Cottee Column: Flores should have been disciplined – not West Ham star

Andy Carroll is shown the red card by Howard Webb

What a great victory for the Hammers on Saturday. It was a must-win game and the boys came up trumps firstly with some good attacking play and then defending well when we went down to 10 men.

There are two things to say about the sending off of Andy Carroll against Swansea. Firstly, was the fact that it didn’t affect the result of the game.

You see many matches where you lose a player and then go on to concede a couple of goals, but that would have been really unfair on the Hammers.

Secondly, you have to say that Chico Flores in an absolute disgrace. He feigned injury in the match at Swansea earlier in the season and Big Sam rightly laughed at him, and he did it again on Saturday when it was clear from the replays that Carroll might have grazed the top of his ponytail.

I think the challenge might have warranted a yellow card, but certainly no more than that. It would be nice if Flores could be disciplined for what he did.

We have been saying for years that this sort of behaviour needs to be clamped down on, but it never is and probably never will be.

It is certainly not a new thing. I remember my Leicester team-mate Robbie Savage going down like that in the League Cup final against Spurs after hardly being touched by Justin Edinburgh and it not something that I want to see in the English game.

I think the whole thing is a disgrace and I can’t stand players who blatantly cheat by feigning injuries.

Saturday’s win came on the back of a battling point at Chelsea last Wednesday.

It was a remarkable defensive display by the boys and I think they throughly deserved their point.

Jose Mourinho was clearly upset afterwards and though what he said in the press conference was nonsense when you think about how Chelsea sometimes play in the big games, both his and Sam’s comments were hilarious.

Villa clash will be a tough game

West Ham go to Aston Villa on Saturday and I must say that I am expecting a very tough game.

I have seen Villa a couple of times recently and Paul Lambert has certainly got them playing really well.

They had a fine win against West Brom recently and although they lost out 2-1 to Everton on Saturday, West Ham will have to be at their best to get anything out of the match.

The results in the last week have been excellent, but there is still a lot of work to be done before we can get ourselves really out of trouble.

As I have said all along, I believe we have the squad that will get us out of trouble. The players are returning from injury and our first XI is certainly capable of giving anyone a game.

I will go for a 1-1 draw on Saturday.