It’s not often that you see a fan base collectively call for one player to be hooked in the way that the West Ham fans wanted Andy Carroll to be taken off yesterday, and it’s even rarer that the manager adheres to their calls. However, that’s what happened last night when West Ham hosted Brighton as Carroll put in a stinker.
We've had lots of the ball, but it's goalless at the break. #WHUBHA #COYI pic.twitter.com/XQjDglszXB
— West Ham United (@WestHam) January 2, 2019
To be fair to Andy Carroll, the Englishman is looked at as a one-dimensional striker who has nothing in his locker other than the ability to play as an old-fashioned target-man. He’s expected to hold the ball up and look dangerous in the air, so when he has a tough time doing that he’s really not much use to the Hammers, and last night was one of those days for the 29-year-old.
Fortunately for Carroll, the man who replaced him at half-time against Brighton was Lucas Perez, who did an impressive job of being even worse than the man he replaced. Manuel Pellegrini has a selection headache on his hands, and it’s for all of the wrong reasons as his strikers seem desperate to keep the ball out of the net. The Irons will just be desperate for Carroll to step up and shine in the next couple of games and prove that he deserves to be starting.
You can read the Hammers’ calls for Carroll to be hooked here:
Can you get Carroll off and go 4-3-3 please
— speech (@sp77ch) January 2, 2019
https://twitter.com/Aaron_Parris/status/1080563362143047681
https://twitter.com/mariemaxee/status/1080563838033035264
https://twitter.com/NJThompson94/status/1080563693904187392
https://twitter.com/JamesWHUFC91/status/1080563656285401088
Absolutely dire
— Frankie8 (@frankiemac8) 2 January 2019
Carroll off please
— Dennis Chacko (@Den_Chacko) January 2, 2019
The Hammers are desperate to see an improvement from Carroll in the next few weeks, and the upcoming FA Cup clash against Birmingham can be the turning point for the striker.
