Andy’s a real pain in neck
Striker shrugs off his whiplash injury to send Hammers into top half
SOMETIMES, there is nothing you can do. Middlesbrough boss Aitor Karanka spent last week preparing for the arrival of Andy Carroll. There were DVD package and training-ground drills, even a public appreciation of the striker's talents.
But after watching Carroll score twice, the Spaniard was forced to admit: ‘We tried to stop him but it was impossible.’
Karanka was right. Carroll was unplayable here, a force of nature at its very best. His goals might not have been as spectacular as last weekend’s bicycle kick during the 3-0 win over Crystal Palace, but beauty could certainly be found in his brutish opener.
West Ham boss Slaven Bilic hit upon the perfect description for that first-half header when he said: ‘It was like a hammer.’
And to think Carroll was a doubt for this game, having suffered a whiplash injury twisting his towering frame to score against Palace.
The 28-year-old, though, proved a pain in the neck for the hosts. Carroll enjoys himself on Teesside. Twice for Newcastle’s reserves he scored hat-tricks against Boro, and he might have completed the treble treble had he not retired with a slight groin strain midway through the second half. The injury is not thought to be serious.
His replacement, Jonathan Calleri, made sure of the victory in stoppage time as the Hammers — with five wins from seven — climbed into the top half of the Premier League table for the first time since August.
There is no doubt that Dimitri Payet’s refusal to play for the club has fostered a new-found team spirit and, in his absence, it is Carroll who has taken on the role of talisman.
Karanka went as far as to say: ‘They do not have Payet but with Carroll now they are better.’ Bilic, though, refused to be drawn on such an equation.
‘It would be ridiculous to say we don’t miss Payet,’ he said.
‘But Andy is as good as gold. He gives me everything. He scored a couple of goals, OK, but his game is about more than that.
‘His work-rate, linking with Michail Antonio and midfielders, his presence, his defending — he’s a magnificent player.
‘He will always score goals with service. I played centre back, only Duncan Ferguson was at this level when the cross came in. He’s brilliant.’ There was some bad news for the Hammers though. Defender Angelo Ogbonna, who featured in yesterday’s win, requires knee surgery and has been ruled out for the rest of the season. Bilic ordered a strong cappuccino from the press room half an hour before kick-off, but caffeine wasn’t needed to keep you awake during a pulsating first half.
West Ham were buzzing from the off and Antonio should have scored inside 90 seconds but failed to make a clean connection with Manuel Lanzini’s centre.
Carroll’s connection for the opening goal, however, was as crisp as they come. Lanzini delivered a corner from the left and the Geordie barged through before planting his brow on the hanging ball and powering home an unstoppable header.
Boro’s equaliser was just as impressive. Eight players were involved in a swift break which climaxed in Cristhian Stuani finishing at the far post. Adam Forshaw dribbled around an opponent deep inside his own half before laying the ball off to Bernardo. He rolled a pass into Marten de Roon, who in turn clipped it up to Alvaro Negredo. The Spaniard cushioned into the path of Adam Clayton and he swept play wide to Adama Traore. The winger cut inside his man with an outrageous piece of skill and duly fed the over-lapping Calum Chambers who delivered for Stuani. Goal.
Boro were actually in the ascendancy when Carroll poached his second on 43 minutes, smashing in the rebound after Victor Valdes had kept out Antonio’s initial blast.
West Ham looked relatively comfortable in the second half — except for when defender Aaron Cresswell hooked an attempted clearance into Stuani and the ball crashed against the crossbar — and they completed the scoring when Calleri slotted into the bottom corner from 12 yards.
By then, though, the damage was done, and there was nothing Boro could have done to prevent it.