Sam urges resilience from Palace

Sam Allardyce endured an unhappy return to West Ham – and Saturday’s 3-0 defeat means he is still without a win since taking over at Crystal Palace last month.

The Eagles are now only above the relegation zone on goal difference and exSunderland boss Allardyce admits bringing in January reinforcements is proving tricky. “It’s a tough old window this year,” he said.

“Players are going to look at us and say ‘do I want to go to Crystal Place in a relegation battle?’

“And we have to handle the prices which is the biggest difficulty of all, the inflated prices.

“Money can buy better players, but it’s about coaching the ugly side of the game. We all have to be more resilient and shut the opposition out.”

After a tactical re-jig to a back four, West Ham were rewarded when Michail Antonio teed up Sofiane Feghouli for a tap-in

Andy Carroll then conjured up a superb acrobatic effort from Antonio’s cross, and Manuel Lanzini sealed a morale-boosting win for the Hammers..

“It’s tough for us at the minute,” Allardyce added. “I’m still finding out about the players here and they are making statements to me by the fact results are not good enough.

“We don’t have the capability to make sure we don’t lose. That’s the first thing to put right at a struggling club and at the moment we don’t know how to get that result. I didn’t think we would collapse like we did.”