David Moyes has leapt to the defence of Andy Carroll, claiming that he is often the victim and not the perpetrator.
Carroll was singled out for criticism after West Ham fell to a 2-0 loss to Watford last weekend, with Carroll breaking Marvin Zeegelaar’s nose via an outstretched forearm within the opening ten minutes at Vicarage Road.
But Moyes, who replaced Slaven Bilic as West Ham manager earlier this month, insisted that his battering ram of a frontman is doing nothing wrong by leading with his arm, and claims that Carroll is too often made out to be the aggressor. He said;
I think it’s becoming ridiculous. A couple of times people climbed over Andy and fouled him. And all it was was, “No that’s okay, if it’s Andy it’s fine for that to go on”.
Just before he was booked, he was scythed by two people. If it been anyone else they would have gone down and taken a free-kick. Andy didn’t.
We are a country who want to rule out simulation. But he stays up and is hit by two people and gets zero protection.
Every time Andy plays is everyone going to say, “That’s a foul”? If they do then we’ve got to say now that if you’re six foot four you’d better go to basketball and stop being a centre-forward.
I’m telling you, you can only jump with your arms for leverage. It’s my specialist subject. I was a centre-half. I needed to use my arms for protection. If we are now saying you can’t use your arms for leverage then that isn’t in the rules of football.
The former Everton and Manchester United manager confirmed he will keep faith with Carroll against Leicester at the London Stadium on Friday night, despite having to haul him off in the second half at Watford for fear that he would be sent off.
It will be the first time the Scot has taken charge at the London Stadium since he replaced Bilic in the dugout, and he will be desperate to get his first win to lift the Hammers out of the relegation zone.
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