West Ham United winger Marko Arnuatovic was taken off at half-time against Burnley.
Carroll was sent off for two acts of stupidity at Turf Moor at the weekend, as West Ham picked up a 1-1 draw against the Clarets.
The target-man centre-forward first unfairly challenged James Tarkowski in the air, and then did the same with Ben Mee to pick up two bookings.
Carroll could have few complaints with his sending off, and Bilic admitted the striker’s moments of madness led to him having to withdraw Arnautovic at half-time.
“That was tactical,” Bilic said about the Arnautovic sub.
“He had a slow start because of the mistake that he did. That was only because he got suspended and he missed the last game against Swansea because of the flu.
“Today, as I said, he didn’t go out because of the performance. Myself and my staff decided we needed an extra man in midfield. It was a good decision. It was only a tactical reason for that change.”
Arnatuovic is still needing to win over the West Ham crowd after his move from Stoke City, but being sacrificed at half-time hardly helped the Austrian’s cause.
The skilful winger is yet to show his top form for the Hammers, but he could have injected the creativity needed at Turf Moor.
Arnautovic, instead, did little to catch the eye – and Carroll should take the blame for that.
The England international now owes all his teammates an apology, but Arnautovic may be justified to feel the most angry about Carroll’s red.
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