In praise of the Ginger Pele

Thought James Collins was the man of the match on Saturday. The West Ham website has some good stats, revealing that Ginge made 18 clearances, 12 with his head, won four aerial duels and made one successful tackle. It was a poor game, but what West Ham needed was character to get a result, and Collins has that in abundance. He never seems to complain when left out of the team for Reid and Tomkins, but always comes in and does a great job. He had another great game in West Ham's win over Manchester City earlier this season. The whole side showed character to battle their way to a result against Sunderland and what is often overlooked by his detractors is that under Allardyce the team spirit is the best it's been since the days of Alan Pardew. The side look like they want to play for each other and the manager. Hopefully now we have the confidence of a win the style will return too.