OPINION
West Ham attacker Andy Carroll is set to see his playing time significantly increase this season after Manuel Pellegrini’s decision to play Lucas Perez and Javier Hernandez together upfront backfired against Crystal Palace.
The Hammers boss experimented with playing the two forwards together after he was left without the option of choosing to play Marko Arnautovic due to the forward suffering a hamstring injury against Cardiff City.
Yet the decision backfired as Perez and Hernandez struggled to complement each other after the first 45 minutes of Saturday’s 3-2 win over Palace.
The Hammers boss clearly realised that two similar attackers weren’t gelling well together and hooked Perez off at half-time, in order to replace him Carroll.
This decision turned the game in the London club’s favour as with Carroll and Hernandez leading the line, the club looked better for it.
It seems clear that Pellegrini won’t make the mistake of partnering Hernandez and Perez upfront again anytime soon, as you wouldn’t back the Hammers to be successful upfront if those two were the pair leading the line.
Due to this and due to the fact Carroll impressed when entering the game from the bench on Saturday, the forward is likely to see his playing time for the season notably increase.
The 29-year-old, mainly due to injury, has only played 105 minutes of league action this season but with Arnautovic out until the new year (Source: BBC Sport) and Perez incompatible with Hernandez then that is set to increase.
This is especially the case as Pellegrini is unlikely to switch back to just playing one upfront as he previously seemed to hint that he likes having two forwards leading the line.
“In the end I went with two strikers and finally we played a very good,” the Hammers boss said as quoted by football.london.
Also when you take into account that Hernandez looked much better, and scored, once being paired up front with Carroll during the clash with Palace then it’s hard not to see Pellegrini sticking with that winning formula.
