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Can THIS West Ham ace adapt his game?

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Andy CarrollSpeculation that Andy Carroll will be sold to his old club Newcastle United in the January window has been quashed this week, with the Hammers apparently unwilling to sell their record signing. There have also been several reports to the effect that the striker is now settled and happy in London, and wants to stay and repay the faith that the club have shown in him.

Quite right, too, in my opinion, as the Hammers have invested a lot of time and money in the big Geordie marksman, who still has plenty of time to become a top player for West Ham, despite the injury ravaged start to his Upton Park career.

The latest update on his current injury set back is that Carroll will be back in action at some point next month, which would be very good news if true. Despite what some supporters seem to think, Carroll can still be an important asset to the club both this season and in the long term.

Despite the excellent start to the respective West Ham careers of Diafra Sakho and Enner Valencia, who seem to have forged a formidable strike partnership, it would be naive to suggest that we can now do without someone of the quality of Carroll.

If one of Sakho or Valencia gets injured or suffers a loss in form, then there aren’t really many other options to come in and take their place. Mauro Zarate has so far been employed as an attacking midfielder when played, and as for Carlton Cole and Ricardo Vaz Te, as great as they have been in the past for West Ham, neither possess the quality to be long-term answers.

Andy Carroll, as we all know is virtually unplayable when on top form, and with a long stretch without injury, he can hopefully produce such performances on a regular basis. That being said, he may have to adapt his game to different manner to that which he was used in his first two injury hit seasons at Upton Park.

After a fruitful summer in the transfer market, Sam Allardyce now has real quality in his squad – players who can pass well and are clever in possession. Whilst there will be occasions where playing direct football will be effective, in the main a more stylish approach, developing attacks through midfield and getting plenty of bodies forward in attack is what should be continued for the foreseeable future.

I don’t believe that the type of football Sam Allardyce played over the past couple of seasons has been as dreary as many have made it out to be, but there was no doubt there was an over-reliance on a loan striker such as Carroll, who would too often be isolated and ineffective, feeding off long balls.

There will still be plenty of opportunities for Andy to show us his prowess in the air, as there will still be plenty of crosses coming into the box from wide positions. But he is also likely to receive the ball to feet a lot more, and be expected to hold the ball up to help supply players such as Valencia, Sakho and Zarate, who will look to link up the former Liverpool striker.

I firmly believe that Andy is capable of adapting his game in this manner – his touch and control on the floor probably need to be improved on but he has shown enough in his career so far to suggest that he can be better with his feet than many suggest him to be. Indeed, I felt he was showing plenty of class on the floor two seasons ago during his loan spell at the club, before the deal was eventually made permanent. The main thing he requires is a long spell without injury to help rediscover his touch.

And of course we all want to see him produce those booming headers in the box, where so many defenders cannot handle his power in the air.

So, I think Andy Carroll can adapt his game slightly and become a real asset in this new look Hammers line-up. Fitness is always going to be the biggest worry for the frontman, but hopefully his latest operation will enable Carroll a fresh start.

What do you think? Can Carroll adapt his game when he returns to the first team?

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4 comments

  • beckton Geoff says:

    I would like to say yes he can James, but at this present time I just can’t see it.

    • Simon says:

      Seriously, he was brilliant for us when he was here on loan, huge for the team in terms of confidence and catalyst for our 10th place finish – both he and the club have been very unlucky with the 2 serious ankle injuries hes had, but he will be back hungry, ready and willing to add more quality to our team – we cant ignore thae fact that Sakho, Kouytate and Song are off to the AN cup in Jan/Feb and gone for 3-4 weeks, we will need all the quality we can get and i actually think he will be great with Valencia along side him up front – CCole is ok off the bench and is doing ok under this new system we are employing, but neither him nor Vaz Te are good enough to be considered seriously – the two wingbacks in Cresswell and Jenkinson will love putting in quality crosses to Valencia and Caroll, Amalfitano, Downing, Noble and Zarate can still play the diamond, we will still have speed in the team and its all boads well for the depth we have now created in the squad – when the three return from the AN cup we can keep pushing even further on – but imo the fans need to lay off Caroll and give him the time to get back to his best, they moaned enough about Sam, wanted him out too, months later after spending wisely and buying the quality we needed to up our game and performances we are seeing brilliant results – fans need to show the same patience with Caroll, he will prove himself a worthy player for this club and tbh its actually good to have the depth and quality around him as from a teams perspective, we no longer have such a reliance on him as a key player which means we can use him tactically, wisely and to great effect, good for both him and west ham. COYI

      • Dave Branch says:

        Lets get it right…THE FANS are responsible for the change to what we see today by refusing to accept the garbage that was being served up in the name of football. The board saw the unrest, splashed the cash and Sam Allardyce has, at long last, and under pressure, embraced the change and given us what we want. I am sick of reading all this ” Allardyce is now a hero” crap. He changed because he was FORCED too !!!

  • george 2nd best says:

    definitely a requirement. Caroll, Valencia & Sak all on at the same time! WOW

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