Laudrup labels Carroll dismissal ´harsh´

Swansea City manager Michael Laudrup believes West Ham striker Andy Carroll’s dismissal in the Welsh side’s 2-0 defeat was “a bit harsh”.

Carroll was dismissed in the 59th minute at Upton Park on Saturday following a seemingly innocuous aerial challenge with Chico Flores.

The England international’s flailing arm brushed Flores’ head after the duel, and referee Howard Webb immediately produced a straight red card to end the forward’s first home start of the season early.

West Ham were two up at the time of the incident, with Carroll having had a major impact by setting up both of captain Kevin Nolan’s first-half goals with typically adroit headed knock-downs.

Sam Allardyce confirmed after the game that West Ham will appeal the sending off, and his Swansea counterpart Laudrup admitted he felt Carroll had been unlucky.

“I thought it was a bit harsh,” said the Dane.

“The referee – a well-known international – had no doubts showing the red card, (but) my personal opinion is that it was contact without much more.”

When asked if Flores had made too much of the incident, Laudrup replied: “I can’t say, maybe he did. But again the referee must have seen the elbow that Carroll gave and judged that he did it on purpose.

“As far as I know the rules say if there’s an intention, that’s enough.

“I don’t know if he wanted to get him sent off. I have to talk to him about his intention.”

Laudrup went on to say that Swansea found it difficult to cope with West Ham’s direct style, but rued their failure to deal with the hosts’ focal point of the Carroll-Nolan partnership.

“We struggled with them physically – we knew with the return of Carroll the game would be direct,” he added.

“It’s a little disappointing that the first goal came from a situation we had analysed and talked about a lot before the game.

“I knew at 2-0 it would be very difficult as West Ham would close the game down.”