Slav weary of the Carroll debate!
Speaking to the media after watching his side limp into the fourth round of the FA Cup after beating Wolves, he said he feels he talks “too much” about Andy but reiterated the striker “knows what he has to do”.
He added: “He is in good shape. I told him now that he has to stay fit and look after himself because now he looks really fit.”
Reflecting on the game as a whole, he said: “In the FA Cup, very often it’s very tough when you play teams that are in the leagues below you.
“But well done to the lads. We’ve played against a team that hadn’t conceded in, I think, three games, they were stubborn and resilient.
“We knew we would need to break them down and unlock them but it often has to be a mistake they make and they didn’t make many a lot of them.
“[As the attacking side], you need to move the ball and quickly pass to the flanks, get players into one-on-one situations and then produce some quality. We were patient.
“We were always going to put Payet on because he needs more games. We then put Andy on and he had his usual big impact.
“It was a wonderful goal for Jelavic. I’m happy to go through with a clean sheet and a great goal from Jelavic.”
He conceded he had resigned himself to take his side to Wolves for a replay for Jelavic’s late strike.
“We were ready to play another game and to have a replay,” he said. “I didn’t know we were going to score but the players did everything to score.
“They pushed. It wasn’t the Alamo, we wanted to settle this in one game.”
He later added: “We didn’t have a negative performance, we were ready for the replay but I’m happy we don’t have to do it.
“We are not in the same situation like Liverpool who are in two cups and Europe. We have a big enough squad [to cope with FA Cup replays]”