West Ham boss Moyes defends Carroll over aerial duels
ByReuters
Published 24/11/2017 at 07:39 GMT
Nov 24 (Reuters) - West Ham United manager David Moyes believes Andy Carroll is being unfairly punished by referees when he contests high balls and says there is no malicious intent in the towering forward's technique.
Eurosport
Image credit: Eurosport
Carroll has received five yellow cards in seven Premier League appearances this season and was sent off in last month's 1-1 draw with Burnley after collecting two bookings in three minutes from aerial challenges.
The 28-year-old was booked in West Ham's 2-0 defeat by Watford last weekend and attracted criticism for making contact with opponents with his arms while jumping for the ball.
"I think it's becoming ridiculous," Moyes, who replaced the sacked Slaven Bilic earlier this month, told reporters. "I actually think as soon as the ball goes up everybody is already saying it's a foul against Andy.
"I'm telling you, you can only jump with your arms for leverage ... If we are now saying you can't use your arms for leverage then that isn't in the rules of football.
"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."
Carroll has yet to score this season for West Ham, who are 18th in the league and host Leicester City later on Friday. (Reporting by Aditi Prakash in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford; )
Scan me
Related Topics
Share this article
Advertisement
Advertisement