Tomkins told to learn from mistake

The 25-year-old found himself at the centre of criticism both on social media and from television pundits after going to ground clutching his face following an altercation with Mirallas during last Saturday's 2-1 Barclays Premier League defeat at Goodison Park.

Tomkins - who earlier this year pleaded guilty to assaulting a police officer and being drunk and disorderly outside an Essex nightclub - hopes to put the episode behind him, admitting "it is not the way to react".

Allardyce believes the centre-half, who was cautioned by referee Mark Clattenburg following the clash, must reflect on his actions to then move forwards.

"It was rather silly what James did, and he understands that. He knows what he did was not right and that type of reaction is not what you want to see from your players," said Allardyce, who is likely to keep faith with Tomkins against Newcastle on Saturday when Winston Reid will be suspended.

"We all make mistakes and those who become better people and players are the ones that don't make those mistakes again and learn from it.

"So it is a big challenge to James now, whether he has learned from it and whether he is maturing as an adult, not to make those mistakes again.

"He has only done it once, but its something he is not proud of and hopefully he has learned from it."

Allardyce, though, sees no need for him to directly remind the player of his responsibilites.

"Do you really need to? He is not a school boy and I am not a school teacher. I am an adult that deals with adults," said the 60-year-old Hammers boss.

"I dealt with him in adult fashion not in a schoolboy fashion which is coming in and telling him to bend over and give him a rap the knuckles."

Allardyce would like to see "a bit more steel and determination" from the Hammers, but perhaps not to the same extent as from his playing days as a no-nonsense defender with the likes of Bolton, Millwall and Preston in the late 1970s and 1980s.

"We didn't have to do any play-acting because it was so God damn evil compared to now. When somebody did go down, you knew somebody had got him proper," he said.

"That side of the game wasn't right, of course.

"It was allowed to go on at that particular time, but in this time people are trying to seek an advantage in the game, whether fairly or unfairly.

"It has always gone on and will continue to go on, but you don't want them to be doing stuff like James did. It is not the right thing to do."