The Eagles manager sees similarities between Carroll and Wickham but says his striker must learn to protect himself to avoid injury.
Crystal Palace manager Alan Pardew has drawn comparisons between his striker Connor Wickham and West Ham United target man Andy Carroll, and says Wickham must learn from the Hammers star how to protect himself and avoid injury, as quoted by the Daily Express.
Wickham’s first season since joining the Eagles from Sunderland last summer has been hampered by injury to the extent that the 23-year-old has managed just 18 appearances in all competitions for his new club.
That has prevented him building up any kind of head of stem this season for the Eagles, exemplified six weeks ago when he scored four goals in the space of four days, only to then be ruled out of action for a month.
Pardew sees attributes in Wickham also possessed by Carroll, whom the manager coached at Newcastle United, such as his surprising turn of pace for a big striker and the muscular, aggressive nature to their play.
However, he says it is Carroll’s apparent new-found resilience to injury, which has seen the former England striker having been fit since the start of December, that Wickham must learn to replicate.
Pardew said, as quoted by the Daily Express: “I had Andy Carroll [at Newcastle] and I heard Slaven Bilic at West Ham saying last week that the big guys, they need to really focus on looking after themselves.
“And they are both heavy and aggressive players, who are quick, and that does make them more prone to injuries than most players. So they need to protect themselves in training sometimes and certainly protect themselves when they get injured, and look after themselves
“And Connor we are educating on that front. He’s had some terrific games for us but just not enough of them. We’ve really missed his presence at times.”
Palace have struggled for goals this season, due mainly to the fact they have not had a regular scorer in attack throughout the campaign.
Their top scorer in all competitions is midfielder and penalty-taker Yohan Cabaye with six, whilst Wickham’s five Premier League goals, the most of any striker at the club, is the same tally as that of Cabaye and centre-back Scott Dann.
Only one of Dwight Gayle’s five strikes has been in the league, whilst Fraizer Campbell, Emmanuel Adebayor, and Marouane Chamkh have netted just three times between them in all competitions.
Wickham has shown signs that he could fill that void for the club next season, but only if he can put his injury problems behind him over the summer.
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