OPINION
West Ham United crashed out of the FA Cup at the fourth round stage on Saturday with a shambolic 4-2 loss to League One basement side AFC Wimbledon.
The Dons took a 2-0 lead in the first half and despite a second-half fightback from the Hammers they were able to seal a win late on through teenage Toby Sibbick.
There were very few West Ham players who emerged from the loss with any credit at all, with some atrocious performances across the team.
One player who was particularly bad, and has been for some time, is striker Andy Carroll.
Carroll made his long-awaited return from yet another injury at the beginning of December, making 11 appearances in all competitions for the club since then.
In truth, not one of those appearances has been a positive one – even in the third-round win against Birmingham in which he scored their second.
Saturday’s outing against Wimbledon was particularly bad, and it is now clear that the striker is well past his best.
The issue is not only that Carroll is playing poorly, but also that his presence seems to make West Ham as a whole play worse, as they attempt to play to his strengths up front.
You can understand that manager Manuel Pellegrini wants to involve Carroll, but there has been nothing at all to suggest he will get back to the form which saw him become a £35million player.
At the moment all he is doing is adversely affecting the club’s play and form, and Pellegrini must now banish the £90,000-a-week ace [Transfermarkt] to the bench for good.
Having him on the sidelines as an option to come on when they are chasing games is fine, but starting him is yielding few results, and it must end now.
