Andy Carroll has returned! Sporting a Jesus style beard, the 15 million pound striker made his long awaited return to the West Ham team, playing the last 20 minutes of the 2-0 victory at Cardiff at the weekend. Now resurrected, we have to hope the big man can and score and supply the goals that will see us finally climbing up the league and out of the relegation places.
At the start of the season, there was plenty of talk about how Carroll would thrive from the supply of crosses he would receive from the wings, particularly after the signing of Stewart Downing, alongside Matthew Jarvis. In theory this sounds like a perfect match – we have two wingers who love to cross into the box early, and a 6 foot plus centre forward who is an exceptional header of the ball.
So will we see the qualities of Jarvis and Downing really shine through once Carroll is fit enough to play a full 90 minutes? It certainly has been a frequent complaint by West Ham fans this season that we have wingers who too often have little or no targets in the box to aim for, especially during the period where Sam Allardyce tried his no striker experiment earlier in the campaign. Certainly the stats would appear to spell this out with Jarvis providing just 3 assists in 18 appearances this season, and Downing just 1 in 15 games.
While the combination does sound good, as is my usual way when it comes to matters West Ham related, I am reserved in my excitement. One concern I have is that the Downing/Jarvis plus Carroll match may make us too one dimensional in our attacking play, with the plan of getting balls to either winger to cross into the big Geordie being patently obvious to any team we play. Thus they can set up their tactics accordingly to defend against us. Therefore I think before we get too carried away with such attacks from the wing, we need other ways of providing a threat also.
The soon to return Ricardo Vaz te could be useful in this regard, as he is always liable to provide something unpredictable. Or if we could see those lung busting runs from Mohamed Diame through the middle like last season – what has happened to those?! Downing himself has other parts to his game, such as cutting inside and shooting, which I would like to see continue.
I have say that I am also still not entirely convinced by Matt Jarvis. Whilst Downing has shown some excellent crossing abilities this term, with fast, dipping, and most importantly accurate balls frequently being fired into the box from all angles (just remember that delivery against Cardiff early on), Jarvis has never shown the same quality with his deliveries in his time at West Ham.
Don’t get me wrong, Jarvis has good qualities to his game. He is quick, and often gets the better of the full back he is facing. He also works hard defensively, and he showed that against Cardiff on Saturday. However, when he does get into a position to cross the ball, all too often it seems to just be aimlessly hung up into the box, which even Carroll is going to struggle to get on the end of. Indeed it was telling that Jarvis failed to provide a single assist last season, and that was when he had Carroll to aim at for a lot of the campaign.
While the qualities of Jarvis and Downing on the wings should be utilised better because of the return to the fold of Andy Carroll, Allardyce should not get too carried away with the potential of this combination; certainly the tactic shouldn’t be overused to the detriment of other ways of attacking. But I can’t deny that it is brilliant to see the big man finally back in action!
Jarvis is class
James. In terms of pure wing play, these two are as good as it gets. Both get on the ball, and their first thought is to deliver into the box, with Downing also having the ability to cut inside an have a shot. The fact that two wingers with some of the best stats for crosses in the Prem over the past few years have had no one to hit is not their fault. The times ive watched as they make a yard, looked up to find a target and the box is empty; what do they do – put the ball in anyway or hold it up and wait for support. Jarvis in particular has had to do this many times and the crowd have got on his back instead of looking at the bigger picture. These two were made for Andy Carroll so lets hope the big man stays fit. Getting a supply into him is not going to be the problem !
Jarvis and downing are quality like you said they just have no target to cross to. Hopefully this will improve with the return of carroll. Joe cole is getting a slating for his performances, but maybe a central attacking midfield roll would suit him better, and add that extra dimension to our attacks. Forget diame he’s a wantaway journey man now, let him go to a team where he can flourish.
I very much hope you guys are right about Jarvis and he can supply the chances for Carroll. I think he is very good at getting into position for crossing it just that he seems to panic and put any old ball when he does. Personally I just don’t think his delivery is good enough whereas downing is far superior in that regard. But I hope he proves me wrong.
Like many other hammers I was excited and pleased when we signed Matt Jarvis! And wasn’t too bothered about the price tag(now with hindsight paid far too much), as there was great promise and much expectation! But for someone whose job it is too consistently beat the fallback and put in an accurate cross for the centre forward, his crossing is terrible! When you take away his crosses not only doesn’t contribute very much but he becomes very one dimensional! Downing on the other hand has a more rounded game. He consistently provides good crosses, knows how to stretch the play and can cut inside, where he has a good shot! A far better class of forward! But with the return of oor Andy! Traore and hopefully others, this should be the time when our wingers not only shine but are at the vanguard of our rise up the table! However the more limited Jarvis may struggle under the extra weight of expectancy now our strikers are returning. I hope not as I like Jarvis and despite his lack of skill he is a wholehearted player who always gives his all! This is his time! COYI!