West Ham boss optimistic ahead of Norwich City clash

Tuesday, September 11, 2012
8:12 AM

Sam Allardyce has praised his squad’s versatility after their encouraging start to the season.

Their 3-0 defeat of Fulham last weekend was their second win out of three this season, and they go to Norwich City on Saturday full of confidence.

“The best way for a team to play is to have variation and we have shown that since the beginning of the season,” Allardyce told West Ham’s official website.

“We go short, we go long, we go forward, we go back, we go diagonal and we go in behind.

“It makes us very hard to play against and luckily we have the players like Ricardo Vaz Te and Mark Noble who can adapt.

On his side’s victory over Fulham, Allardyce said: “It was good to see the quality of our finishing being so good.

“Before we scored our second we had two or three really good chances that all tested the keeper.

He added: “I really like the variation of the squad.

“We have a lot of talent - young, old, homegrown and foreign - and it all adds to the mix to form a very strong squad, which you need in this league.”