It can often be a source of head-scratching. What is the point of attacking substitutions in stoppage time? The West Ham United crowd were delighted to see Andy Carroll enter the fray at the very end for sentimental reasons; it was the centre-forward’s first football of the season after ankle surgery in July but there was also muttering. He would hardly have the time to make the difference.
Carroll, though, was revved up and he so nearly brought the house down with his first touch. From Stewart Downing’s cross, he flexed his neck muscles and whipped in a vicious header at goal. It looked set to cut through the stalemate and the general torpor only for Brad Guzan to produce a marvellous reaction save. The Aston Villa manager, Paul Lambert, described it as world-class. Guzan would go on to deny Carroll with a more regulation stop from another header.
“It would have been really great for us all if Andy had scored the winner, especially him,” Sam Allardyce said, a little wistfully. “That wasn’t to be but the impact was very good.”
It felt as if Carroll had gone from nought to 60 in no time at all and the West Ham manager said the 25-year-old would doubtless think he was ready to turn on the afterburners. Carroll, he noted, was utterly fearless and the determination to make up for lost time can be expected to be overwhelming.
Allardyce, though, preached caution and patience. Carroll was effectively starting pre-season all over again and Allardyce said he would not be fit for another five or six matches. Carroll’s West Ham career has been blighted by injury setbacks and Allardyce said he would blame himself if there was another one.
“We must not think he is ready, which he will do because all players do,” he said. “It is about me having a firm strength of mind and saying, ‘You are in pre-season. If I put you on any quicker and you get injured again, then it will be my fault, not yours.’ I am not willing to do that because the squad we have is working fantastically well.”
West Ham were frustrated by Villa. The Hammers created the chances to have won but a combination of bad finishing and Guzan meant they lamented dropped points. It was Villa who departed with their chins up, principally because the result had halted their sequence of six consecutive league defeats – the club’s worst run in almost half a century.
West Ham still sit prettily but, according to Allardyce, the serious push will come after the international break when squad depth and options, such as Carroll, stand to be crucial.
“Keeping the squad fit will be a big one for us this year,” Allardyce said. “Once the internationals stop the recovery time is few and far between as we go into our bizarre Christmas period.
“We watch everybody across the world enjoying Christmas and we just plod and slog away with four games in eight days. When you get to the fourth game the lads are perceived to be not trying but they are goosed – knackered mentally and physically – but nobody gives a damn about that.
“In many ways I agree with it because it is so exciting for everybody but you have to give us a break in January. Look at the stats. Look at the injuries people get.
“Shut it down after the FA Cup third round and we can come back ready for the rest of the season.”
Man of the match Stewart Downing (West Ham)
