Andy Carroll: West Brom striker says players 'understand' fans' frustration
- Published
Andy Carroll has scored twice in 11 appearances for West Brom so far this season
Andy Carroll says the West Bromwich Albion players share the fans' frustration at the inconsistency that is hampering their promotion challenge.
Carroll scored in Wednesday's 2-0 win over second-placed Bournemouth that just about kept their hopes of a Championship top-six finish intact.
Albion are seven points adrift of the play-off places with six games to go.
"I understand the frustration from the fans - but it's also from us as well," Carroll, 33, told BBC Radio WM.
"It's a bit of a crazy one - it's up and down at the minute but when we perform like that we can beat anyone."
A run of six defeats in seven games - including four in the first five games of new boss Steve Bruce's reign at the start of February - dealt a significant blow to the Baggies' play-off hopes.
But three wins and two draws, to go with their lacklustre derby defeat at Birmingham, have maintained an outside chance.
It seems likely they will need to win most, if not all, of their remaining games to sneak in to the top six.
Carroll, who was also on target in the previous home win over champions-elect Fulham, says the side's unpredictability is a hard one to understand.
"When we beat the likes of Fulham and Bournemouth and we play well it's frustrating," he added.
"It's just one of those things we have to put right on the training pitch and if we can perform like that every week, we can beat anyone.
"It's a bit of a crazy one - it's up and down at the minute.
"If I or anyone else could put it down to something, we wouldn't be getting beat - we'd be winning every week but everyone's on the same page. We all want to win and do well.
"It's a difficult one when we don't perform well and get beat and don't perform like we can."
'Falling in love' with the game again
Former England, Newcastle, Liverpool and West Ham striker Carroll joined the Baggies from Reading in the January transfer window on a deal until the end of the season and says he would be "delighted" to extend his stay at The Hawthorns beyond the summer.
It is a situation that he didn't think he's find himself in when his second spell with boyhood club Newcastle ended last summer.
"The beginning of the season was really tough," he said. "I didn't have a club for the first couple of months and I was with the family and it was all alright.
"But then I got a bit bored and needed to get back in somewhere. I got back in at Reading and fell in love with the game again.
"It was great to be on the pitch with the lads.
"Something just switched in my head and that I need to be back and play as hard as ever."
Andy Carroll spent four months without a club before joining Reading in November