As the hours go by since the closed door friendly between West Ham United and Charlton Athletic, there has still been no word on whether or not Carlton Cole will re-sign for the Hammers. And as time goes by, I am getting more and more impatient!
The West Ham eleven lost 4-2 to Charlton, with Mladen Petric and George Moncur getting on the scoresheet for the Irons. There were quite a few first team players in when he spoke to West Ham TV, first team coach Ian Hendon didn’t mention Carlton Cole by name, but did have this to say:
“The lads that needed minutes got minutes. It’s not always about the result but obviously we want to win games, no matter what they are.
“That’s the competitive spirit in us as coaches, the manager and also the players. It’s a disappointing result, but all in all, a good workout and some minutes on the board for some of the lads that needed them.”
He added this about Petric:
“He has played 90 minutes against Charlton, we want to get him match fit and he’s edging towards that now. It was a good finish, a good header at the far post and nice for him to get on the scoresheet.”
With Andy Carroll still out and Modibo Maiga failing to impress, Petric’s return to fitness will be a bonus to West Ham, who successfully played without a striker in their last match against Tottenham Hotspur. Petric is keen for a first team starting place and I don’t think it will be long before he gets it, we can’t play 4-6-0 every week or teams will know what to expect!
Do you think Petric will be good enough? Do we still need Carlton? Leave me a comment or tweet me @alwaysintune.
