£5m West Ham 'bargain' destroyed Steven Gerrard - Allardyce explains how

Last week, Nuno Espirito Santo became the first West Ham United head coach to claim a Manager of the Month award since Sam Allardyce secured the Premier League gong in 2014.

Nuno enjoyed four successive Championship victories over Wolves, Derby County, Bolton Wanderers and Wrexham as the Londoners climbed from 19th at the start of September to second at the end of it.

Back in October 2014, though, West Ham United were flying high in a Champions League position after Sam Allardyce masterminded top-flight triumphs over Queens Park Rangers, Burnley, and latterly Manchester City. But it was a victory a few weeks before that which had Allardyce reminiscing fondly opposite Stewart Downing on the No Tippy Tappy Football podcast.

A revitalised Downing returned to the England squad during what was arguably his finest campaign in the Premier League. One of his eight assists that season came in a 3-1 triumph over his old employers; Downing moving to Upton Park in a £5 million deal having struggled to find his feet in the iconic red shirt of Liverpool.

“You sort of pulled me saying, ‘I’m going to play you left of the [midfield] three, but more with a bit of freedom’,” Downing says, remembering how he made the effortless transition from an out-and-out winger to more of a playmaker under Allardyce.

“With the players behind me, I knew I had that solidity and the lads would give me the ball and feed me, the [Mark] Nobles, the [Alex] Songs. So, it just worked ever so well. After that, we beat Liverpool 3-1 at home.”

Downing recalls fondly his time working with Steven Gerrard, both at Liverpool and with the English national team. The former would get the better of the latter on that 2014 afternoon, however; Downing capping a superb performance with an assist for Morgan Amalfitano’s clincher in the second-half.

“I remember you said to me, ‘mark Steven Gerrard, even if he goes to the toilet!’,” Downing recalls. “I always remember because the lads were on me before the game, ‘you have to stop him playing’.

“I think he was the only player [Allardyce] probably man-marked, if I’m right. You literally said to me, ‘even if he walks off the pitch, follow him’. I felt a bit bad! Everywhere he was going, he must have just seen me in his eyeline! But I loved it.”

While providing an assist for West Ham’s third goal, and having played a major part in Winston Reid’s opener with a trademark set-piece, Downing also turned Gerrard inside out; particularly when he breezed past the Liverpool skipper on the right-hand side in the first-half.

A victory masterminded by Allardyce, but dictated by a £5 million signing the former Hammers boss understandably calls one of his best Upton Park ‘bargains’.

“We were the only team that played two up top,” Allardyce said, Enner Valencia and Diafra Sakho partnering each other in that victory over Liverpool at a time when Andy Carroll and Carlton Cole were also in the building.

“Stewart just dropped in the hole [as a number ten]. We were very clever with it, we were very good. I think it surprised a lot of teams and they didn’t cope very well, and I think it suited the players individually and as a team. I think that the results proved that.

“That particular run from the start of the season to Christmas, [we played] absolutely outstanding football we played. We were flying, we were creating, and the attacking nature of our team was just brilliant at that particular time.”