Carroll’s antics cost West Ham dearly
LONDON: These are the days when you wonder whether Andy Carroll is really worth the hassle. All that expense, all that hard work managing his injuries. There are days when he is talismanic, West Ham’s full-blooded hero, but those seem ever fleeting.
His red card, for two cautions inside 99 first-half seconds against Burnley, was the act of sheer idiocy. After flooring James Tarkowski with an errant elbow, Carroll decided Ben Mee was for it. Older but certainly not wiser.
Wound up, his emotions took over. They are never absolutely in check and the episode finished with Mee in a heap after a nasty challenge worthy of a straight red.
Carroll left West Ham defending Michail Antonio’s 19thminute opener. He did Slaven Bilic no favours whatsoever.
The rest of Bilic’s team did though. They were exceptional, breaking at pace — fashioning the better opportunities — and looked defensively solid until the 85th minute. Chris Wood nestled between defenders, planted a header past Joe Hart and masked their own home deficiencies. Carroll cost West Ham dear and simply cannot be trusted. Bilic was livid with him but only after berating fourth official Mike Dean — who was bizarrely signing autographs as he arrived at Turf Moor — on the touchline. Stuart Attwell had lost control after an early refusal to punish fouls sufficiently and West Ham were merely pushing the boundaries. That is a must here in East Lancashire and Carroll cannot truly be faulted for the first foul.
He was giving back what Tarkowski had laid on moments before.
Carroll’s second foul, however, was reprehensible. The action, with eyes fixed on Mee, coupled with the proximity made it completely brainless. Inexcusable, Bilic thought.
“I’m angry. Not with the referee,” Bilic said. “For a player of Andy’s experience, you can’t do that.
“What can I do? I don’t know. The second booking happens in training. Don’t go for that ball, it’s out of reach for you. It’s an unbelievably bad call.” Daily Mail