At Anfield the situation has been similar for Carroll again largely through his own doing. The former Newcastle front man was given an early opportunity against Sunderlandand arsenal but blanks and limited effectiveness saw him omitted for the next home fixture with Bolton – which Dalglish’s men went on to win 3-1 and Stoke away which they lost. Carroll was reinstated without impact for the thumping by Tottenham and another presentable mission against Wolves at home where he again failed to impress. But then comes the indifferent selection. After a goal in the Merseyside derby, Carroll was left out againstManchester United and Norwich before being given another go against Stoke and West Brom where he found the net. That goal earned him another chance in the goalless draw with Swansea resulting in a minute cameo at the Bridge. Carroll’s scattergun selection may make it difficult for him, and likewise Torres, to find rhythm and form but largely their exclusions have been justified.
Neither player has been granted unparalleled access to team affairs to cement their spots but in these results driven age, team affairs stretch much deeper than the fortunes of one player especially when those one players don’t necessarily deserve a place anyway.
If you analyse the overall contributions of Torres and Carroll it isn’t just the goals which are missing from their play. At Stamford Bridge, Dalglish pulled off a masterstroke by using the infectious running of Craig Bellamy and Luis Suarez to unsettle Chelsea’s flow to maximum effect and that energy is a commodity that Carroll just does not bring to the piece. At Newcastle, he proved his worth not entirely through goals but through a presence and ability to lead the line in the great tradition of St James’s number nine’s.
Fed off a mixed supply, Carroll caused untold problems for opposition defences with his aerial prowess and muscular unsettling of his marker. Little of that has been evident since his £35m switch meaning it is not just the lack of goals which Liverpool have been short changed on.
The comparisons continue with Torres’s travails in London. Often deployed as a lone striker during his glory years with Rafa Benitez, the Spaniard’s vitality and willingness to run the channels was just as effective as his predatory penalty box skills, but again the same work rate and movement was evidently not included in the king’s ransom.
The moral of the story here is, that across the scale of players, from academy graduates to peripheral squad members, through to midfield dogs of war and silky ball players, each and every player needs to prove his value to the side through a mix of individual ability and traditional values of effort and endeavour and neither Torres or Carroll have done enough of the latter, let alone the former to justify concerted selection, and only when they get back to basics and earn their spot will the rest follow.
In an age where sports scientists, physiologists, dieticians and psychologists have an increasing prominence in football club set-ups, there is still no substitute for the timeless non-technical logic of running your socks off.
Written by John Baines for FootballFanCast.com
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