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View from the Kop

He’s a massive threat, but let’s use him in the right way

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With anyone as good in the air as Andy Carroll, it is very tempting to just go route one. On his second appearance for the Reds in the Europa League against Braga last week, every time the ball was lobbed into the air in his direction, he invariably won the header and gave the Reds a good platform of attack. The Braga defence looked absolutely petrified with the player they were facing and defender Kaka tried to take the giant Geordie out of the game with a cynical elbow. The ploy didn’t work though and Carroll was quickly up and about, terrorising the Braga backline once again. Even the best struggle against Carroll and team-mate Martin Skrtel is very glad that the striker is now on his side:

“He’s strong and a big lad and it’s very difficult to play against him. Now I am happy he is in our team. It’s good to have a player like him in our team. He’s definitely one of the toughest strikers I’ve played against in the Premier League. He’s strong, he is good with his head and he can keep the ball.”

Going into the return leg tomorrow night against Braga then, it seems quite likely that Kenny Dalglish will give Carroll his first start for Liverpool, although it is uncertain whether he would finish the match due to the lack of game time he has had over the last few months. If he does start, the worry I have is that the Reds will look to Carroll solely straight away to make the breakthrough. The players saw how effective he was in the air in the first leg and there maybe a tendency to look for him as the easy option every time they are on the ball. There is no problem with going direct when you need to, but a couple of concerns I have with this is that it might restrict the creativity of the team. Although I am certain Carroll will win 95% of the headers that come his way, the fear is the team could become too one dimensional, and with Carroll only recently returning to full fitness, the onus maybe too heavily focused on him. John Aldridge feels a balance is required to make the team effective:

“If Carroll does start you can’t just go route one. You have to build up as usual but in the final third it’s vital we get some quality deliveries from wide areas. We need to hang them up for Carroll to attack. The crossing has to be spot on.”

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6 comments

  • Eric says:

    John Aldridge is right. There’s no point hoofing the ball up to Andy Carroll even if he manages to win all headers cause that itself doesn’t cause a threat. What’s needed are crosses from wide areas to Carroll who can attack the goal directly from his headers so wingers are what we need to get crosses in. Defenders just cannot physically deal with Andy Carroll and even more so in Europe where defenders are just not used to defending long balls and crosses. Liverpool tomorrow should play with more width (unlike in the first leg where four central midfielders were played) to get in crosses to Carroll. SC Braga are rubbish and are inferior to Liverpool and we should beat them easily. With the absence of Suarez and Gerrard, Liverpool should focus more on crosses and getting the ball to Carroll directly as the guy will destroy their defenders. Forget about substandard players like Spearing and Poulsen and start Carroll right from the start cause Kuyt up front alone is not enough. This is the starting XI that Kenny should field:
    Reina
    Carragher Skrtel Agger Johnson
    Maxi Lucas Meireles Cole
    Kuyt
    Carroll

  • Kenny says:

    Eric: who exactly is going to put in the crosses in your lineup?

    • Jay Wright says:

      lol exactly @ Kenny! That lineup looks dire, and doesn’t even have the benefit of looking like it’s experimenting with anything that could help the club out down the line!

      My lineup would be:
      Reina
      Johnson-Kyrgiakos-Carragher-Wilson
      Cole-Lucas-Meireles
      Pacheco-Carroll-Jovanovich
      (Jones/Agger/Skrtel/Coady/Suso/Kuyt/N’gog)

      I wouldn’t risk Agger from the start just yet, nor would I waste any more time with Carroll on the bench.

      Johnson is the only player that gets up and down the line in our squad (aside from Kelly) so I’d stop stunting his attacks by putting him back on the right, encouraging him to hit the byline and whip in as many crosses as he can.

      I don’t like Wilson as left back but we don’t have much experienced options at full back, so I’d just give him the opportunity to grow in the role. Jovanovich is quicker than Kuyt or Maxi, and has a decent enough left foot, so I’d put him ahead of Wilson on the left of the front three and hope that he could provide a little width in our attack on the opposite side of the pitch to Johnson.

      On the other side of Carroll, Pacheco should finally getting his chance in the free narrow role that Maxi and Kuyt have underwhelmed in so consistently.

      Finally, Cole should get a chance to play in a deeper role through the middle, with the hope that he could inject a bit of creativity that he has failed to do when played further upfield. Rather that than sticking Spearing or Poulsen in there alongside Lucas and Meireles in a game which we need to score a couple of goals…

      • Eric says:

        Kenny Dalglish clearly does not have faith in Jovanovic. He has hardly played under Dalglish and the guy wasn’t even included in the squad to Portugal last week so I wouldn’t expect him to be included in the starting XI. Similarly for Pacheco he has not played under Dalglish so I wouldn’t be surprised at all if he’s left to warm the bench for the whole game again.

        In defence, I am quite sure the manager will stick with Skrtel no matter how you much you dislike him. However, you could be right about Agger but I still expect him to start alongside Skrtel at the back with Carragher moving to the right and Johnson on the left. Wilson at left back is a disaster by the way.

        I am quite certain that for this game Kenny Dalglish will not take the risk to play youngsters such as Wilson and Pacheco right from the start. There’s also no way Kuyt will be dropped to the bench for this game so I think it’s quite likely that both Kuyt and Maxi will be starting.

  • Jay Wright says:

    I’m not predicting the way that I expect us to line-up (which will probably end up being closer to that uninspiring lineup listed by Eric for whatever reason); I am saying the way that I’d prefer to see us line up and why.

    There is no attacking game to speak of from Carragher, whether he plays on the right or left, which is why I would put Johnson back on the right and Carragher at left back if worst comes to worst.

    I also see Skrtel, Maxi and Kuyt as just as much of a risk as playing Wilson, Pacheco and Jovanovich. Whereas the quality of the latter names is still relatively ‘unknown’, the former names have proven to be consistently mediocre and as far as I’m concerned, the sooner they are dumped from first team duties, the better!

  • elnino77 says:

    some good selections but i think young flanagan could solve a problem there on the wing if kenny was bold enough to give him a chance

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