Andy Carroll

[beckton]

We hear this a lot on here but sorry, it's wrong. Downing was neither here nor there to the signing of another striker. Regardless of signing Downing the striker situation would have stayed the same. We were not aiming to spend £6 million on another striker which then instead got blown on Downing. The strategy all Summer was to bring in a striker on loan- we know that. The club constantly pursued Lukaku right up until the last minute. We evidently had the wages for him so Downing's signing didn't affect that either.

Not so according to our owners. When Downing was signed there were plenty of quotes from them saying it was Allardyce's choice to sign a winger over a centre forward with the last of the transfer budget. It was pretty clear they would have preferred a striker in with that money as well as trying to get another one in on loan.

As for Carroll, I was excited when we got him on loan, those feelings were confirmed after his debut performance against Fulham. But I wasn't so excited by his permanent signing after he'd missed a lot of last season through injury, had put in a lot of below par performances and scored just 7 goals. At the time I feared we had spent too much of our transfer budget on him and needed two more strikers in as well as him. Those thought aren't hindsight ones, me and plenty of others were saying it back then.

[westham,eggyandchips]

Only at West Ham could fans be calling out the Manager for signing a 34 times capped player in Downing and a young, capped centre forward in Carroll .

Solgardo, Michu, Bonny, Wolfswinkle ......never heard of those guys , much as I had never heard of Maiga .Signing any player is a risk , but signing one who had a year long trial less of one .

Signing AC was a much bigger risk. He was injury prone at Newcastle, Very injury prone at Liverpool and IIRC he missed 12 games for us injured last season. So trial or not, we made a mistake, IMO, ploughing £15m and pretty much most of our transfer budget into a very injury prone player.

[Crouchend_Hammer]

Nice to see there are other people who agree with me about Carroll. Was pissing in the wind on my own last night on here

[Irrons]

I mean look at Villa, they rely heavily on Benteke but in the summer they bought in Kozak, a 6ft4 player in exactly the same mould to cover in case of injuries. Ok he's not a world beater but he has scored a few and gives them the option up front to play the same way as they do with Benteke. Thinking about this more and more and the way we've been setup to play I'm really quite surprised that Allardyce considered our backup options as good enough especially given Carroll's injury record and that he was unfit when we bought him. He must have been confident when he went and bought Downing that we'd still have the money to get someone else in but it looks like he lost the game of brinkmanship; and I think relying on a Ba/Lukaku type loan was always going to be a bit far-fetched - we must have had another target in mind surely

[Puncher12]

Villa also have more than decent back up in Weimann and Agbonlahor who can both play as strikers if needed to.

[Irrons]

Agreed, and both of them have bags of pace. The only half decent striker we have as backup who could possibly play the target man role is Vaz Te (I keep forgetting him...) but he's also injured with no return date

[Puncher12]

And in my opinion, I wouldn't say he's as good as either of those two that Villa have aswell.

[ageing hammer]

Nice to see there are other people who agree with me about Carroll. Was pissing in the wind on my own last night on here

Hmmmmm........ how come your posts are stuck on 450?

[Irrons]

"Aston Villa have signed Czech Republic striker Libor Kozak from Lazio in a deal worth about £7m. The 6ft 4in player, who finished top scorer in last season's Europa League, has signed a four-year contract. Kozak, 24, has represented his country four times and becomes Villa's seventh signing of the summer.

"He'll add greatly to what we've got," said Aston Villa manager Paul Lambert. "He has an unbelievable scoring record in the Europa League."

Kozak scored eight times in European football's second-tier knockout competition last season. Lambert says his arrival will ease the pressure on fellow striker Christian Benteke, who has scored 22 times in 37 Premier League appearances since arriving from Belgian side Genk a year ago.

"We need somebody like him as we only have Christian Benteke really as a main target man," added Lambert."

Sorry to bang on about Villa, but they also bought Nicklas Helenius in the summer, 22 year old 6 ft 5 Danish player of the year last season - that makes 2 solid hench backup options for Benteke...

[Major]

The rational perspective is that Carroll has been crocked all season and as Allardyce has clearly stated we have no idea when he'll be back fit.

The rational perspective is also that 1 crocked 15m Carroll + Carlton Cole + Modibo Maiga + Mladen (also crocked) Petric does not stack up to a strike force of Shane Long, Victor Anichebe, Matěj Vydra, Nicholas Anelka and Saido Berahino.

If Carroll returns our strikeforce still isn't anywhere near as good as West Brom's in terms of their options and the different types of strikers they have.

We have literally put all our eggs in one basket, and then promptly went and dropped it. Hope that's rational enough for you

Its not really, no.

Do you really believe that the club and Sam have no idea when Carroll is back? really? of course they do, they are just not advertising it so as not to put any more pressure on him. We will find out when its the right time (patience again is required)

Re West Brom, they have been in the perm league a few more seasons than we have, they did not buy all of those strikers in the summer, its taken a while and its debatable if they do have a better forward line than us when all are fit. Anyway aside from that i am guessing Anelka, Long etc are all on decent wages and collectively cost more than AC does? if thats the case then we can't afford them anyway.

The perspective is not us against West Brom its where we are after one season back. IMO we have one of the best squads West Ham shave had in many years, thats perspective. You may "want" West Broms strikers, the reality is it takes time to build a squad and we haven't had much.

[The Lone Hammer]

I think Andy Carroll is the best striker we have had at this club for some time. In my opinion he is not as good as Dean Ashton was but other than Ashton, clearly the best target man we have had, maybe ever.

The problem of course is that it does not matter how good AC is if he does not play. I said at the start of the season that AC is the difference between top ten and bottom five. This has been sadly borne out.

We get Carroll back early next year and providing his injury has not depleted him in any way (a possibility) we will be fine.

We do not get him back until late in the season or god forbid, not at all this season (highly possible IMHO) and we are well and truly in a relegation fight we may not win.

[sutts07]

Sorry to bang on about Villa, but they also bought Nicklas Helenius in the summer, 22 year old 6 ft 5 Danish player of the year last season - that makes 2 solid hench backup options for Benteke...

This is the same Villa side who are just five points in front of us and could not manage a goal against us right??

It is tough to compare the two as they already had one great 22 goals per season striker (just as well they did too) so picking up a couple of mid - low priced back up options was their priority in the summer.

We didn't have that type of player in place so our priority had to be to try and spend big to get one.

[The Old Man of Storr]

The thing is , Crouchend , is that we could have 10 strikers and Sam would only play 1 of them up front , it's his preferred set-up .
Did you see Carroll's debut against Fulham , he was magnificent , all three goals were a result of his play , did you see his goal against Manchester City at their ground , ok , not a fantastic strike , but their defence , the best that billions can buy , couldn't get near him , he brought the ball down even though he was surrounded by Man City defenders and coolly slotted it home . There's no one like him , he's a one-off , he's brilliant at what he does . And that's the way that Sam prefers to set up his teams .
It may not be the Swansea way or the Liverpool way , but it is our way , and it works...... when Andy's fit , the only problem is that we didn't get a good enough replacement when he isn't .
When Carroll returns , so will the team , it's as simple as that .
The game that made us all think that we could manage without him was the Tottenham game , and when we didn't push on after that , our heads have all dropped again .
Sam needs to read the Bumper Book Of Football Tactics by Sammi Allardici before every game , not just twice a season .

[QuintonNimoy]

Signing AC was a much bigger risk. He was injury prone at Newcastle, Very injury prone at Liverpool and IIRC he missed 12 games for us injured last season. So trial or not, we made a mistake, IMO, ploughing £15m and pretty much most of our transfer budget into a very injury prone player.

We did try to cover it by getting a loan player in. That's how G&S always cover their risks with the squad (AC was such a signing), except this time around they failed.

It's pointless people arguing about this as if the context of the rest of the activity in the window just didn't happen. They knew they needed more cover, they tried to get a backup. Last season's performance probably produced complacency amongst those negotiating. The mistake was in the failure to get cover - players will always get injured regardless of their record.

[The Sherriff]

I thought Carroll was class when fit last season.

Being able to watch at close quaters was a pleasure at times, he wasnt the most profilic but that was as much to do with we how set up around Nolan. Something of a thankless task playing up front alone for us over the last couple of seasons - Carroll though (In my very humble opinion) was/is the complete team player. Does alot of unselfish work for the greater good.

Funny what sticks in your head, the games in which he didnt score last season were the ones I remember more. Newcastle away hes on the edge of his 18yard box clearing headers and helping out the defence towards the end of the game.Bullying Man Utd at home and tearing Vidic and Rio a new one. Chelsea away he was the best player on the pitch by a mile and Reading at home he just took the piss.

A far better player than what most give him credit for. Wand of a left foot, good technical ability and a tidy footballing brain.

Shame that his absence will probably result in not going to Brazil. Be a great option for England as he proved at last years Euro's

[Crouchend_Hammer]

Old Man of Storr - yes I was at the Fulham game and he played well, admittedly against a very average team. I also saw Carlton Cole destroy Chelsea and Everton (until he got sent off). In my opinion, Carroll's performances last season were massively over-hyped (when he was actually fit), most of the time i thought he was fairly average (especially against the decent teams where you expect him to step up). Certainly not worth the gay singing at him to sign up at the last game (cringe-worthy) and our one-eyed pursuit for him for the entire summer period at the expense of other potential targets. No other clubs were interested in him, and i think that pretty much says it all, and yet he still took all summer to sign. hardly banging our door down to play for us.

[EvilC]

lolwomen, lolTwitter and lolArsenal fans aside, I should probably share this in order to cause mass hysteria....

Hayley ‏@HayleyWright 33m
I've heard from a reliable source that it may be curtains for Andy Carroll's career. The big bosses at West Ham think he's finished.

Hayley ‏@HayleyWright 32m
In fact, I've heard this news from two reliable sources, so I'd be surprised to see him play football again.

I think she is something to do with Arseblog, which Arsenal fans seem to love. They are obviously c**** though.

[the pink palermo]

Yet another top post from The Sherriff

and , this comment from Quinton Nimoy

The mistake was in the failure to get cover - players will always get injured regardless of their record.

is quite correct .

[Whufc06]

It's very blinkered to believe that what's happened to Carroll this season is just bad luck. It seems our management were as blinkered as some fans, I just hope it doesn't cost us our place in the division.

[Hammertime1]

I'm prepared to give AC the benefit of the doubt i have.

HOWEVER,

When do you give up on him?

He is practically worthless now so we are stuck with him for at least 3 years. A half seasons fitness a year is no use as you need to build the team around your record signing.

I'd say write this season off. Give him every chance to return to full fitness. Bring in a Defoe and Lukaku type of partnership and give Jarvo and Downing something to aim at.