Andy Carroll came up against Newcastle United in a Premier League encounter and he managed to get one over his former club.
Carroll came through the ranks at Newcastle before making his Premier League debut with the club in 2006. Since then, he moved to Liverpool for a British transfer record fee of £ 35 million. He still remains the most expensive British player even though his valuation has considerably dropped the since then. West Ham managed to sign him on a permanent basis in the summer for around £ 15 million.
The transfer, though, looked like a grave mistake after the 25-year-old has spent much of the season on the sidelines. He recently returned to full fitness and has been involved in West Ham United’s season. Even though he has not scored since his return, Carroll helped his team get a narrow 1-0 win over Newcastle.
This finally saw Newcastle end the impressive run of five straight win the league victories, which almost lifted them on the verge of a Champions League spot. Aaron Cresswell scored the only goal of the game in the second half before Newcastle midfielder Sissoko was sent off for a second bookable offence.
Carroll said after the match that was strange to see him beat Newcastle, a club that he supports.“I thought the lads played well and we deserved to win.Newcastle have had a great season and have been playing well, and they had been undefeated in a few games, so it is even better to beat them. They are my old team so I have mixed emotions really, with my family, who I have just been in the box with, but we’ve got the three points so we’re happy. We’re happy with our position and we have been playing well,” said Carroll.
West Ham United still has not recovered the €15 million they spend in signing Andy Carroll from Liverpool back in May of 2013. The English attacker has only scored 9 goals in 39 league appearances for his club. Carroll is currently undergoing a recovery treatment which is expected to be completed around New Year’s.
Carroll’s history of injuries has seen him missing out from the majority of last season due to an Achilles problem and now he has once more been hit with an injury that is yet again going to be leaving him out of action for an extensive period of time. West Ham United’s Sam Allardyce has recently spoken to the public concerning the condition of Andy Carroll as he stated that the former Liverpool player is ‘’miserable’’ due to all of these recent injuries.
Sam Allardyce told reporters: “He is pretty miserable. He is not very happy with life at the moment because it is a massive blow to him again. We just have to pick his spirits up. Hopefully when the boot comes off and the specialist gives him the okay to start working again he will feel a lot happier with himself. But he is certainly very upset and very miserable at this moment in time.”
Andy Carroll’s large absence from the playing grounds has forced Allardyce on having to look around in the transfer market for players that could fill in the gap left by the English forward with Diafra Sakho and Enner Valencia being some of the latest attacking players being signed by Allardyce.
Even though Carroll is not expected to play for the remainder of the current year, Allardyce remains confident that West Ham United can still be able to enjoy a fairly successful Premier League season by finishing in the top 10 spots.
Despite having already signed: Mauro Zarate, Cheikhour Kouyate, Diego Poyet and Aaron Cresswell in this summer transfer window, the manager of West Ham United Sam Allardyce revealed that he still has some busy days ahead as there more players he would like to sign but it depends on the budget.
“I think there are three or four positions but it depends on the budget. You would say there is still room for a young central defender, particularly a left-footed one because we do run with three and not four. Ideally, you would have four. You would also say we need another left-back to go along with Aaron and I think a front-line player and the possibility of a midfield player as well.” Allardyce told reporters as he responded to questions regarding the transfer window of West Ham.
Sam Allardyce guided West Ham United to a comfortable mid-section spot in the Premier League in the previous season of the Premier League which was a very impressive feat to accomplish considering the limited resources that he had available. It certainly wasn’t a dream season for Allarydce and the players but they managed on steering clear away from the relegation zone.
Now that Allardyce has been given a decent transfer budget for him to strengthen the squad, they could aim for higher spots.
The midfield section of West Ham United has recently been weakened after Jack Collison and Joe Cole departed the club but it is believed that Sam Allardyce is attempting to lure the Portuguese midfielder Raul Meireles away from Fenerbahce and into West Ham.
Another player who has impressed Allardyce is the Ukrainian Yevhen Konoplyanka who enjoyed going through an impressive past season with his club Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk as he scored 13 goals in 36 appearances as well as providing a large number of assists throughout the previous campaign.
Arsene Wenger has insisted that his team will not be taking the threat from West Ham striker Andy Carroll lightly as Arsenal visit at Upton Park to take on West Ham. This will be an important match for the gunners given that they have to win in order to maintain their push for a top four place. A victory would take them about Everton, although the toffees have the opportunity to claw back the advantage when they take on Manchester United during the weekend. Arsenal slipped behind Everton following the latest round of league matches.
Despite qualifying for the FA Cup finals, Arsene Wenger has stated on several occasions that finishing in the top four is more important. A victory in the FA Cup offers around £ 2 million in revenue and prize money, while being in the group stages of the Champions League alone is estimated to be worth more than £ 30 million. One of the biggest threats from now till the end of the season would be the match at Upton Park.
Despite Arsenal having registered six straight victories against the hammers, Wenger is not taking this match easily. He is also wary of the threat from former Liverpool striker Andy Carroll, who is just returning to full fitness.
“Yes [we must take special care with him] because once the ball is up there, you do not find many people who can compete with him and win the challenge. So what is important is that we stop the balls going to him. Of that quality, in the air, there are not many [players of that quality]. West Ham are in a comfortable position, that means they can play without fear. We have a battle with Everton and of course it’s now down to consistency,” said Wenger ahead of the match.
December 19, 2014 12:15 pm | 