Whenever a club is underachieving it seems inevitable that somebody will become a scapegoat. It is one of the few guarantees in the beautiful game with many players succumbing to this fate. And Andy Carrollis the latest to be reined in.
After joining on deadline day in January, Carroll has been unable to hit the heights expected of him as the £35 million replacement for Fernando Torres which has led to the media and some Liverpool supporters wondering whether he is up to the task.
Questions have been raised over his on-pitch attitude, fitness and lifestyle, but with Kenny Dalglish refusing to criticise the striker, it seems that people on the outside have got it in for him. So is this a case of the media sensationalising something that all players go through? Or is patience starting to run thin with the 22-year-old?
Nobody can doubt that Carroll has so far failed to live up to expectations but it is becoming redundant to read that spending £35 million on a striker should equal goals and his so far goal shy Anfield career makes him useless. And while it is obvious that strikers will be judged by how often they get on the scoresheet, it is not the only thing to consider.
His time on Merseyside has been plagued by injuries that have prevented him from showing his power and eye for goal. Having joined the club with a torn thigh muscle it took until March before he could finally make his debut and after opening his account with two goals against Manchester City and looking sharp he suffered another injury setback, which has been linked to a lack of professionalism. But many young players suffer injuries when they play a lot of football and as the main striker at St. James’ Park it was likely that his body would suffer some affects.
On top of that, England manager Fabio Capello said that he needed to control his drinking to reach the top but club manager Dalglish rubbished these suggestions. When asked by a reporter about the player’s off-pitch antics the Scot claimed that “nobody knows” what his lifestyle is and that the press “milk” an unimportant issue. It is clear that King Kenny does not believe there is a problem and if the man that sees him day in and day out has no worries, then there is little to argue.
A big factor in this debate is the lack of game time Carroll has had because of his trouble adapting to the Liverpool style of play. Newcastle got the most from the striker because they utilised their wingers, getting in plenty of crosses and long balls that allowed Carroll to use his power and top class heading ability. Now at Anfield, the fluid, attacking style of play is unsuited to his strengths and despite Dalglish bringing in Stewart Downing to get crosses in, the plan is yet to succeed and with no out and out winger on the right the goal chances are drying up.
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Looks like a lumbering bear, err..mini bear…doesn’t play to his strengths nor his position! Only time will tell if hez gud enuf for LFC, at the moment, my verdict is thumbs down.
You can wonder what ever you want but he is 11 mil. worth player, and even if you pay enormous “English premium” he still can not be worth more than 22 mil., Liverpool just overpaid.
If he was paid his real value of 11-15 mil. you would never question his ability because he is delivering like 11 mil. worth player would.
Well i would say he is doing better than people think or give credit, get off his back, he played well against stoke a lot better than most. have we forgot he scored against efc lol already.
Id say give him a run and lets see what he can do.dont bring him on with 10 mins to go and then moan about him, get a life
He is a Championship quality, overpaid by 3-4 times. I think we should loan him ASAP to Championship, where due to his size, he can dominate sky-hoof English lower division game. And, if somehow, he can manage a good season, our first target should be to sell him ASAP, salvaging part of our loss.
I hope I am wrong, but he has absolutely nothing, which encourages to believe that he can be even a back-up forward. He is snail like slow, horrible first touch, absolutely no nimbleness, takes as much time as possible to turn. & now I am not sure about his heading ability; due to lack of pace, he hardly can reach at the end of a cross & not sure if he has any precision on his heading, making him ineffective in set pieces. I hardly have seen him keeping the head on target.
We paid 23-29 mn higher for him.
Don’t talk rubbish mate-championship???? How many strikers come up from the championship an score 11 in 19, get called up by England and score two against city? Worlds gone mad. As for the price, who cares? As long as Liverpool aren’t saddled with debt when wasting money then what does it matter? It all depends on if John Henry an FSG can, an they can. Relativity really. Some people a tenner beer would be a waste, some it’s not, depends on your budget.