We only play short balls?

One thing West Ham didn't do against Hull was play long ball. If anything the problem was too many short balls going nowhere. It seems like this was a deliberate tactic reading Sam Allardyce's Evening Standard column, where he says the plan was "to spend more time on the ball, to wear down 10-man Hull - it wasn't so much about getting forward quickly — and that seemed to frustrate the fans." It worked in terms of the result, though to me it seems a case of worrying too much about the opposition rather than playing our natural game and tiring them out through getting a second. Hull keeper McGregor's sending off has now been rescinded so let's hope he recovers from a nasty kidney injury. Meanwhile we're going to the Lucky Pub tonight for the Sunderland match - and anyone caught booing their own side will be forced to buy the next round.