Andy Carroll doubtful for West Ham’s weekend clash with Watford, admits Slaven Bilic

Striking absence | Carroll could miss weekend clash
James Griffiths/West Ham United via Getty Images
Ken Dyer23 February 2017

Slaven Bilic has admitted that his injury-prone striker Andy Carroll remains doubtful for Saturday’s trip to Watford.

Carroll has been struggling with a persistent groin injury for several weeks and Bilic said: “Andy came with is to Dubai last week but his recovery has been slower than we hoped. I was expecting him to train over there. He will try to run today and I don’t want to rule him out yet for Watford. With Andy you never know.

“If he trains tomorrow, then maybe he will be in the squad.

“When he is fit he is a top striker but I told him in Dubai and again yesterday about the small things that are damaging his rhythm and are not good for him, for us or for his call-up for England.

“The same thing happened last season. He was great in the beginning of the year and then he was injured and didn’t play for a few weeks. This is not a big injury but he needs to play, he needs to be available.

“As far as I know he is looking after himself. He was in the gym yesterday for an hour and a half.”

Bilic believes the five-day trip to Dubai was good, both for his players’ fitness and morale.

“Dubai was really good,” he said. “We trained more than we would have done here and it was also good for team bonding.

“It was a great trip and I think we are going to benefit from it.”

West Ham lost 4-2 to Watford at home in September but Bilic said: “We are a different team now. A lot of things have changed. When we played them in September we had a lot of players injured and we had to push players in who were not totally fit because we had no other options.

“We are in much better shape now.”

The West Ham manager was also asked about Wayne Rooney’s future should he leave Manchester United.

“He is 31, he definitely has the quality to stay in Europe and he will have enough choices,” he said. “On the other hand he has done everything, he has nothing to prove and it is difficult for players like that to find new challenges. Where can you go after Manchester United?

“It is his decision of course though. He is, for me, a proper Premier League legend along with Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and Thierry Henry.”

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