Andy Carroll completed his move to Liverpool in January 2011 on deadline day. As Fernando Torres made his last minute move to Chelsea for £50million, Liverpool moved quickly to replace him by signing Carroll for a British record of £34million. Carroll has now been at Liverpool for a year and he has not played the best football of his career, but I feel the stick he has received has been very harsh.
Andy Carroll celebrates his goal against Oldham in the FA Cup
Being a similar type of striker as Andy Carroll, I know that players like him do not get goals on a plate for them. They have to work hard for their goals. Carroll is not a natural finisher like Micheal Owen, Thierry Henry and Alan Shearer have been in the past. His game is about winning headers, grappling with defenders and holding the ball up. He plays most of the game with his back to goal which is not a bad thing for Liverpool.
I do feel that in recent weeks he has been left isolated by Liverpool playing him up front on his own. If you play a striker like Andy Carroll up front on his own then he needs players making runs off him and Liverpool haven’t been doing that. Carroll ends up flicking the ball on to nobody and he holds the ball up and has nobody to lay it off too. This makes Carroll look like a terrible player when really he is doing a good job but no one is helping him out. Football is a team game. You noticed the difference last Friday night when Steven Gerrard made his return as a sub against Newcastle United. Gerrard constantly made runs off Andy Carroll and ran on to his flick ons. Gerrard understands how Carroll plays and they could work well together now he is fit. I feel Gerrard could be the key to Andy Carroll being a success at Liverpool.
A £34million price tag does come with natural pressure but I’m sure Carroll did not ask to be bought for that much. If Newcastle wanted that much money for him and Liverpool were willing to pay it then that is between the 2 clubs and it is harsh to blame Carroll for costing too much and say because he cost too much he should be doing better. Carroll’s goal return hasn’t been great but big strikers like him do a lot more for the team than just score goals and I am sure Kenny Daglish and all the Liverpool players appreciate that.
Carroll has scored 4 goals from 16 starts for Liverpool but he is not the only striker to struggle for goals when he first joined. Peter Crouch scored 5 goals from 22 starts. Even Luis Suarez scored only 8 goals from his first 23 starts. When Micheal Owen came through the ranks he also managed 8 goals but they came in his first 21 starts and Dirk Kuyt scored 9 goals from his first 22 starts. All these other strikers have gone on to score many more goals for Liverpool.
Maybe I am biased towards Carroll because I class myself as a similar striker to him, but I am very sure he is going to have a great career for both his club and his country. He is still only 23 too which will give him plenty of time to prove his doubters wrong.
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