Slaven Bilic hopes that Andy Carroll picks the right chocolate out of the box this afternoon after comparing his fitness to the famous Forrest Gump scene.
Although he’s a big admirer of the striker the manager clearly finds him and his injury problems about as frustrating as it can get.
And he drew on the perfect comparison when describing how he manages life with the in and out player. He said: “There comes a time, when he is fit and looking good in training, when you just have to put him in.
“You could say it’s a bit like Forrest Gump and
Wrong chocolate
the chocolate box scene.
“You never know what you are going to get until you open it although, in Andy’s case, you do know you will always get impact and determination.”
Bilic adopts a slightly different approach from his predecessor Sam Allardyce, who warned Carroll he must hold back on his all-action style in training but only to a certain extent.
He said: “I like intensive training from every player and that’s a must because without that you can’t be switched on for games.
“But I’m talking about the first week when he comes back from injury. He goes in straight away, like he was training yesterday. And that’s like how he plays.
“He goes straight in and he goes like crazy, 100 percent, because this is a very important part of his game. You don’t want him to lose that because that’s key for the way he plays but he has to manage the crucial time when he starts training to have something in between.”