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.