Andy Carroll will not be rushed, West Ham boss Slaven Bilic says
Thursday 24 September 2015 13:14, UK
Slaven Bilic has urged patience over Andy Carroll following the West Ham striker's first start in almost eight months.
Carroll is fully recovered from knee surgery and played more than an hour of the Capital One Cup defeat at Leicester.
Next up for West Ham is a home game against Norwich as they chase a fourth straight Premier League win, but Carroll will not necessarily be involved from the start.
"Andy couldn't do more in training," Bilic said. "After seven months out, these things take time. We have to be patient and we don't want to rush him.
"Having said that, he can only regain that edge by playing games, so we have to find the right balance."
Bilic can afford to take his time with record signing Carroll given West Ham's early-season results, which have included wins at Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City.
But last season brought a similarly encouraging start under Sam Allardyce, whose side were mixing it with the top four until falling away after Christmas.
Bilic said: "It's too early to talk about the start. At the end they lost a bit of motivation last season, it happened in February. But I'm not thinking about that period, all I'm thinking about now is the Norwich game. We are trying to mix the team.
"I'm just thinking about Norwich and Sunderland then we have the international break. It will be nice to win all games in the Premier League, that's our aim of course. That is important for every team we play."
Saturday's opponents have won home and away already this season, and the manager said: "Norwich are a really good team.
"We know it will be a difficult game, they have started very well. We have watched a few games, they are full of confidence. They defend as a unit and are very solid."
