West Ham United have undergone a significant stylistic shift since last season. Whereas 2013-14 was about long balls and crosses, this season West Ham have retained the ball for longer periods in midfield and placated supporters who had complained about Sam Allardyce’s rudimentary tactics.

Their approach for the 3-1 victory over Swansea was a hybrid of the two strategies. The general structure was in keeping with this season, yet the presence of Andy Carroll and Kevin Nolan, the partnership who have combined frequently for Newcastle and West Ham, meant there was an element of a back to basics too. Both were starting only their fourth Premier League game of the season.

Allardyce continued with his diamond formation, an interesting shape to use in the circumstances. Despite West Ham’s change of style they are still dependent on crossing from wide and the diamond is generally considered a narrow system which floods the centre.

Nevertheless West Ham get around this problem intelligently by pushing the full-backs forward: Carl Jenkinson’s delivery has improved immeasurably and he assisted Carroll’s equaliser with an impressive deep cross. On the opposite flank Aaron Cresswell scampered forward repeatedly to cross from advanced positions. He also attempted to reach dangerous passes.

The best example of the latter contribution came midway through the first half when Cresswell darted forward to reach a low, flat Stewart Downing ball played from a central position.

Downing’s role epitomises this team. In a crossing side playing surprisingly narrow Downing is a natural winger deployed in the No10 role. He often drifts laterally into pockets of space before firing intelligent balls into the box and the change in position has prompted his best form for years.

The undoubted star, though, was Carroll. He unquestionably alters West Ham’s approach and makes the side more direct but that was a logical approach against a team like Swansea, who are excellent technically but lack aerial power – only Spurs have won fewer aerial challenges this season.

Allardyce happily admits he’s a reactive manager and effectively criticised coaches like Arsène Wenger and Brendan Rodgers earlier in the campaign for playing the same way every game. “Coaches like me weigh up the opposition, and ask the team to adjust,” he said. “Their [Wenger and Rodgers’] philosophy is different to ours. Ours is more about who are we playing against.” Versus Swansea an aerial bombardment made sense irrespective of West Ham’s progressive tendencies in recent weeks.

Carroll’s performance could not have been any more stereotypical, or any more effective, and his aerial power featured in all three goals.

First, there was a trademark header from a Jenkinson right-wing cross, another towering header from a left-wing Downing corner for the second, then his flick-on from Adrián’s long goal-kick teed up the substitute Diafra Sakho for West Ham’s third, the archetypal route-one goal. Tellingly Adrián was the West Ham player who located Carroll most frequently – 11 times – while Carroll won 13 of his 17 aerial battles overall.

We should not ignore the fact West Ham, now in third place, have become more possession-based with both average possession and their pass completion rate up 3%.

However, this has added another dimension to their approach rather than changing their style completely and given Allardyce more tactical possibilities.

West Ham’s victory over Swansea was comparable to Stoke’s 3-2 win against Arsenal the previous day. The home side have become more technical but against teams who play passing football it was logical to play direct and deliver a stream of crosses.

Arsenal could not cope with Peter Crouch and Swansea could not deal with Carroll. This was the weekend of the old-fashioned big man upfront.