West Brom boss Tony Pulis won’t be taking Andy Carroll lightly should he appear at any point tomorrow.
The West Brom boss holds a healthy respect both for the striker and the Hammers manager Slaven Bilic who has refused to bow to criticism of the striker.
Carroll has a fifty/fifty chance of making the line up tomorrow but the odds are obviously high of him making an appearance at some stage.
And such is his respect for Bilic the West Brom boss admitted: “He has been phenominally successful and it is a long haul for a new manager at a club, however well he knows it, as Slaven does West Ham
Of Carroll Pulis declares: “The game has evolved and it goes in circles but Carroll’s a good player whatever your ideas are.
“I’m not sure if that sort of player is dying out but he is still a useful acquisition. If you play him the right way, he’ll definitely get goals.
“Whether you start with him or bring him on, he can be effective — I really do rate him.”
Bilic is under pressure to play Diafra Sakho in a central role and leave Carroll on the bench but against a well organised and strong tackling defence may defy expectations by choosing to go with the big man’s aerial power.
He has a big call to make after gleaning just one point from three games.
Wasn’t any great threat against the spuds and I don’t expect things to change against WBA. Teams know how to play us with Carroll up front so I expect him to come off the bench late in the game.If a suitable suitor comes for A.C in January I would be off loading him.Time to stop stuffing around with team selections and play our best to their strengths.I thought the days of nepotism had gone with Hippo?What I saw last week took me back to the Hippo dark ages.
Shut up Pulis! You wish we’d play him. Haha