West Ham have made a huge improvement in terms of form and playing style under the regime of Slaven Bilic.

The Croatian may be considered as a legend around these parts, but he did not have any managerial experience in England prior to taking over at West Ham. It was always going to be a massive job to follow in the footsteps of Sam Allardyce. The former Bolton Wanderers manager may have not entertain the fans with flowing football, but he helped the club stay in the division quite comfortably.

Immediately after taking over, Bilic enjoyed a great run by winning matches against Manchester City and Chelsea.

Just before Christmas, though, the form of the team dipped and they found it hard to get results. Now,Bilic has made substantial changes to the tactics to once again make the club unpredictable to the opposition. They have no return back to winning ways and defender James Collins has praised the impact of the manager. West Ham will be able to welcome back Victor Moses in the upcoming games, as the Chelsea winger has just returned from a spell on the sidelines. His return will be a major boost toBilic, as the manager utilised to the player in a counter-attacking style during the first half of the campaign.

“I feel great, during pre-season, turning 32 was playing on mind a little bit. But now, I think I’m fitter now then I’ve ever been. The gaffer has been brilliant with me. If ever I need a day off from training he’s very understanding, so overall, I’m feeling brilliant. Credit to the gaffer, because at the start of the season he was deadly honest with me. It looked like I may have had to leave to find regular football,” said the defender, who recently turned 32.

James Collins signed a 4 year long deal with West Ham United on August of 2012 but the experienced defender wants to have his contract extended for a longer period of time as the player loves playing for his club and wants nothing else than to continue doing what he does now.

The Welsh defender is not the most skillful player on the pitch or agile and energetic one compared to some of his teammates in West Ham United but there is something that has turned James Collins into a fans favorite and this is thanks to his courage and tenacity as Collins is always up to the challenge of performing at his best every single time, in every match.

Even though he might not be the most exciting player to watch, fans of West Ham United have taken a liking to James Collins as he helped the club in avoiding the bottom relegation zone as he gave it everything he had in every instance and actually is a very solid defender who can be relied on.

Collins expressed how happy he is in performing for West Ham United as he talked during a press conference and told the media: “I’ve been here a long time and I love it. The first time around I didn’t want to leave but it was sort of thrust upon me and I left with a heavy heart.To come back was fantastic and now, with the club about to make a massive step forward and to have a chance to be part of that with the club I love would be amazing.Since we came back up to the Premier League, 10th has been the highest we’ve finished. To better that would be great. We want to finish strong because if you do that you more often than not start the next season well.”

Collins wants to see his contract with West Ham United go beyond 2016 which is it’s original expiration date and from the looks of it, the club will be prolonging the contract of James Collins as he has turned out to be a great signing and it’s only a matter of time until he receives a contract extension deal.

West Ham manager Sam Allardyce is facing the prospect of being without a number of important players like James Collins for the match against Manchester United.

The defender is amongst the several first-team players currently on the sidelines for the London outfit, who host United this weekend.

Allardyce has always relished the opportunities to beat United, but his task will be made a little bit difficult this time around since Louis Van Gaal’s team have been on an incredible run of late. They are still no closer towards cementing the top four place, but with just one defeat since December, they will prove hard to beat.

West Ham have already secure some impressive results against the top clubs at Upton Park. They include positive results against the likes of Liverpool and Manchester City, while Allardyce felt that the club should have had at least a point from the match against Arsenal recently. This form against the top teams should give them a lot of hope going into this weekend, but Allardyce has tried to lower their expectations by claiming that his team are likely to be without a number of first-team regulars like Collins, Andy Carroll, and Winston Read.

After a spectacular first half to the season, West Ham has had only one win since Boxing Day. “It’s obviously particularly worrying at the moment. I’ve got that many players injured I brought my list in to read out.Reid, Collins, Demel, Henry, Poyet and Carroll lie in our medical room at the moment so we are not so sure how many of those are going to make Sundays game.Could they all be out? Definitely,” said Allardyce. The only victory for West Ham during this period came in the 3-0 success over league strugglers Hull City in front of their own supporters.

West Ham’s impressive run in the league came to an end after a 2-1 defeat against Everton at Goodison Park.

Defender James Collins was especially aggrieved with the nature of the defeat since it felt that West Ham played much better than to deserve only a defeat. This was the first defeat for the hammers since the 2-1 loss against Manchester United at the end of September. This impressive form has seen them however around the top four even as the season approaches Christmas. The future looked bleak under Sam Allardyce 12 months ago, but there has been a complete transformation from West Ham.

Collins has missed only a couple of matches for the hammers this season. The 31-year-old has been a major influence in the defensive record of team, which still is excellent despite the clear emphasis on attacking football. Despite this defeat, the Welshman says that West Ham will be going into the home match against Newcastle looking for three points once again. Since Newcastle do not have a great record when visiting London, West Ham will be looking to take advantage. Romelu Lukaku opened the scoring against West Ham while summer signing Zarate equalised in the second half. Veteran Leon Osman scored the winning goal in the 73rd minute.

“There’s still bitter disappointment about Everton. We didn’t perform like we can do – there were a lot of injuries which we shouldn’t use as an excuse but we weren’t too happy with the way we performed.We do think we could have got something out of the game though. I had a chance at 2-1 which maybe I should have stuck away but we’re still full of confidence,” said Collins. The Welshman has been a regular especially in the last few months after coming back from the suspension given after the Tottenham match.

Louis Van Gaal might have to do without Jonny Evans in the next match against West Ham United.
The 26-year old defender injured his leg during the league game in Leicester last weekend and left the pitch towards the end of the first half. He was hobbling and looking in pain while making his way to the sidelines.
There have been no reports regarding the nature of his injury so far. The United management is believed to be waiting for the scan reports before making an official statement.
Another United player Tyler Blackett will also not be there in that West Ham fixture having been shown the red card at the King Power Stadium the other day.
Blackett has been a regular for United this season. Van Gaal has banked on him in the absence of guys like Luke Shaw and the new signing Rojo and; his showing has not been bad. So, losing him for a crucial away game is a bit of a blow for United.
The good thing for United, however, is that the Rojo has been given the work permit now and he should be in the starting XI this weekend surely against the Hammers.
As far as Evans’ case is concerned, his injury is concerning not only for Manchester United, but, for his national side Northern Ireland as well.
In about 15 days’ time, Northern Island has to play a Euro Cup qualifying match versus Faroe Islands and they would need Evans’ services there if they have to win.
Evans has never been dropped from Northern Ireland squad since his international debut in 2006. He has made 31 appearances for his country till now scoring a solitary goal. He had scored that goal playing against Poland in March 2009.

West Ham United took the decision to keep faith in Sam Allardyce despite widespread criticism from the fans. West Ham have a tradition of playing beautiful football, but this has totally disappeared under the stewardship of Allardyce. The former Bolton and Blackburn Rovers manager has a reputation for being all about results. He adopts the long ball philosophy in order to get those results. Allardyce has admitted that he tends to focus on situations like set pieces because they can be utilised to beat even the top teams.

Following widespread criticism, Allardyce accepted that he will change his philosophy from the season onwards. The club has obliged to his statement by providing him with enough transfer funds to sign a number of attacking players in the last few weeks. Players like Zarate have come to Upton Park in the last few weeks of the transfer window. Defender James Collins says that the decision by the club to retain Allardyce will be rewarded in the coming years. Collins has been at West Ham for the last few years after being brought in by Allardyce in 2012.

The Welsh international has been a mainstay in West Ham’s defence in these two years and this is unlikely to change going into the new campaign. West Ham have spent in excess of £ 20 million in this transfer window.

“As soon as the news came out over the summer the lads were delighted. He has done well for the last two years, we weren’t too happy last season but we finished 13th in the end. He is so good, he sets out a plan for the whole season and how many points we need to finish as high as we can and improve on last year. We are looking to kick on this year,” said Collins.

West Ham manager Sam Allardyce is coming under increasing pressure due to the style of football being employed at the club. Allardyce is known as a manager who favours route one football. Even though this is not the most pleasing to watch, it has helped him get results whereby he has gone. Allardyce was crucial in getting West Ham back from the championship into the Premier league. However, the fans are not certainly happy with the style of football they are seeing every week. This has further increased pressure on owner David Sullivan, who has given the dreaded vote of confidence to the manager.

Allardyce was in danger of being sacked towards the end of 2013, but an impressive turn of results have put the club closer to the top half of the table. The manager has an incredible track record of getting results at his previous clubs, who have been relegated after his departure.

Allardyce, though, has defended accusations that he does not play a beautiful brand of football. According to him, it is vital that results come first before style. He says that just by taking a couple of points in the next few matches, the club can look forward to next campaign.

He says that without results, performance does not mean anything.

“We’ve had preliminary discussions but all of those have been on hold for the last four games. We were on 37 points and we all said: ‘Just pick up another couple and we can really look to plan for next season.’ At the end of the day, performances mean nothing if you don’t get results. At times we play good football and create chances but when we lose matches on a regular basis it’s not acceptable for anybody, never mind me, the fans, the players,” said Allardyce.

The manager of West Ham United, Sam Allardyce, doesn’t seem to be that much upset with what Jose Mourinho said about his tactics a couple of days ago.

Mourinho was furious after having to share points with West Ham on Wednesday and he didn’t hold back at all while speaking in the post match press conference. The Portuguese said that the Hammers played too defensively.
But, those statements of his haven’t prompted Allardyce to say bad things about him.

In one of the English newspapers, the West Ham boss wrote this about Mourinho, “Jose hasn’t been as intense as he used to be in his first tenure and that’s nice to see.”

Nobody was expecting West Ham to be able to stop Chelsea from securing three points in that game at Stamford Bridge, but, Allardyce’s boys showed what determination and dedication can do. They were up against a comparatively stronger opposition, but, they matched them in terms of skills and ended up grabbing one point which they would be very happy with.

That result didn’t affect Chelsea’s chances of winning the league that much though. They are still very much in contention for the title, but, there is no doubt that losing one point against a team like West Ham and that too at Stamford Bridge would have been hurting them badly.

The Blues are at the third position in the league table at this point of time. They are going to face Manchester City this weekend at the Etihad Stadium and they need to win points in that game, otherwise, they would be in big trouble.

Securing points against City at their home venue hasn’t proved to be that easy for the teams so far in this season. The Sky Blues have performed outstandingly well playing in front of their home crowd and Chelsea would be quite aware of that.

The 30 years old Welshman defender of West Ham United, James Collins blasted Adnan Januzaj for his diving during Manchester United’s match against West Ham.

Adnan Januzaj was showed a yellow card for simulation after he had launched himself to the ground and instead of getting a set-piece, he received a yellow card and James Collins appeared to be rather upset after the match concluded as he spoke to the media.

“It’s cheating basically,” Collins told Sky Sports News.
“I don’t like to see it in the game. He probably thinks I am going to stick my leg out and he’s probably already thinking about going over. Obviously he’s taken a dive. He’s a young lad, a great player, I’m sure he will learn’’.

“David Moyes seems to have this conversation quite a lot at his club with Ashley Young.It happens in football. Januzaj is a great player and played very well at the weekend. He’s learning the game and if he carries on playing the way he is, he is going to be a top-drawer player.”

The match concluded in a 3-1 triumph for the current champions of the Premier League Manchester United as they are slowly finding their way back into the higher spots of the standings of the English league.

James Collins is expected to be out and missed for West Ham United’s match against West Bromwich Albion as he picked up a calf injury during his clubs’ match against Arsenal as they played against the team of Arsene Wenger on Boxing Day and suffered a 3-1 defeat.

This is a tough time for West Ham as they still have Andy Carroll injured and is in desesperate need of someone that can boost their attacking department having only managed to score 14 goals in 18 matches.

West Ham United is not only suffering from goal-scoring problems but also defensive ones as they have received 14 goals in 12 matches and only mustering to score 9 goals.

They have received a further blow in their journey of the Premier League as Winston Reid is set to be unavailable to play for a couple of weeks after undergoing surgery on his ankle.

The club’s head of sports science and sports medicine Andy Rolls said: “Winston had an operation on his ankle injury to stabilize the joint. This procedure went well.

Winston Reid joins the list of injured players alongside Andy Carroll who still has not made a single appearance in this season for West Ham after experiencing a heel problem.

The head coach of West Ham United Sam Allardyce wants to make a move for a number of players during this upcoming transfer window hoping that it can boost their chances of not only getting a solid place in the Premier League but even challenge the top teams of England and some of the players in his wish-list are: Alfred Finnbogason, Mikael Silvestre, Diego Forlan and Clint Dempsey. According to the Arsenal tshirts website, Forlan is the most likely to arrive.

Having been relegated in the 2010-11 season they will be making an active move in the transfer market that can evade the relegation from happening in this season.
The defender James Collins recently spoke about West Ham’s current situation and told the club’s official website:

“It has been happening a bit too often, individual mistakes, myself included, as well as everyone, It’s something we’ve got to look at, we’ve got to stop the rot somewhere and it doesn’t come any bigger than next Saturday against Fulham.”

Fulham have to travel to Upton Park and battle it out against West Ham on November 30 in a match between 2 of the clubs in the bottom of the standings.