Slaven Bilic appears determined to continue with Andy Carroll as his central striker - despite forking out £16million during the summer in order to purchase Javier Hernandez.
The Mexican international cut a forlorn figure as he trudged off the field at West Brom on Saturday afternoon having been substituted for the second successive match after once again failing to make an impact.Embed from Getty Images
The manager's insistance on playing Hernandez out of position on the left of a three-pronged attack has led to much criticism from the fan base - however Bilic seems determined to continue with his experiment in order to accomodate Carroll.
"Andy is always a threat," Bilic told whufc.com. "It is very important for him to get the games under his belt. He looks good now, touch wood.
"This was his second game; he looks fit, he looks competitive and the quality will come through in the games. It’s a big boost for us and hopefully long may it continue.
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"He looked unhappy [when substituted] but we have quality players on the bench and we changed the whole three up front because we had Ayew, Arnautovic and Sakho. I was very happy with the way they kept the shape, defended and pressed."
Carroll, who was replaced by Diafra Sakho with eight minutes of play remaining at The Hawthorns enjoyed three of West Ham's nine efforts at goal during the game.
Meanwhile Hernandez, playing to the left of Carroll didn't take a single shot - and managed to touch the ball just ONCE in Albion's box during the entire match.
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