West Ham win at Cardiff offers respite but Sam Allardyce still in a fight After Fulham the language used in support of Allardyce within the club shifted to backing him "for now" and "at the moment" rather than unreservedly, although there is no question yesterday's victory will have strengthened his position. Gold and Sullivan will hope that yesterday was not an isolated good day but a sign that their determination not to panic will pay off in the end. West Ham do not want to react too fast and remove an experienced and capable manager such as Allardyce, but they have considered other options as any club in their position would. But each one is regarded as a gamble, and an expensive one at that. Malky Mackay? The Scot spent a lot of money at Cardiff City who are in danger of going straight back down. Sean Dyche? Unproven in the top flight. Slaven Bilic? Last time West Ham spoke to him he demanded a £40 million transfer budget and huge salary. The list goes on. Instead West Ham want to try and play their way out of trouble, while addressing the undoubted imbalances that exist in their squad in this January window. It is no coincidence that they are in danger given the problems that exist at the sharp end of the pitch: West Ham do not possess any strikers who are reliable and the loss of Andy Carroll for so long has hit hard. Injuries to defenders, Winston Reid in particular, have proved impossible to cope with. One of the discussions in the West Ham boardroom has been whether even a new manager would struggle with the current squad. The argument against that is that Allardyce's recruitment last summer does not entirely stand up to scrutiny: he allocated the budget on signing up Andy Carroll for £15 million and spending the final £6 million he had available on a winger, Stewart Downing, rather than a striker. Another nagging doubt at West Ham is the memory of how the club put too much faith in their last manager, Avram Grant, as he faced a relegation fight. And there is also the problem that, unlike at other clubs, there is no clear internal candidate either to take over should Allardyce be sacked. It is often stated that West Ham cannot afford to be in the Championship when, as expected, they take up occupancy of the Olympic Stadium in time for the 2016-17 season. That means if the worst came to the worst and they did go down now they would have two seasons to get promoted. Would the West Ham's owners even consider that relegation would allow the club to re-group, clear out and go again with a new young coach? That, and many other questions, remain to be answered.