Tottenham needed time to gel - Sam Allardyce

West Ham manager Sam Allardyce claims it would have taken a "miracle worker" to have got the best out of Tottenham this season.

Spurs sacked coach Andre Villas-Boas on Monday following indifferent form after signing seven players in the summer.

"You would have to be a miracle worker to get everybody functioning to the best of their ability," said Allardyce.

"They've arrived from foreign countries in a different culture and an arena that they've never played in before."

Tottenham were seventh in the Premier League when they decided to dismiss Villas-Boas and Allardyce believes there is a "lack of patience in the game today", which he blames on the financial rewards on offer.

Allardyce will take his Hammers side to play Spurs in the quarter-final of the Capital One Cup on Wednesday.

"To get the [Spurs] team playing together and understanding each other in such a short period of time is nearly impossible," said Allardyce.

"I think the fruition of the change around at Tottenham starts more next season, not this season."

Allardyce's own position has been questioned with his side just a point and a place above the Premier League relegation zone.

He has not been helped by injuries to striker Andy Carroll, who has not played a game this season, centre-back Winston Reid and winger Stewart Downing.

Midfielder Kevin Nolan is also serving a three-game suspension.

"I don't fear for my job," said Allardyce, who says he plans to bolster his squad in the January transfer window.

"There's always going to be a time when there's a difficult period and my responsibility is to manage the players through that.

"My particular situation will ease and will get better as long as we get our injured players fit."

He added: "We have the same amount of clean sheets that Everton have had so it doesn't take a genius to know what our problem is.

"We've been a few goals short of what would have been a very good position in the league."