OPINION
West Ham attacker Andy Carroll had another bad day at the office on Saturday as he struggled to deliver the goods when facing AFC Wimbledon.
The League One outfit defeated the Hammers 4-2 and the 30-year-old forward’s run of poor form continued during that match as he just looked incapable of scoring for his side.
BBC pundit Leon Osman analysed the match and in particular highlighted Carroll’s display before going to suggest that the attacker’s struggles especially in his latest outing were due to his teammates not understanding him.
“Well they were poor, they didn’t come out with any kind of attitude in first half, they played Andy Carroll upfront in a front two which they haven’t done much this season and they just looked like they didn’t know how to play,” said Osman on Match of the Day’s FA Cup highlight show (BBC One, Saturday January 26th, 22:36).
“They didn’t seem to understand that you need to get the ball wide and up to him for knock downs, they were still trying to play little passes through the middle of the park…”
Osman hits the nail on the head with his remarks as while Carroll does need to drastically up his game on his own, his current Hammers teammates do not make it easy for him by the way they play.
The forward has only scored one goal in his 11 outings this season and he is clearly struggling for any form in front of goal.
However if more crosses were whipped into the box when the veteran forward is playing in order to utilise his aerial threat, he’d probably have more goals to show for his efforts.
Granted it’s true that Carroll has missed some golden opportunity in his outings this season but that still doesn’t mean his teammates aren’t to blame for his struggles.
It was painfully obvious, as Osman remarked, that during the clash with Wimbledon, Hammers players treated Carroll like he was Javier Hernandez rather than find a way to play to his strength.
If Manuel Pellegrini is set to keep the faith with Carroll in the coming weeks then he has to get it through to the forward’s teammates that they are meant to help him score not hinder.