Rollicking on Thursday

Sam Allardyce stunned West Ham’s players by ordering them to attend a 7am team meeting, hours after their 5-1 defeat at Arsenal.

The Hammers chief was so furious with their performance at the Emirates that he told them to report to the training ground before dawn on Thursday.

Some players had not arrived home until 1am but Allardyce was so angry with their lack of tactical discipline that he gave them a two-hour dressing down.
Angered: West Ham manager Sam Allardyce (right) called his players into an early-morning team meeting after their 5-1 loss to Arsenal

Angered: West Ham manager Sam Allardyce (right) called his players into an early-morning team meeting after their 5-1 loss to Arsenal

The Hammers conceded four goals in 10 minutes and Allardyce was livid with their defending against Arsene Wenger’s rampant side.

He made the players sit through video and performance analysis before they went out for a scheduled training session at 10.30am.

The shocked players, who had taken the lead at the Emirates, were given a severe reminder of their responsibilities.

Although the squad were irritated by Allardyce’s decision to make them report for training before daybreak, most arrived on time.

The exception was Mo Diame, who turned up one hour late at the Chadwell Heath training ground.
Frustration: Allardyce directs his fury at the players



Diame has a £3.5million release clause in his contract. Allardyce is understood to be angry at his failure to report on time, and the club insisted last night that it would fall under the appropriate disciplinary measures.

West Ham are treating the Diame case sensitively because Arsenal are about to activate the release clause inserted into his contract when he signed from Wigan last summer.

The Hammers were already 5-1 down when Diame, who wants to join Arsenal, came on as a 70th-minute substitute.
Early lead: Jack Collison (second from right) had given West Ham an early lead before four goals in 10 minutes gave Arsenal the three points



Diame later took part in a full training session but West Ham are struggling to hold on to one of their best players.

Last night the club insisted that Allardyce had strong words with the entire squad and that Diame had not been singled out for criticism in front of his team-mates.

West Ham have slipped to 12th in the Premier League and have won only two of their last 14 matches.

They have been knocked out of the FA Cup and do not play this weekend. Their next game is in the league at Fulham on Wednesday.

Good. Lets see what kind of a reaction we'll get now against foolham

Makes a change previously they would have got a week in Vegas to de-stress