I was very surprised to see Liverpool striker Andy Carroll start against Sunderland only three days after he played his first full 90 minutes for the club against Braga in the Europa League. It was great to see however the £58million partnership between Suarez and himself for the first time. It will certainly take some time to gel but there were already signs of hope that the pair could compliment each other very well.
Despite being out for three months, and lacking match fitness, Carroll has already demonstrated his aerial abilities, and it seems that against any opposition defence he will win 90-95% of the headers that go his way. There may have been some criticism for his lack of ball control and ability to hold up the ball at times yesterday, but there were also signs of his fleet footedness with the ball as well as to win a great deal of headers for his strike partner to latch onto. It is great to know as well that Carroll can only get better too. It was his first league start, and after playing 90 minutes against Braga, he looked flat on his feet in the second half as his lack of match fitness tolled. Still, in the 70 minutes he was given, he was constant menace for the Sunderland backline and had a header cleared off the line which could have been his first goal for Liverpool.
An aerial threat from corners is something that the Reds have been missing from a long time, basically since the departure of Sami Hyypia. Despite Martin Skrtel’s height, he has never been that commanding in the opposition penalty box like the great Finn, and the Reds only real aerial threat has come from when Sotirios Kyrgiakos has been picked in the team. With Carroll in the side, the picture changes dramatically. A clever tactical ploy from Liverpool yesterday against Sunderland was to hide Carroll behind Skrtel so the Black Cats defence could not tightly mark the 22 year old before he peeled off the Slovakian defender to get a freer run at goal. It nearly came off but for a goal line clearance too. It also means that other players in the box have a greater chance of scoring as opposition defenders maybe too preoccupied with the aerial threat of Carroll and forget to mark other players. Dirk Kuyt nearly scored within the first 4 minutes from a corner yesterday.
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INTRODUCING PORTAL 2!
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To see the best of Carroll and Suarez, Liverpool have to start getting decent crosses into Carroll. If Gerrard is back for the West Brom game he should be picked on the rightwing. It is a longshot but if Liverpool won the last 8 games fourth place is still a possibility. The win yesterday against Sunderland was much needed but it was more down to Sunderland’s incompetence rather than anything Liverpool did.
sorry… marveux too in team..