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Kind words from Pelle but AC’s days look done

Manuel Pellegrini saw the Hammers miss out on the chance to go seventh but suggested the lads may have deserved more than they got on the south coast this afternoon (Sat).

He said: “Of course we are disappointed about the result. It was a very close game in the first 45 minutes, and in the second half we had a clear opportunity to score the first goal.

“We didn’t and then they scored a beautiful goal, but one which had a lot of luck too because the rebound came in exactly the position for their player to shoot.

“We had a reaction, but we couldn’t score and if you can’t score you don’t win the game. We are disappointed about that because this was our opportunity to go to seventh in the table, but football is like that.

Maybe sometimes you play games in which you deserve a better result, but you don’t get it.”

Andy Carroll had our best chance to score when ballooning the ball over the top from all of two yards but the manager refused to criticise him.

Instead he said: “Andy had a very clear chance, but he has had a long time without playing and it is not easy for a player to recover immediately.

“He is working hard and I’m sure that he will improve game-by-game.”

ClaretandHugh says: It’s usually very easy to accept Pellegrini’s appraisal of a game but he left one big unanswered question in his post match presser today – how he can see Andy Carroll ever becoming part of the way he wants to play the game. It now seems unlikely that Arnautovic will solve his problems with the club although we can all hope! But to be saying it’s not easy for today’s replacement  to recover from a long absence  and offering that as a reason why the striker missed from two yards really is a bit rich. He should have buried the chance – end of. What was equally as worrying was that he was unable to become the focal point of the attack and turn onto the final ball as it is played in. That’s simply not his game and Pellegrini knows it as well as any of us. It’s a problem I believe he will solve as I believe in the man but how you change the whole offensive game in less than 24 hours when your main striker starts acting up I really don’t know. What I do know is that the manager was protecting AC from yet more criticism and that’s admirable. Sadly for Andy I think his words were solely for public consumption and that the big fella is coming towards the end of his West Ham days. 

 

About Hugh5outhon1895

Hugh Southon is a lifelong Iron and the founding editor of ClaretandHugh. He is a national newspaper journalist of many years experience and was Bobby Moore's 'ghost' writer during the great man's lifetime. He describes ClaretandHugh as "the Hammers daily newspaper!" Follow on Twitter @hughsouthon

2 comments on “Kind words from Pelle but AC’s days look done

  1. Sorry Hugh I disagree with you. Pelle is completely right regarding Carroll. He has been out injured for nearly half the season with only a few minutes on the pitch. Remember the start of the season when we lost our first 4 games. Players were not playing like a team and it took time for them to click and play like a big team.
    Arnnie needs to go and either we get another striker in and wait for that striker to settle in or give the big man more game time. For me I’ll stick to what we have till the end of the season then make the decision.

  2. Carroll is awful. Doesn’t score. Zero technique. No pace. How he is still with us is beyond me

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