Are West Ham putting too much pressure on Andy Carroll?

I was a very happy West Ham United supporter when Andy Carroll was signed for a club record £15m. Sam Allardyce sees Carroll as the future of the club, and as the main man to lead his Claret and Blue Army into the Olympic Stadium in 2016.

However, when we signed the big man, I was very confident of two more signings being made, one to cover Carroll should he not be available, and a player to play on the right side of the attacking three. This hasn’t materialized at the moment, but it doesn’t sound like it’s from a lack of trying.

The problem I see is that a centre forward would not want to move to the club, knowing he is already behind Carroll in the pecking order. The management team and the board have quite openly mentioned that “we are looking for a striker as back up to Andy”.

No doubt Carroll is likely to be the favourite, after all, if a club like West Ham spend that sort of money, we’re hardly going to leave him on the bench are we? But I also think we are putting too much pressure on Carroll to be fit and ready for that start of the season. Carroll has said that he is working hard, but surely we need another quality striker to take the burden off of him? He arrived under pressure at Liverpool, and was not given a proper run, and his career nosedived. But until West Ham sign another decent forward, we will be relying heavily on Carroll to get fit and firing on all cylinders.

I would also like the decent second striker so Carroll can take his time in the rehabilitation of his injury, rather than rushing back our most prized asset, only to lose him again.

I’m still hopeful that at least one attacking player might arrive before the start of the season. Let’s wait and see who is named in the squads of other Premier League clubs before making a loan move maybe?

COME ON YOU IRONS!!