West Ham v Newcastle: Fit-again Andy Carroll can save stuttering Hammers from drop

17 January 2014

After featuring in his first game of the season last weekend, England striker Andy Carroll is the key man to Sam Allardyce’s hopes of keeping West Ham in the Premier League.

The Geordie centre-forward came on for the final 18 minutes of West Ham’s vital 2 – 0 victory over relegation rivals Cardiff City, with a slightly clumsy cameo that eventually saw his composed pass setting up Mark Noble’s late goal to seal the match.

Allardyce effectively put all his eggs in one basket when he spent £15m, a club record, to secure Carroll’s services on a full-time basis last summer. But since then, the striker has endured a frustrating eight months on the sidelines, recovering from a heel injury he sustained at the close of the last campaign.

Visits to specialists in Antwerp meant Carroll was able to return to training at the start of January, but in the meantime West Ham had slipped into a desperately close relegation scrap. The club faced a striker crisis in his absence, even going so far as to re-sign Carlton Cole just months after releasing him from the squad.

With pressure mounting on Hammer’s boss Allardyce, slightly eased by the win at Cardiff, Carroll’s return to the first team is a significant boost. The towering centre-forward has to be considered the most important player for West Ham’s survival hopes. With the team’s long ball tactics geared towards his exploiting his lofty presence up front, Carroll is the talismanic figure that Allardyce needs to lead his team if he is to rescue the Irons from relegation.

Before his injury-induced absence, Carroll had spent his initial season on-loan from Liverpool growing into West Ham’s leading man; settled, commanding and powerful, a player who had come a long way from his wild, youthful performances for boyhood club Newcastle United.

Indeed his breakthrough into the Magpies first team coincided with a series of altercations that led to Carroll being accused of assaulting his girlfriend and subsequently being forced to live with Newcastle (and now West Ham) captain, Kevin Nolan. The charges were later dropped.

But his performances were becoming more and more eye-catching. Carroll was Newcastle’s top scorer in their Championship winning season of 2009/10 and had scored 11 goals in 19 Premier league appearances the following season.

Then came a career defining moment: Liverpool swooped for Carroll in a last-gasp, £35m deal that has gone down as one of the most famous transfer deadline days in history, as they looked to replace the £50m Chelsea-bound Fernando Torres.

Andy Carroll joins his team-mates as they prepare to fly back to England

Carroll struggled to replicate his Newcastle form during his time at Anfield, made worse by regular spells out through injury. The £35m price tag did not help matters, as expectations were based unfairly on a vastly inflated fee.

But there were signs of improvement. He won his first major trophy when Liverpool secured the 2012 League Cup, and then scored what proved to be the winner with a glancing header that sent Liverpool into that season’s FA Cup final, and sent their fans into rapturous joy.

His performance in the final was even better. He started on the bench but brought Liverpool back into the contest against Chelsea with a smart finish from a narrow angle before nearly sending the match into extra time with a header that the officials ruled had not crossed the line.

In fact, Carroll’s performances continued to improve that season and he played a key role in England’s Euro 2012 campaign featuring in three out of four matches and scoring in the hard fought win over Sweden.

And so Carroll’s return to first team football comes at a vital time for another manager: Roy Hodgson.

The England boss will need Carroll back to full fitness as he can provide excellent alternative to fellow strikers Rooney, Welbeck and Sturridge. Carroll’s physical presence could be just the foil England need should Hodgson require a plan B.

With club and country expectant, Carroll desperately needs to prove his fitness and a return to his former club Newcastle this weekend is the perfect chance to demonstrate his capabilities.

West Ham v Newcastle: Fit-again Andy Carroll can save stuttering Hammers from drop

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