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Slaven Bilic has backed Andy Carroll to continue to show he is a 'very special' player in Wednesday night's FA Cup quarter-final replay against Manchester United - and confirmed Diafra Sakho will miss out through injury. Carroll struck a hat-trick in Saturday's Barclays Premier League 3-3 draw with Arsenal as Sakho sat the match out.
The England international has struggled with injuries ever since he moved to Upton Park but has seen his stock rise in recent weeks - with some calling for Carroll to now be included in Roy Hodgson's squad for the European Championships. Bilic revealed injury ruled Sakho out of the Arsenal clash, and Carroll took his chance to impress. He will now be looking to replicate such form to earn West Ham a Wembley FA Cup semi-final date with Everton.
Bilic said: "I said my opinion about him and it doesn't vary to most of the football people's opinion of Andy.
"When he is fit and in form he is very special and gives you something, he is different.
"It is hard to mark him and hard to cope with him. For us he has done really good every time he is fit. He doesn't have to score, his presence on the pitch gives us another quality and dimension.
"I don't know about the England squad. There are debates in Croatia which is much more of a team with the same expectations as England.
"(Luka) Modric or (Ivan) Rakitic? There is a debate there. Who should go with the first team. Now the situation with Dejan Lovren and all that. Of course it is also here. It gives the manager a problem. But he is doing a good job."
Sakho withdrew from Saturday's Barclays Premier League meeting against Arsenal, citing an injury suffered in the last training session ahead of the game as the reason.
But the Senegal striker posted an early-morning message on social network Snapchat ahead of the match which read: "When I'm hated I don't give a f***, I do everything to be more hated."
Slaven Bilic has backed Andy Carroll to continue to show he is a 'very special' player in Wednesday night's FA Cup quarter-final replay against Manchester United - and confirmed Diafra Sakho will miss out through injury. Carroll struck a hat-trick in Saturday's Barclays Premier League 3-3 draw with Arsenal as Sakho sat the match out.
The England international has struggled with injuries ever since he moved to Upton Park but has seen his stock rise in recent weeks - with some calling for Carroll to now be included in Roy Hodgson's squad for the European Championships. Bilic revealed injury ruled Sakho out of the Arsenal clash, and Carroll took his chance to impress. He will now be looking to replicate such form to earn West Ham a Wembley FA Cup semi-final date with Everton.
Bilic said: "I said my opinion about him and it doesn't vary to most of the football people's opinion of Andy.
"When he is fit and in form he is very special and gives you something, he is different.
"It is hard to mark him and hard to cope with him. For us he has done really good every time he is fit. He doesn't have to score, his presence on the pitch gives us another quality and dimension.
"I don't know about the England squad. There are debates in Croatia which is much more of a team with the same expectations as England.
"(Luka) Modric or (Ivan) Rakitic? There is a debate there. Who should go with the first team. Now the situation with Dejan Lovren and all that. Of course it is also here. It gives the manager a problem. But he is doing a good job."
Sakho withdrew from Saturday's Barclays Premier League meeting against Arsenal, citing an injury suffered in the last training session ahead of the game as the reason.
But the Senegal striker posted an early-morning message on social network Snapchat ahead of the match which read: "When I'm hated I don't give a f***, I do everything to be more hated."
It was suggested the message related to his non-selection against the Gunners, but that has been dismissed. And Bilic moved to clear up any confusion, explaining he is likely to be without the 26-year-old for the cup replay or Saturday's trip to league-leaders Leicester.
"The situation is very simple," he said.
"He reported an injury after training on Friday and then he was not in the squad, yesterday he had a scan and it reported a little bit of a problem.
"He is out for hopefully one week, not more than that, but for this week he is definitely out and hopefully he will be back on Monday."
Meanwhile, Ander Herrera has stressed there is no doubt in the Manchester United camp about the significance of the replay. The competition, which United have won 11 times but not since 2004, represents the final chance of a trophy in what has been a disappointing season for the Old Trafford club.
The last time they claimed silverware of any kind was in 2013, and Red Devils midfielder Herrera - who joined in 2014 - told MUTV: "We realise how important it is for us as players and for our fans to get a trophy.
"I know how important the FA Cup is for our fans.
"And we don't have players in the dressing room who have won it for United.
"I was talking to (United midfielder) Michael Carrick about it and he told me he wants to win and get to Wembley."
Herrera has also made it clear how excited he is personally by the prospect of playing at Wembley, although he has every expectation West Ham will prove tough to get past.
"If we beat West Ham we'll have the chance to play at Wembley, which is a fantastic stadium," Herrera said.
"I have a lot of things in mind about being there and we have a big chance to be there - but of course West Ham away is not easy."
United captain Wayne Rooney could make his first-team return in Wednesday's game. The forward played 61 minutes for United's Under-21s on Monday in his first outing since sustaining a knee injury in February.
"The situation is very simple," he said.
"He reported an injury after training on Friday and then he was not in the squad, yesterday he had a scan and it reported a little bit of a problem.
"He is out for hopefully one week, not more than that, but for this week he is definitely out and hopefully he will be back on Monday."
Meanwhile, Ander Herrera has stressed there is no doubt in the Manchester United camp about the significance of the replay. The competition, which United have won 11 times but not since 2004, represents the final chance of a trophy in what has been a disappointing season for the Old Trafford club.
The last time they claimed silverware of any kind was in 2013, and Red Devils midfielder Herrera - who joined in 2014 - told MUTV: "We realise how important it is for us as players and for our fans to get a trophy.
"I know how important the FA Cup is for our fans.
"And we don't have players in the dressing room who have won it for United.
"I was talking to (United midfielder) Michael Carrick about it and he told me he wants to win and get to Wembley."
Herrera has also made it clear how excited he is personally by the prospect of playing at Wembley, although he has every expectation West Ham will prove tough to get past.
"If we beat West Ham we'll have the chance to play at Wembley, which is a fantastic stadium," Herrera said.
"I have a lot of things in mind about being there and we have a big chance to be there - but of course West Ham away is not easy."
United captain Wayne Rooney could make his first-team return in Wednesday's game. The forward played 61 minutes for United's Under-21s on Monday in his first outing since sustaining a knee injury in February.
Source: PAR
