Andy Carroll-Liverpool’s Number 9

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Andy Carroll’s transfer to Liverpool FC will go down as one of the most dramatic transfers in the history of premier league for the simple reason that it all happened in the blink of an eye, before he could even realize that he had played his last game for his childhood club way back in December. However professional footballers are, they are not super humans. No, not even Lionel Messi, Let alone Andy Carroll! Leaving his close pals and comfort zone at Newcastle he willfully made the move to one of the biggest clubs in Europe. Never before had he felt so much expectation from his fans.

Ever since, he has been targeted by the media and notably the rival- United fans and some of our impatient own. Having seen months of criticism, I decided to write this article giving the lad the support he deserves.

It is ridiculous to expect him to blend perfectly into our “pass and move “philosophy. It is like expecting Lionel Messi to be the target man in a Stoke City side! No doubt his sluggish movements have hurt the tempo of our passing and movement. However he was not brought here to play a role in the build up play was he? He was brought to get to the end of crosses and head them in!

However, he has not received a consistent spell of quality crosses from either flank (considering even Stewart Downing is going through a tough phase). One can argue that he hasn’t converted the little chances he has got. Well, Even Luis Suarez has converted only 1 in 10 chances this season.

Luck has deserted Liverpool this season. 14 shots have hit the post! Enough said. The same luck has deserted Andy as well. We would not be criticizing him had his shot not been denied by the post in the opening minutes of the Swansea game, or if his bullet header (winner) not been brilliantly saved by Joe Hart, or the chance to score the winner in the dying minutes of the Norwich game. He has had the chances to become hero but luck has not shown any mercy on the lad! Andy is not to blame for this is he? But this isn’t going be the case for all his career is it?

“There are times when we play poorly and score 5 goals and times when we dominate the game and score none”. This quote of the King applies to Andy as well. This is the nature of the beautiful game. How can Andy be blamed?

Reason for all the criticism- the 35million pound price tag. Well that is John Henry’s headache if there is any, not Andy’s. Newcastle saw cash in Liverpool’s locker and made the most of our desire to get the man(To bring variety in our options). Is that Andy’s fault? John Henry did not have a problem spending the 50 million pounds that we swindled from Chelsea. So that ends that matter doesn’t it?

Andy Carroll at Liverpool couldn’t have asked for a better mentor in the King. He will learn from the best in the business and develop here. To his credit, he has to be commended for the efforts he has put in, especially after the spurs loss. Anyone disagreeing this, simply has a baseless agenda against him and it is not called for.

So what do we have to do to get the best out of him?

Andy needs to be given a certain role in the club, one which would help him and the club progress for the remaining of this season. I noticed his performance against Manchester City, when he came on for the last 10 odd minutes. His notable contribution was that bullet header that was required a brilliant save from Joe Hart. That was a goal week in week out. I would like to see him given a similar role that would see him being introduced in around the hours mark when there are tired legs in the opposition defence. The team would do well to provide consistently the sort of service he received from Glen Johnson in that game.

Luis Suarez is the focal point of our attacks at present. Every pass is directed towards him. We could give Andy a similar treatment when he comes on the latter stages of the game. However this strategy requires us to be at least a goal up so as to lower the burden on Andy to score the winner.

Let us back him to the fullest. The love, faith and patience that the kop are famous for will no doubt spur him on to good form. Let us shower the same treatment that Luis Suarez gets, that Nando received. After all he is LIVERPOOL’S NUMBER 9 !!!

T T Raghuveer

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26 Comments

  1. good to hear support for Andy but it’s hard to see where he fits in the team at the moment. Bellamy is proving to be a much better partner for Suarez up front and would be much more trusted to deliver in must-win games, which lets face it is all games at the moment. Andy was brilliant for Newcastle last season and has shown glimpses at Liverpool – but at the moment I can’t see how he can get the run in the team that he needs to regain his form.

    1. That’s why the writer (T T Raghuveer) says we need to bring Andy at the hour-mark. This is would definitely bring in the much-needed variation in our attack and capitalise on the weakened, tired legs of the opposition. Me thinks it’s a suggestion worth persuing by KK.

  2. How you gonna build a team playing two different styles of football? King Kenny wants to build a team with pass & move philosophy and buys a long Sluggish striker who feeds on crosses and long balls – yet Carroll once made a comment he want to get involved into pass & move and change his style. So it concludes either Carroll has to give more than his best and prove himself OR King Kenny has to change Liverpool’s style of football-which i don’t think most fans want to, neither King himself. Now all we can do is wait & watch and its our right being fans of our beloved club to raise such concerns or questions.

  3. i agree, while he’s playing for ua we should support him. Though a lot of fans don’t give you that support unless you hit the ground running.

  4. This sounds like a lot of posts about Ryan Babel, who also failed to impress whenever given a chance.Carroll was a poor and high risk purchase who doesn’t suit our style of football, and if we hope to do better than 4th-6th we need a prolific goalscorer that he simply hasn’t demonstrated he is at the Premier league level. He’s been given chances and consistently fails to show the energy and drive we need. To say people have an agenda against him because they don’t agree with you is not realistic – he might be able in time to prove himself and gain a place but he’s certainly behind Bellamy and hopefully both will stay in the wings to support someone who can get us to the level that I’m sad to say rivals are at in goalscoring presently. I actually am not completely convinced he’s even one for the future, but he needs to start playing in the reserves and prove he has a place there – not by sacrificing a vital position in the starting line up that would see another season fly by with excuses after excuses when we could have made changes that would bear fruit.

    1. I completely agree and have been saying the same thing for a while. Playing him when he’s out of form is hurting us. It puts us a man down with basically no return for the sacrifice. He needs to be put in the reserves until he is knocking them in left, right and center. Once he finds his form he can be recalled to the senior team. Leaving him languishing on the bench out of form never working is ridiculous but putting him on takes away from someone that might actually score (Bellamy, Kuyt or Maxi)

    2. i think we can loan him to championship club and see the progress. from there we can decide his future. of course we need to buy a deadly striker in january to replace him.

  5. Caroll can be deputu to Torres if the latter comes back which is very likely. Even when Ian Rush came back John Aldridge alternated with the former till such time. History is gonna repat itself tis time.

  6. Carroll will never ever be a top tier striker. He is Championship league material at best. Sell him to a mid to lower table teams and recuperate as much money possible from this huge mistake. He was a panic buy and it says it all today when so many have seen him play both as a start and sub and no one is convinced. Cut the losses now and move on

  7. Thanks for the comments guys. Much appreciated.
    @lozza I absolutely agree with your point, I find the team doing well when bellamy,maxi, suarez and kuyt are in it. Add to this lucas. they contribute heavily in the swift movement and passing. But there is no point not giving andy absolutely no time on the pitch and hence i ve suggested the role that would be a sort of an impact sub. TO do this we need to start burying games in the first half itself.
    Rcay-There should be no change in our philosophy but i strongly believe that andy with a lot of hardwork in the coming months will be in a position to blend in our style. Time is all he needs and to avoid criticism till then we need to give him a small but important role in the team.
    Rich: To play in the reserves would be a step down and would fuel further talk in the media. but if its going to help him get used to our style then thats an option we have. and regarding goal scoring- i firmly believe we are one striker less in our squad even assuming carroll was in form. Hence we should use this transfer window to sign a pacy striker who can finish! that would allow us more time to work with carroll.

  8. it makes me so sad that some people support chelseas #9 instead of our #9 and want him back. I cant understand it, if you have no problem with judas, you can want him back but did you think about what’s gonna happen to Andy? Can you believe that he will get his chance? We got a young, bright and promising player. For what? Finishing his career before it begins? Are we this cruel?

  9. What really frustrates me about the whole situation, is that when Andy starts, we whip in NO balls, ZERO crosses into the area where he is. When he is not on the field, the balls go in to dangerous areas and we say, “If only someone got on the end of it”. Unfortunately its not working for him because we simply arent playing to his strengths. The flip side of that? Were playing better football so we should take pride in that unfortunately at Andys expense. I am a firm believer however that he has lots and I means lots to give this club, present and future. He is a young lad, if we are giving Hendo time and we gave Lucas time, why should this be any different? This man can score bags with his left foot from OUTSIDE the box. Who can honestly say they have seen him receiving the ball on the edge of the box? Ummmm? All his chances have come in the box and he has been denied by the woodwork or goalkeepers on great form time and time again. Soon or later something has to and will give, whether it be the way we play or Andys luck. 1 year ago he played a friendly against France I believe it was and was considered the next big striker-that does not go away over night. YNWA

  10. What about bringing back Torres to help develop Carroll into the No.9 we want him to be?
    Remember AC’s goal against Everton? Who did it remind you off?….Torres. So Andy does have “it” in him. Why we are getting frustrated is because we want results now. And to be fair after paying £35m for someone, expectations were always high. But this price was only based on 70% of whatever Torres was sold for. So if Torres went for £25m AC would have been 17.5m which is more palatable but the price for AC was essentially dictated by a Russian Billionaire.

    Anyway, I would take Torres back, no I would LOVE to see him back at Liverpool. once he apologieses to the fans we’d get right behind him. He would be motivated to score goals and keen to make a point. Just what we need right now.

    It’s the season of good will and both of them deserve another chance.

  11. A.C. would have to adjust his playing style to fit into the Liverpool’s pass and move game. If he cannot, then it’s time to move on and get someone else in who can do it and to partner well with Suarez to bang in the goals with the ample opportunities we’ve been creating.

    Suarez’s has great ball control skills and a good assist but his finishing is not great, so I hope to see Liverpool getting a quality striker in January to stand any chance of finishing in the top 4 regardless of the cost because failing to do so could result in Kenny losing his job.

  12. I would agree with the writer. Give the lad a chances. He seems to understands he’s not there yet with the “pass & move” football.

    Torres? He WAS liverpool best player, but personally prefer not to gamble 20M on the decline striker. Lets get younger and prolific striker such as Leandro Damiao, Pato etc for 20-30M.

  13. Fingers crossed AC can turn things around and get his LFC career back on track. He needs games and a bit of luck, but I really do think that he can do a job for us.

    That said Torres could be available – does the Club try and bring him back? With all the chances the team is creating you’d have to say FT would surely hit the back of the net. What any return would mean for AC is certainly up for debate, but what isn’t, is the need to convert the chances and not dominate games without getting what we deserve. Watch this space.

  14. That was a suggestion to give him some playing time that would not hinder our chances at the same time, if it clicks, will let him grow in confidence and blend in our philosophy to be ready to step into the starting line up- a patient approach giving him the time to learn.

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