Keep calm and Carroll on

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Since the arrival of Andy Carroll he has been the subject of countless blogs and articles but has it all been fair or just needless criticism of a young man who is struggling with the pressure of living up to a fee that he had no control over?

Andy Carroll signed on deadline day in January 2010 after the shock departure of kop hero Fernando Torres to Chelsea in a £50m move.

Since his arrival many fans questioned the signing and especially as he arrived injured the pressure on him to preform instantly began to grow.

Many fans questioned the fee and wondered if Andy could live up to the billing.

But in the eyes of some fans Andy Carroll has been a disappointment and even openly criticise him in social media forums and some journalists have questioned Carroll’s ability, even the England manager has spoken adversely of him in public.

So what is the deal with Andy Carroll? Well he is a young man who has fantastic talent but is struggling to unleash it.

Could it be that he needs some confidence or has he moved up a class and his abilities don’t match the club? I think Andy Carroll can become a valued player at Liverpool but needs support from his colleagues and a change to the team system to really get any benefit from.

At present he has been limited to long high balls from defence which neither suits him or Liverpool but what Andy really needs is a system designed to play to his strengths not to his or Liverpool’s weaknesses.

It maybe argued that Carroll’s arrival was one to satisfy the Anfield fans due to Torres leaving and not a pre-meditated one as may have been suggested by some in the media.

Kenny Dalglish seems to have faith in Carroll and who are we to disagree with a 4 times league championship manager but he needs all of Dalglish’s man management skills to get back Andy’s confidence and form.

It is understandable for fans to feel disappointing with Carroll but I would urge all fans to give Carroll a chance until the end of the season at least. Also we must remember that when he left Newcastle United all the players were sad to see him leave and all said he has “massive potential” and one even went as far as saying he could be “better than Shearer”.

In his defence he never asked Liverpool to pay £35m for him and neither did he ask for the cauldron of pressure that becomes standard when playing for a club like Liverpool, but Carroll is here now and must either deal with the pressure, start to knuckle down and try to recapture his form or he will start to lose the support of the fans and the faith of the management which will only end in tears.

But for now its still early season so we cannot judge Carroll until we have seen what he is capable of producing, all I would urge fans is to keep calm and Carroll on..for now anyway.

27 Comments

  1. Nice piece. Don’t think it’s fair to judge Andy yet, we should give him til Jan before we come to any conditions. Little bit of overuse of Carroll in the article Brian, perhaps could have done with using his first name a little

  2. i think we should all be more worried, with henderson than andy. i cannot see
    what others see in him, to me he isonly average at best. i trust kenny but i anm not sure with henderson. carroll will be allright in time he needs games. bellamy is a better option than qeshenderson as is kuyt.but as a striker i prfer carroll to kuyt, still think we need another stiker who can take people on like sqarez, still lets give them all time then judge…

  3. Andy ain’t trying that’s obvious and hard work pays off.
    If he puts effort into his game there will be results. He needs to train harder and work on the field just have a bit of eagerness and awareness then the fans won’t be on his back but 4 now we can all see he ain’t interested 4 what reason who knows and the club is better off without him at the moment.

  4. why do people start a piece with this
    “Andy Carroll he has been the subject of countless blogs and articles”
    and then go and add to the volume??

    andy carroll will be fine – the lad is only 21 for gods sake.most strikers do not pull up trees until they are 23 or 24.
    he can spend some time on the bench and learn his trade watching Bellamy/Suarez.he can learn their movement etc so he can see where he needs to position himself as he is not up to speed on what other do. the barcodes have no players like suarez and bellamy. its completely alien to him and it takes time for him to understand what 20 other squad players who are settled are going to do. same goes for jordan henderson

    i don’t think andy carroll was bought to be the superstar right now. as kenny says, we bought him for 5 1/2 years, not 6 months

    1. Completely agree, I would also add that all strikers are fueled by confidence, for Andy that seems to be lacking and the unfounded druidism he is getting in the media can’t be helping

      1. yep – people should just stop all this sensationalism.

        if people stopped continually writing about a non story and let andy carroll and the club get on with it he’ll come good a lot quicker.

        and he will come good.

    2. because fans and medias has to be educated.

      I’m not talking about respectfull ones. But only so called ones, who are not patient, who lose their faith after a defeat, who criticize the coach because “they” can do better on fifa or football manager.

      Old fans have to educate new generations.

      Andy Caroll just need our full support. He just need his team mates and coach back.

      great article brian:)

    1. andy carroll is fit. he does work hard for the team – look at the shift he put in at Left mid agst spurs.

      he will never have the grace or speed of fernando torres but don’t mistake that for being unfit.

  5. I think he will come good. When he was at newcastle I wanted him to come to anfield. Look at dzeko at man shitty, there’s no better example. Give him a bit of time and patience. I’m more concerned with our defence.

  6. Sorry. But he will never make it here. You wouldn’t have written this about Voronin, Babel, Jovanovic or Joe Cole and that’s because they are Benitez and Hodgson signings. All your articles seem to imply that Dalglish can do no wrong, but I have news for you. He’s only human, and humans make mistakes. Andy Carroll is one of Kenny’s.

    1. When you look at the number of games he’s had I think it’s unfair to make a final judgement, we are not desperately short of attackers so I think we can afford to give him time to prove he can do here what he was clearly capable of doing for NUFC. Why the rush to brand him as a moustache? Perhaps you Thule Kenny can do no right?

    2. you can see that from a handful of performances, the firts few were when not fully fit?

      the players you mention were either established professionals who didn’t perform or a young lad who had more opportunities than hot dinners and didn’t cut it

  7. Bloody phone! why the rush to brand him a mistake? Perhaps you have something against Kenny in the same way as you accuse Brian of being bias?

  8. Honestly don’t see why we bought him if we had to change the way we play to suit him. I think he and Suarez worked well in the last few games of last season, but since then, he seems unhappy, and the kuyt Suarez combination up front is working okay. Play Andy off the bench until he clicks and realizes what he needs to do

  9. If we believe the comolli & KD Carroll was bought for long term which means only they should talk about wether he’s worth the price and when!
    Would KD have complained if he’d started like a whirlwind? Obviously not, but he didn’t expect that so why should we?
    When KD or the owners say he’s a waste of money by selling Carroll then that’s when he is; until then he’s a LFC player & deserves our respect & support. Sick of all the whinging so called fans, don’t like the team, the owners the manager? Go support Utd or Chelsea…

  10. There wasn’t a problem with Andy when he was with Newcastle, and there’s no problem with Andy now. I will support Andy as long as he wears the Liverbird with pride. When he was with Newcastle, he was comfortable playing as a playmaker, or, just behind the main striker. Now, he is the main attention. Let him play just behind the main striker, and we will see results. YNWA!

  11. Sure, keep him on the pitch…as long as you don’t mind finishing 10th this season.

    Liverpool’s first team is no place to learn basic football skills like how to run across your marker, how to control the ball, and how give a return pass.

  12. The Man City game last season, and exeter game this season should be enough evidence of how dangerous he can be. The lad can strike a ball, the problem is getting into the position. How many chances has he had on goal in his time at the club? I can’t recall too many. I don’t see it as an Andy Carroll problem, he has immense potential. TRUE fans will allow it time to all unfold before them before they judge. As they should with Henderson aswell while im at it. The two could be half of our future spine. YNWA

  13. Bellamy is more proven than Carroll and seems to work better with the type of offensive that we want to run. Not to mention the won that is getting results. Let the players fight for their place. You win your place by showing results. Let Carroll play in these CC clashes and let Bellamy start in the Premiership.

    And by the way, I think Henderson is really good. And is proving himself on the field. I’m not really sure why people think he isn’t proving himself. However Kuyt is also good! So what can I say we are loaded with talent.

    1. theres no way on earth that Henderson is really good at least not at the moment..maybe in 2yrs time he will be great but hes definitely average at best currently..shelvey and spearing are both better than him from what av seen..all he does is roam round the pitch aimlessly simple thats jst simply all he does..as for andy Carrol i just dont know his problem..downing was one of the buys that was supposed to improve carrols game..he is too ppredictable hes not clever hes not mobile hes no where near quick..but i partly blame KK coz we are not playin to his strenths..we need to play 2 wingers downing on left not right and maxi on the right not kuyt..BUT i have more faith in carrol than Henderson for some reason..Henderson is very very overrated..its like da same tin i say about kuyt dont get me wrong kuyt is an integral player in the team..but the tin is he roams round the pitch so much with lil output..he cud run 40yards get the ball from an opponent den next tin he jst wastes it on a rubbish wayward pass and it doesnt happen once he does this consistently, but makes up for it by scoring or assisting..his most obvious weakness is his first touch, take out all the penalties he scored and see how many goals he got..okay and now back to carroll again..people saying hes young..how old is welbeck? how old is Ngog? lmao ngog..i jst think ppl are pampering carrol he had a good preseason he gets bullied instead of being the bully

  14. Some of you are forgetting Carroll takes a huge amount to defend against. Defenders have to get tight on Carroll, often two. That leaves much more space for the likes of Suarez and Downing to weave some magic.

    Our problem is the awful defense, not capitalism on flying starts to games when we should be 3 up, and then the inevitable collapse in the seconds half. Throw in a Carra cock-up, and we’re hitting the panic button and parking the bus in games that should have been over a long time ago.

  15. The problem wiv Caroll is he’s movement is too slow,he’s awareness in the box is awful he’s always anticipating balls in the air rather than anticipating low drive balls into the box and getting on the end of it but Caroll would just stay still if the ball doesn’t come in the air..Caroll ought to understand that many centre halves in the PL are nearing his height or just as tall as him and Caroll shouldn’t let defenders read him at all times he anticipates balls in the air.Caroll needs to drag defenders out of position with his movement,Caroll needs to improve on his awareness and eagerness and ability to confuse defenders..Caroll have to improve on his fitness as all eyes are on him…I just hope he comes good sooner rather than later

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