West Ham were unfortunate not to win against Burnley on Saturday, leading 1-0 for the majority of the match, but the Hammers had their backs against the wall for most of the game following Andy Carroll’s red card.
Two yellow cards in the space of two minutes saw the 28-year-old forward receive his marching orders at Turf Moor and, when looking at the decision, it’s difficult for anyone to argue the dismissal was unjust as it was down to plain stupidity on Carroll’s part.
Fans, the media, Slaven Bilic and team-mates have criticised the former Newcastle United for his dismissal, in what was his first red card since 2014, and experienced defender Pablo Zabaleta was one of many who spoke out.
Speaking to the press, Zabaleta correctly pointed out it was the second time the Hammers have received an early dismissal, with Marko Arnautovic previously sent off, and he urged his team-mates to be more careful in the future.
“It is the second time we have had a player sent-off in the first half. Marko Arnautovic against Southampton and now Andy Carroll. We need to be more careful because in the Premier League, playing with one player less for a long time is really hard. We were 1-0 up and we need to be clever.”
“Andy is a big man. He always goes 100 per cent for the ball when the ball is in the air. From my point of view, it looks aggressive, especially the second one when he knew he was on a yellow already,”
“We can talk sometimes about situations where it’s tough for the referee but there is nothing to say about the referee (here). I think these two challenges, Andy’s challenges, were a bit nasty from my point of view.”
Whilst the media may sensationalise Zabaleta’s quotes, claiming he’s ‘lashed out’ and ‘teared into’ his team-mate, the reality is that the Argentine international has been completely honest and correct with his statements- he does need to be careful and avoid these nasty challenges.
Zabaleta speaks with experience and Carroll would be wise to listen to all the criticism coming his way as it was a dismissal that could have been easily avoided and there was no need to enter the challenges as he did- as it was asking the referee to make a decision.
