Latest

Andy Carroll Attacked By The Media

|
Image for Andy Carroll Attacked By The Media

carrollFollowing West Ham United’s excellent performance against Manchester United on Wednesday night, the press had a field day.  But not, as you would think, in relation to the fact that we absolutely battered the future Champions of England. No, the press took this opportunity to blast Andy Carroll’s battling style, one reporter in particular, Paul Hayward of the Telegraph, says that Carroll’s style is not welcome in the Premier League anymore, and mimicked a style that was in English football in the 1980’s.

The main point of his report related to Carroll’s challenge on David De Gea in the first half, where Carroll was late for a challenge and clattered into him.  Sir Alex Ferguson said he felt that he should have been red carded, and of course, every member of the press agreed with him because they seem too intimidated by him to form their own opinion.  If I am honest, I’m surprised Carroll didn’t pick up a yellow card, but there are other decisions and challenges that go unpunished also, and I firmly believe that Carroll was going for the ball.  If you look closely at the replay, Carroll only connected with De Geas torso, and not his face like the flappy Man U keeper made out.  So no, I don’t think it was worthy of a red card.

As for the article written by Paul Hayward, suggesting that Carroll is an 80’s throwback, what about Peter Crouch, what about Alan Shearer, and what about Les Ferdinand?  All of these were/are powerful target men, who were too strong for their opposition.  They fouled their opponent many times without punishment; Crouch himself nearly kicked Matt Taylor’s head off at the Brittania in our recent win there.  Just because we play a different style to others, doesn’t mean we are not welcome in the elite of England, and doesn’t mean we are wrong to be doing it.  Do West Ham United play within the rules of the game?  Yes they do.  Andy Carroll has nothing to worry about either – his form has been brilliant for West Ham since his return from injury.  Andy Carroll won a battle against two of the best centre backs in Europe in Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic.

In the article by Paul Hayward, supposedly Sports Writer of The Year – he mentions that football is no longer played at head height, and that the ball up to the striker is caveman stuff.  Well, yes, sometimes we play the ball up to big Andy when we are under pressure, and we use him as an outlet.  But tell me Mr Hayward, tell me where the long ball was when Mohamed Diame sprinted 50 yards with the ball, who spread the play to Matt Jarvis, who then made Rio Ferdinand look stupid as he wrong footed him, before dinking a beautiful cross to the back post, where Andy Carroll’s movement had lost his marker, Vidic, before he nodded back to Vaz Te to finish…… Where was the long ball to the striker when Vaz Te picked the ball up on the right, flicked the ball back to Demel, who guided a pass on the floor to Diame, who then mugged off Rooney and then smash an absolute beauty around the Manchester United defence, and into the corner?

I am the first to admit that I would love us to play total football every week, but I also love watching Andy Carroll out muscle two defenders, and bully a back line that’s meant to be the best in the UK.  I love watching his work rate, his passion for football, and the effort he puts in every week.  If only players like Wayne Rooney, who is meant to be England’s best striker, showed that passion when on England duty, we wouldn’t be in the predicament that the International team find themselves in.

So Mr Hayward, why don’t you concentrate on talking about the fact Manchester United were lucky to draw because of an absolutely terrible decision by a linesman, instead of crawling all over Fergie and trying to make a name for yourself.  Let’s take a look at how West Ham out muscled, out powered, and out played the Premier League Champions.

Share this article

27 comments

  • jaybs says:

    Some of our fans are getting a little carried away with Andy Carroll, the truth is he is Clumsy! be it in the air or with his feet! yes there is no doubt that he is Sam’s type of player and is a member of the Nolan clique but I feel for other players who do not get the credit they deserve and they are much better than him! I wonder if he will ever regain the early success he had a Newcastle, the problem was he was to Hyped up and he now Believes that Hype!

    I would rather have a striker that can do more than Carroll, more talent with passing, stronger at shooting at goal, for the money Liverpool will want and the salary he now feels he is worth I feel we can do much better!

    • Antbuck71 says:

      Really!!! Better than Carroll – please enlighten us on who you think wud be better! Carroll is a perfect fit for us especially whilst Nolan is still there. The passion and comittment he shows is so more than any other centre forward i am aware of Who wud u spend the 10-17 mil on I am intrigued???

    • bob says:

      Come on hammer? Who should we sign? People like you always knock us and the players when we are on the up. You want big sam out too?

    • Juice says:

      Sorry can not agree Andy Carroll is the best frontman we have had for manya year.
      We have to bear in mind he is still young and learning his trade. All too often he is get outlet for the defence, and has no support he battles to keep ball until support arrives. He needs a Cottee or a Balldock to help him, I personally would play Joe Cole off of him and drop Nolan!
      We would then be able to hold he ball allowing he mid ield to join in the action.

      • Peter Howard says:

        Agreed, Joe Cole would be excellent playing in the hole.

      • Big Ern says:

        Can people stop talking about Baldock, the guy got 10 goals this yr in the championship, failed to hold down regular place at a team that got relegated to league 1!!!! He was not good enough and big Sam did well to get the money back that we paid for him!!! Ditto Maynard!

  • kev says:

    My family have supported West Ham since the club’s conception , but I am becoming more and more bemused by the WEST HAM WAY

    Andy Carrol is as good a striker that we have had for years(remember Pysco)and we need to buy him now

    Forget Big Sam ” ain’t from our manor” and look at what a good job he has done

  • Jason says:

    Thought Haywood’s article was very poor journalism. Nothing more than a biased rant.

  • ogydo says:

    So any reporter who agrees with Sir Alex’s point of view does so because he/she is too intimidated by him to form their own opinion, I guess any reporter who does not agree with him like yourself does have a mind of his/her own and is not intimidated by him. Are you a real reporter?

    • anne says:

      I they disagree with Fergie He BANS THEM FROM OLD TRAFFORD, WATCH SUNDAY SUPPLEMENT and you will hear them say it

  • Peter Howard says:

    Andy Carroll has recently been excellent. What about Vidic’s push? Ferguson only moans when he’s beaten! We’re on the up, top 10, I’d taken that in August. COYI!

  • rob says:

    long ball !! what about giggs long ball for Van Purse strings for man us equilizer in the cup, umm oh sorry that was a great long pass umm my arse…

  • Paul Fake says:

    Just wanted to congratulate you on your article. You pretty much summed everything that I thought after our game against Manc Utd. Ferguson made way too much about Carroll’s challenge on De Gea,it was a strong honest challenge for the ball. For me Diame’s goal and the build up that proceeded it was the moment of the match and contender for goal of the month at least. That Goal should have been the match winner. But instead due to poor decisions and a blatant lack of the truth we ended up with RVP getting a really undeserved leveller!!
    D’ya think this is why Fergie made such a big deal about Carroll’s challenge to take the limelight of the fact That we, West Ham United played like Champions and he was lucky to go home with a Point!!

    • anne says:

      Nobody has mentioned the way that De Gea had his hands under Carrolls armpits and held him as they moved across us in the Bobby Moore Lower, THEN when Carroll got free he struck him in th face. DD YOU SEE THAT ME HAWARD. NO OF COURSE NOT And yes you are right the reason he has made a fuss is because after the game he was asked twice about the offside goal First time he didn’t answer second tome he said ‘ I DIDN’T SEE IT’

  • Telboy007 says:

    The telegraph? Should see the hate campaign being run by the daily mail.

  • The Cat says:

    Anyone who listens to Fergie and the manure loving press and takes their views on board needs their heads examined……Typical Fergie!
    If we won 5 – 0 the media would firstly talk about manure having an off day, then plaster Fergie’s view about how we roughed them up.
    Now imagine Andy Carroll playing for Liverpool and them getting one over manure??? All of a sudden it’s a fantastic display of pace and power by Carroll and he should partner Rooney for England!

  • Grizo says:

    Who the heck is Mr Haywood to tell us what football needs, he is obviously a Man U suck up merchant who is upset that West Ham dented their teams pride by not rolling over like good little boys, perhaps if a few more teams took the game. to them they might have to work a bit harder to win the league. If he doesn’t like our type of football I suggest he buggers off to France to watch pretty games.

  • Hammersam says:

    Thank god theres sense spoken here.

    Were we all not crying out for a couple of widemen to whip in crosses to a proper no9 only a few yrs ago?

    Now we have one people say they dont like the style haha this is the most entertaining Ive seen us for years.

  • Tec hammer says:

    On the whole carroll being to reckless subject, when carroll was acused of ramming into de gea people where saying it was all his fault, but in the replay it clearly shows vidic shoving carroll towards de gea so it was the only thing carroll could do….

  • Peter Simon says:

    Chelmo Hammer, I have several issues with your article: First of all, Andy Carroll has been a red card waiting to happen for the past two games. I don’t know what’s going on with him, but’s he’s played angry against both Man U and Wigan. Not only was he out of control when he clattered De Gea but he could have been sent off for kicking Rooney before that corner or elbowing Vidic late in the match.
    He was yellow carded in the first half against Wigan and rode his luck until halftime. Someone (Big Same or Nolan) got in his ear during the interval and calmed him down but I really didn’t think he’d last the entire match.
    I have no problem with players being physical, aggressive, etc. but it must always be with an eye for the ball and without the intent to injure your opponent or simply be dirty.
    Additionally, Vidic and Ferdinand are no longer two of the best center backs in Europe. Ferdinand has lost a lot of pace and is on the back end of his career. He’ll never play for England again. Vidic could regain top status but his career has been plagued by injures the past two seasons and he’s still playing his way back to top form.
    Finally, Man U did tie the game because the linesman failed to rule Van Persie offsides. However, I think a neutral observer would say that the draw was a fair result given the run of play. West Ham hung in with the champs but the by no means bossed the game. I’m a big West Ham supporter but I think a bit of perspective is still required when writing about them.

    • Chicken Runner says:

      Peter I was interested in your comments that Carroll was out of control against ManU. He certainly clattered De Gea and Evra but it is interesting that no one in the media has commented that Carroll was assisted in flight by Vidic who blatently pushed Carroll into that situation. Indeed, the referee could have easily have given the Hammers a penalty. Perhaps the referee did see the push and thats why he did not punich Carroll.

      Re the Rooney incident again you are being selective as Carroll reacted to the stomp on his foot by Rooney. Finally, your comment on the Vidic elbow is incorrect and that is why the referee agin did not blow for a foul – firstly it was a straight arm he did not bend his arm as Vidic kept on indicating and if you watch a replay you will see that Vidic’s arms were in a much more dangerous situation had he connected with Carroll. This was avoided purely by Carroll rising higher than Vidic.

    • Pete says:

      Peter must be a ManU fan…..probably Surrey.

    • sibbo says:

      cobblers

  • Big Ern says:

    Peter, how many times has Vidic clattered strikers, not exactly the cleanest of players! Carroll was competitive and showed a desire to get stuck in. Bout time English players had this desire for the amount of money they earn.

    Best I’ve seen the hammers play in a long time! Keep up the good work Big Sam and co. Hugh Bevan can stick that in his pipe!

    • The Cat says:

      Well said Big Ern. I think a few of our own don’t understand the basics and how desire & determination are an essential part of ANY sportsmans psyche. I WANT to see desire and determination when our players wear claret and blue.
      The trouble is many of our supporters quote Billy Bonds and David Cross but have NO idea that desire and determination played a massive part in their game.

Comments are closed.