West Ham United boss Sam Allardyce says a dip in form from their summer recruits was expected.
Allardyce wrote in the London Evening Standard: "As I've said before, it's the best recruiting year I've ever experienced as a manager. The Premier League was new to players such as Diafra Sakho, Enner Valencia and Cheikhou Kouyate and there was bound to be a time when they would begin to find it tough.
"Even a player such as Carl Jenkinson, who knows and is used to the Premier League, has never before played week in and week out. We now have to try to re-invigorate ourselves, recharge ourselves, for the remaining games. To help with that, I'm hoping to fit in few days of warm-weather training in the next few weeks.
"As a manager, I have to manage the expectation. If you start poorly, the criticism will come. If you start well and then dip, the criticism will still also come because people expect you to just carry on."
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