Andy Carroll will be fined by West Ham after he was sent off following two bookings in as many minutes in the 1-1 draw at Burnley.
The striker was punished both times for elbowing, infuriating manager Slaven Bilic while team mate Pablo Zabaleta described the second challenge as “nasty”.
It is club policy to fine players who are sent off and it is understood Carroll will pay a five-figure sum.
West Ham were leading through a Michail Antonio goal when Carroll was booked by referee Stuart Attwell for leading with his arm in a challenge on Jan Tarkowski and then received a second yellow card 80 seconds later for a similar challenge on Ben Mee.
“For a player of Andy’s experience and everything, basically you can’t do that,” said Bilic. “I’m very frustrated and very angry. The first one can happen but the second one cannot happen, especially when you play away, then you are asking for trouble and it was just an unbelievably bad decision to even go there.”
Carroll was dismissed in the 27th minute and it was the second time this term West Ham had been reduced to 10 men before half time, the first being the 3-2 loss at Southampton in August.
“We need to be more careful because in the Premier League, playing with one player less for a long time is really hard,” said Zabaleta. “We were 1-0 up and we need to be clever.
“From my point of view, it [Carroll’s challenge] looks aggressive, especially the second one when he knew he was on a yellow already.
“We can talk sometimes about situations where it’s tough for the referee but there is nothing to say about the referee. I think these two challenges, Andy’s challenges, were a bit nasty from my point of view.”
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It was Carroll’s first red card since February 2014 which, given the nature of his game, is perhaps surprising.
He could even have been considered unfortunate that Attwell booked him for the first challenge - but in the event that he did, the second leap at Mee with his elbow raised yet again, was indefensible.
The 28-year-old is a throwback to a former time as his ex-manager Sam Allardyce mentioned yesterday on Sky Sports when, on the two challenges, he said: “You are always going to get into trouble today because it’s a soft game.”
Allardyce invariably picked Carroll when he was fit at West Ham, which sadly for the player and the club,has not been often enough.
So is it time, given the time the striker has been out injured since he signed for West Ham, in July 2013 for £15 million - plus this latest misdemeanour - for Bilic to go in another direction and have Carroll in reserve, as what is called in the modern game, an ‘impact’ player?
The truth is the combative front man will usually make an impact of some sort, whether he starts a game or comes off the bench. When Carroll is fit and the service into him is good, he can still be unplayable. He also possesses decent technique, as his superb volleyed goal against Crystal Palace last season demonstrated.
With Carroll is the side though, you have to play a certain way - and the opposition know that. Defences can push up, knowing that he is not going to run in behind.
Bilic will fully appreciate what Carroll brings to his West Ham team, even though he will feel badly let down by his striker’s indiscipline at the weekend.
West Ham fans will miss the spectacle of Carroll launching himself at the Brighton defence at the London Stadium on Friday as he sits out his one-match suspension.
It is how his team-mates perform in his absence that may help to decide his future involvement for the rest of this season.
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