ANDY Carroll may have thought he was finally adjusting to life at Liverpool, ending last season in the sort of form that prompted then manager Kenny Dalglish to bring the big man to Anfield.
No one could argue that Carroll had come anywhere close to justify his £35m price tag – a price that was no fault of his own.
But the way in which he put Liverpool into the FA Cup Final with a last minute header against Everton and terrorised the Chelsea back line in their final home game suggested the once lonely, misfit figure was alive again. Add this to his impressive displays and the towering header at the Euros and it was easy to believe that Carroll had a promising season ahead of him at Liverpool.
However, the only thing lacking was the public confidence of his manager. Something pretty important, and something that doesn’t seem to be coming anytime soon.
Meanwhile Rodgers has brought in another striker in Fabio Borini from Roma, whilst publicly stating his desire to tie down Luis Suarez to a new long-term contract. Actions that will do nothing to calm the sea of speculation surrounding Andy Carroll; and actions that merely strengthen the impression that Rodgers does not regard his £35m forward’s physical style as a compatible piece in his high-tempo, pass and move jigsaw that he wishes to implement at Anfield.
Rodgers said: “Andy’s always going to be linked with clubs, whether he was here or not. I have spoken to him on his holidays and he knows exactly where he stands.” If Liverpool do ‘take the hit’ as Alan Pardew has recently said they should, will they be making a mistake?
Rodger’s Swansea team was praised from all quarters last season for their attractive style of play, with the only criticism being that he lacked a ‘Plan B’. A criticism which becomes much more prominent now that he is at a club which does not just expect attractive football, but results as well. There are not many matches were dropping points is deemed as acceptable to the Anfield faithful.
This is where Andy Carroll fits in. We’ve seen snippets of an unplayable striker within a system based on Rodger’s same principles under Dalglish, contrary to popular belief that he has no place in it. We’ve also seen Carroll improve as a player with the ball at his feet with quick control and lay-offs becoming a key part of his game in recent months. What is there to suggest that this will not continue, and in any case too, the ability to mix your play up is a great weapon and one that has won numerous points over the years.
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However, many Liverpool fans have rightly pointed out potential problems with Carroll’s fitness should he not be playing regularly. Therefore it must be said that to utilise Carroll he must be a consistent name on the team sheet. This is unlikely to be the case under Rodgers. Nonetheless, if Liverpool did sell Carroll, it would have to be for an amount high enough to re-invest in another striker of equal or higher standard than Carroll because many Liverpool fans were of the opinion that they needed at least one more forward to take into the new season compared to the last.
And even if Rodger’s did find a replacement who suited his philosophy, he has now rid himself of a potential Plan B. Liverpool need to evolve into a team that can adapt to different opponents and game situations as they have become far too rigid and predictable, and in Andy Carroll they have a formidable option – as well as a perfect foil for the livewires that are Luis Suarez and Fabio Borini.
With a tough opening fixture list including the likes of Manchester City, Arsenal and United, Rodgers wants to make a fast start, but the way in which Andy Carroll bullied defences towards the end of last season provides meat to the argument that he should still be Liverpool’s number nine come August 18th.
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Poor article
Poor comment! Lacks content please elaborate!
The guy has written a pro Carroll piece which covers how most fans feel about Carroll and why he shouldn’t be sold and definitely not on the cheap!
I hope Carroll starts against Spurs and shows BR what he can really do!
Actually the article puts forward some good points on why not to sell AC. I.e. about the dificult start and we know that new signings (especially foreign ones)will take time to settle in. It would make sense to give AC time to see if he can settle in.
Also as said in the article he does give a plan b if nothing else.
What a lash you are Dave…jog on somewhere else cos u are now the misfit!
really. does any one remember barca bought ibrahimovic for 40million plus e’eto 20/25million. but he could not fit into there style of play. he needs the team based around him thats the way it has always been. but barca know that they need another option up front (Chelsea) carroll is young enough to adapt his game plus in my opinion he has all the touches to play up front in rodgers 433. and if he does fit in at 35million would be a steal compared to 65million.
you cant make a messi from a carlton palmer. carroll is not and never has been a liverpool type player. couldnt believe we bought him in the first place. has no pace, guile or technique. plan b becomes plan z if you ask me with andy. cut our lossess and use what money we can get to get 1 player. 15 – 20 mill can get good quality these days and i would suggest better than what we have in andy
How can you try and bring Messi into a comment about Andy Carroll?
Even Torres was a mile away from matching Messi!
Carroll’s game is getting stronger and stronger, why don’t we wait and see what he is capable of before writting him off, or let another club benefit from Carroll’s and LFC backroom staff hard work on getting him super fit.
Would you be happy if someone told you in your job that you weren’t capable of improving and lacked technique and they were letting you go?
We are going to take a hit, but are trying to get as much as possible. We still need another striker as the youngsters haven’t done enough in preseason to show they will make an impact. We also have a surpluss to requirements in middle, gerrard, lucas, adam, aquilani, shelvey, spearing all central midfielders plus possibly 2 more coming in ! We need a good right sided midfielder, and another option at left back and right back, flanagan too clumsy in possesion and challenging.
where in a 433 are you gonna play a r/m
Totally believe AC should be leading the line for us next season. If Rodgers could teach the quality of player he had at his disposal at Swansea to play his system then im pretty sure AC will be able to adapt easily enough. With the added bonus of having his existing abilities to fall back on if plan A isn’t working! Massive mistake if we let him go!
The author has put a valid point on the risk of being one dimensional for BR’s tactics. To some extent, he is correct, at Swansea, BR had very little risk, because of the expectation level. But here he ‘ll be expected to win every home match & most away matches. Lack of tactical options might be an issue for us.
Like, Barca failed to beat Chelsea, led by Drogba. I think, having a big target man is not bad idea. I matches against teams with smaller but quicker & tactically sound defense, a big target man can be a good option, specially in last 20 min. with tiring defenders.
Problem is Andy Carroll is a donkey & Drogba was a hybrid of Rhino & stallion. He has nothing & I repeat nothing to be a top class target-man. With that size of his, he ‘ll dominate bottom/Championship teams, but with that sort of speed, first touch, turning ability, power without precision in heading, positional sense & poor right foot, he can never be a threat in week in, week out league matches.
Had he cost even 16mn (even after the improvement of last 6 months, so far highest bid for him), I would have said to keep him as backup; but every time I see him limbering like a headless chicken or trolling like a scared Giraffe, I just can’t take the bluff of 35mn – we could have got any of Benzama, Lorente, Higuan, Aguero, Villa, Hazard or Naymer for that amount.
A Carroll should not be sold at all, he offers club another alternative and a huge physical presence and threat.
B Rodges needs to clear out these players asap:
J Cole AM/RW/LW Not Good Enough
J Spearing DM/CM Not Godd Enough
Doni GK Not Good Enough
Jones GK Not Good Enough
J Carragher CB/RB Great , Loyal,class servant to club but he is three years past his best and he should be moved on or he should retire and join coaching side within club.
J Flanagan RB/LB not good enough
These players would all struggle to get into likes of A Villa, Wigan, Norwich, Swansea, Stoke, Wigan and West Brom’s First eleven.
So They should all be shown the door, Our club are competing with Arsenal,Chelsea, Newcastle and Tottenham for the 3rd and 4th position in league. Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham`have had better squads than us for last three seasons and are already strengthening with some serious quality players.
The owners need to give B Rodgers £110M- £120 to bring in these 10 players as club have gone backwards drastically since 2008. And B Rodgers needs to clear out the 6 players mentioned and also C Adams, But he should use C Adams as bargaining tool to bring C Dempsey to club.
These 10 players:
Four Defensive Reinforcements:
1: Al Habsi Of WIgan should be rbough for £3-£6M to come and compete with P Reina. GK
2: Subotic Of B Dortmund Or S Kjaer Of Wolfsburg, one of these should be broughtf for £8-£18M to compete with Agger,Coates and Skrtel. CB
3:Aly Cissokho Of Lyon should be brought for £4-£9M to come and compete with Enrique. LB
4: B Matuidi Of PSG should be brought for £8-£14M to compete with Lucas. DM
Six attacking creative class quality attacking players:
5: J Allen Of Swansea should be brought for £12-£14M to compete with Gerrard and Henderson. CM
6: I Munian should be brought for £15-£20M to compete with Aquilani and Shelvey. AM
7: J Hoillet Of Blackburn should be brought for £3-£7M. RW/RWF
8:S Sinclair Of Swansea should be brought for £3-£7M to compete with Downing. LW/LWF
9: C Dempsey Of Fulham should be brought in swap deal with C Adams plus £2M. AM/LW/FD
10: A Lennon Of Tottenham Or T Walcott Of Arsenal, one of these should be brought for £12-£15M to compete for Right midfield role. RW/RWF
The £110M – £120M that the owners would need to bring in these 10 players, R Ambramovich spent more on Torres, Mata, Luiz and Ramirez last season.
So for the four players chelsea brought to their club last season, our club could and should spend the money wisely on these 10 players to change dimension of squad. we may not be able to spend £35M on four players a season, but some huge investment in club is needed as soon as possible without having to sell our best players during process.
you are right 120millions is what we need so if you give half and the owners will 2
my comparison of messi and carlton palmer is that andy is only efficient playing a certain way. if you intend to play like barca you dont use stoke players to do it. football should be played with feet, not in the air with the head of a donkey to put in it, which andy only managed to do 1 every 5 or 6 games last season.
Andy isn’t the one kicking it in the air is he????
Carroll has shown he can use his feet! It’s Carragher and skrtel that launch it long!
i suppose he can use his feet, just not very well.
I agree largely that LFC should not take a hit on AC and that LFC will do well to keep AC.
1. Age – AC is young enough to learn and has age in his favour
2. Manager – BR is a manager that can get players to play to his system and AC is capable of doing so. (look what he did with other teams)
3. Messi – AC is not to be compared to Messi. His role is different. If AC is to be compared, he is to be compared with potential candidates that would take his place.i.e. Dempsey. I agree that AC possesses qualities that can make AC a more unplayable player than Dempsey so LFC need not really take that hit.
4. Plan B – As far as plan B is concerned, AC should be able to come in and play the system. He will do well because his fitness levels has improved and has gotten over his injury concerns.
5. Current players – Stevie G, Suarez, Bellamy, etc. that would make AC more dangerous in the new system. BR will implement not just short passing but short passing WITH creativity and VISION. BR’s system will be taken to another level by the current set of LFC players because of the players abilities, skills and experience. Stevie G and Suarez can make AC look totally awesome.
M youre damn right. £35 million = any world class player in the world BAR Messi and Ronaldo!!
Players who fell to beat defenders like andy carrol and downing i doubt if he can produce alot, the only thing i dont like with carrol is dat he fails to create chances for himself and score he needs spoon feeding most of the time he is not trickery thats why when we play with teams like stoke city ,sunderland we fell to break their sturbon defenses but he has powerful shot in him goin to weak leagues he can score more goals so sell him for the right price