. Everyone is enjoying themselves, there's a good buzz around the training ground which is always a good sign.
"I think competition for places keeps everyone hungry, there's quite a few disappointed players because they haven't played as much as they wanted and that is very healthy from my point of view. It keeps them on their toes and gets the best performances out of them."
