Latest

West Ham ace isn’t capable of having a team built around him

|
Image for West Ham ace isn’t capable of having a team built around him

Andy CarrollSpending £15million on a single player was always going to be a decision many thought was foolish; whilst many others will have seen it as a statement of intent and ambition from the club’s owners.

Despite narrowly missing out on a place on the plane to Brazil this summer, with Roy Hodgson opting to take Southampton’s Rickie Lambert, Andy Carroll is undoubtedly still at the centre of West Ham’s plans for the future and rightly so, considering the Englishman’s transfer fee alongside the fact that he is a nightmare for defenders.

Despite this, sections of the Hammers support this season have become frustrated at our reliance on the big striker. They feel that our dependence on Andy Carroll has been our downfall at times, and believe our attacking threat becomes increasingly predictable when he is in the side.

Since Sam Allardyce took over at the Boleyn Ground, three seasons ago, it’s fair to say that the perception in large, of West Ham United, is that we are now a side who play non-attractive, ‘long ball’ football. I, personally, think that criticism is unfair, particularly when you consider that Southampton, a side who supposedly play ‘proper, attractive’ football, played on average the second highest number of long balls per game this season (70), whilst the Hammers sit in 7th with an average of 66 per match.

Nonetheless, an average of 66 long balls per game is not a pleasing statistic, and is one which the presence of Andy Carroll can certainly be made accountable for. During Carroll’s long term absence this season, a time during which we struggled for performances, goals and ultimately results, many of us will have convinced ourselves that our fortunes would change once the Englishman returned – perhaps us supporters are partially to blame for portraying Carroll as the club’s ‘main man’ and placing pressure on the Tyneside-born striker’s shoulders?

When building a team around a certain individual or individuals, you must ask yourself whether those individual(s) possess the all-round ability to justify having a side built around them. You look at the likes of Liverpool, in particular, who have built their squad around the phenomenal Luis Suarez who is now considered their ‘main man’, and our Carroll unquestionably does not have the ability of the Uruguayan. Respectively, Manchester United have Wayne Rooney, whilst Everton have had Romelu Lukaku as their so called ‘main man’ this past season, and both have been utilised effectively and have witnessed the benefits.

Andy Carroll’s red card against Swansea City meant that the ever loyal Carlton Cole stood in during our impressive run in February, in which we secured four wins from four, perhaps indicating that relying solely on the Geordie up front is not the best option available to us.

Many Hammers have, all season, been of the belief that a second striker on the pitch would benefit Carroll, as the pair would be able to compliment their respective abilities, thus making us less one-dimensional and less predictable – although it’s clear to see that Allardyce’s stubbornness will prevail and he will refuse to change his one striker system.

Personally, I feel that for a number of reasons, partially from the manager, the media, and us fans, we have subconsciously painted Andy Carroll out as West Ham’s ‘main man’. You ask any West Ham fan who our best player is and the majority of responses would be “Carroll” without hesitation, when in reality the striker doesn’t possess the all round ability to have a squad built around him. Despite this, that doesn’t mean that the Englishman cannot be utilised and play a huge part in any success we have, but I feel as if in building a team around Andy Carroll we will continue to come away from games feeling frustrated, criticising the manager’s approach and one dimensional football.

Share this article

19 comments

  • Ian says:

    The team isn’t built around Carroll it is built around Kevin Nolan which is even more absurd.
    The only reason we had to sign Carroll was to accommodate Nolan, a player that wouldn’t get into any other premier league squad or most championship teams and yet is first choice on our team sheet every week.

    • Paul C says:

      Spot on Ian – Nolan was instrumental in bringing AC in and it was to help Nolans position not the team strength

  • Dan says:

    the longb all tag isnt unfair and like usual this site uses half a stat to suit his argument. Southampton may play more long balls then us, but how many are aimless hoofs and diagonals to the big striker? Southampton play almost quadruple the amount of overall passes so there averge long ball is going to be more then us.

    • Paul C says:

      Dan I completely agree with your comments – plus we have to remember that AC was out half the season – if he had been available all season Im sure we would have moved up the long ball ladder. Plus you look at the amount of possession we had – the stats dont suggest we are a team playing nice passing football. West Ham have used long balls since the 60’s (even when playing “pretty football”) but they were usually crosses from the wings and not hoofed from a central defender and were only one of several attacking options deployed.
      I feel, like most fans I talk with AC is a danger to defenders but we need other options – maybe Sam has been given 10 days to show he can land players to give us options???

  • jaybs says:

    Carroll was nit good enough at Liverpool, but Sam persuaded the owners to spend £15 million, way over the top, no wonder only Sam wanted him, still see no one wanting him, add to that the stupid high wage AC demanded, another noose round the club’s neck, everything has to be built around Carroll to fit Sam’s stupid tactics, yes Nolan is another noose, he is Finished, these two alone should pull the noose around Sam’s neck to be Sacked Now!

    • sibbo says:

      that’s so true he has got to be sacked,their waiting to see the season ticket sales

  • peter says:

    now we have to wait another 10 days before the board decide on bfs foes or stays. How pathetic, the board could have met today. this smells!!!! bfs should go, but the problem is his tactics. somebody said above that the team is not playing the long ball. rubbish, Villa and us are the long ball specialists and the teams who used the long ball the least were Liverpool and city, according to SSN. yet again more proof that bfs tactics do not work. All the ex Bolton players should go, along with carroll, Nolan and bfs should go as well!!!!!!!

    • Claret is here! says:

      The club are trying to sign a big name, and in the next 10 days they’ll know if they’ve pulled it off or not, If they don’t sign Rafa they’ll keep BFS #simples

  • seb says:

    I can’t understand how you’ve come to the conclusion that you can’t build a team around Carroll. On the basis of this season? He’s struggled for fitness ever since he got back. To me it’s obvious than when we EXCLUSIVELY play the hoofball he struggles but whenever we mix it up he can be a hell of a player. Carroll IS more than his aerial ability and should be played accordingly. We do however need a new manager and a new style of play to get the best out of Carroll. We also need another good striker who can provide compition as we can’t rely on one striker. Quit the doomsday talk getting rid of Carroll, he’s here to stay if you like or not

    • peter says:

      fortunately there are more important things to worry about than 22 people kicking a ball around. l wont lose any sleep if bfs goes or stays, and who is signed and not signed, it is
      not a priority for me, nor has it ever been!!!!

  • Edward Reader says:

    Carroll does not possess all the equipment to be played as a lone striker. Given a ball at his feet around the box, he’s like a rabbit in headlights, and unfortunately under Sam he’ll never develop the equipment. We need a proper goal scorer.

  • wolfie says:

    The long ball to AC isn’t a bad tactic just as long as it isn’t the ONLY tactic,BFS has no plan b,he either needs to change this or go-simples !! I think Moyes would do a good job for us

  • petes says:

    If we had a more talented midfield, one that could hold and penetrate,which means not playing the likes of Mo out of postion and included a player with running ablility and who has more playing vision ,one who can open up a defence,and it (does not have to be Ravel) we could be rid of Nolan and then maybe we could see what AC is about.For me there must an immediate effort to tie down Reid to a long term contract with possible mention of the captaincy
    Young players must be the way forward again let us see if Moncur Potts and Elliot can make the grade,Let have a more expansive way of playing,mixed with a hard centre

  • Alan Knight says:

    The board need to act now one way or another and if Sam is to stay he needs to be told that his PR has to be better with the Fans and told he has to change his tactics for at least the home games for Gods sake. As a West Ham fan all my life I really enjoyed the Spurs game because we showed commitment and tried to play football, that is all West Ham fans want, we don’t expect to win the league, just go along and see a bit of effort and football. have a sing song and get value for money.

    I am waiting to see what happens regarding my season ticket.

    BFS blamed the poor results on not having Andy Carroll at beginning of season and then at the end said it was because he is not fit. You could see Carroll was peed off with long balls and no one supporting him especially in Hull game where they had 10 men. Does Sam think we are all idiots. The actual football we played in first matches was on the ground cos no one to hoof it too. Had we had a Defoe type striker who mad runs into space to feed off Ravel etc we may have been pleasantly surprised.

    I don’t think Carroll has featured in many matches with Ravel, that may have worked. I would like to have seen Joe Cole get a consistent run in middle as well.

  • Brad says:

    Team should be built round Adrian, Reid, Tomkins, Ravel and Noble.

  • JB says:

    I am sorry, biases aside, but compared to Andy Carroll, Ricky Lambert is a donkey. What a blo*dy insult by Roy Hodgson in putting a 31 year old plodder in Andy’s place. At that age, even the late & great Bobby Moore was considering hanging his international boots up. What a damned stupid decision it will be to put a 31 year old donkey in place of a strong young 25 year old who is fresh & raring to go. Andy totally took ariel control of the game v Spurs. Teams like the Italians just don’t have an answer for his strength & height. Roy is a polite diplomat, not a ruthless manager such as Capello was, sorry, but if England want to break their 48 year drought then neither Lambert, nor Rooney for that matter, is going to bring the world cup back to it’s mother country.
    In regards the topic of this article, the answer is no, a lone striker, especially a striker having a team built around him dosen’t work. Geoff Hurst could not have done that. He needed support from Peters, & later Greaves etc etc. The lone striker is no good. It takes 2 to tango with a general in defense at the back. If Sam’s plan for next season is no good then he is going to be shown the door by the owners. He absolutely cannot change the academy of football to suit just his blo*dy boring style. He just won’t be accepted by us fans unless HE CHANGES!

    • JB says:

      Sorry, The new season is 3 months away, Brazil is only 1 month way & West Ham will sort it out. England don’t have a Suarez & Sturridge, but they do have Carroll & Sturridge. They’ve both played alongside each other at the Reds. It pays to have 2 players in the national team supporting each other who know how each other play. Forget Lambert & Sturridge, if Roy plays Rooney, then has has to play his team mate Welbeck, look, this will be the 3rd time now that Rooney has tried to make it at the highest level of football there is, being the world cup & each time he’s failed, what makes people think this time is going to be any different because it won’t, & because I wouldn’t play Rooney, then I wouldn’t play Welbeck. Andy hasn’t even got going yet, he’s only had Euro 2012 & he didn’t do too bad there eh? so why is he being dropped while in his prime? Why start Lambert who is at the end of his international career, a career that’s been all of 1 year at 31 eh? I wouldn’t play Rooney hoping for a 3rd time (un)lucky. No I’d play 1 half of the Pool’s deadly SS, being Sturridge & I’d play Carroll alongside, & potentially a deadly combination. Look, for crying out loud Roy, drop Lambert & put Andy in, & play him alongside his former team mate Sturridge, then you’d have every chance of winning the world cup, because if you don’t, then I can’t see anyone who is going to stop Messi & Aguero. Yes Argentina can score goals & win it, Rooney, Welbeck & Lambert won’t, and it’s scoring goals more than defenses, that wins world cups, just ask hat trick Geoff. You can’t play donkey Lambert in steaming hot Manaus & expect to win. Andy, like Geoff, knows how to score a hat trick. I’m glad we never signed Lambert!

      • peter says:

        urm, goals scored could swung it in Lamberts favour.
        ac scored 2 in 16.
        to those of you who think that ac would have been fresher, rubbish!!!
        lambert is the better player, he scores GOALS. ac is still not fit!!!
        anyway he has buggered off on holiday, as if he hasn’t had enough already!!!!!!

  • matthew lacey says:

    I feel we need a 2nd striker/attacking midfielder to replace Nolan. Someone who has his ability to get onto the end of Knock downs but younger and quicker. Has the ability to create chances from deep and defend. Would you know, someone like Morrison….

Comments are closed.