It's an understatement to suggest that Andy Carroll has strugged at Liverpool. In his last sixteen appearances, the former Newcastle striker has scored only two goals, and he's clearly having problems adapting to Liverpool's style of play. However, Anfield legend Steve Nicol believes that there is another reason for Carroll's underwhelming performances.
Speaking to ESPN, Nicol, who won the PFA Player of the Year Award in 1989, observed:
"Liverpool have got to give him a chance!
"If you give Andy Carroll the proper service, and you get him running at it, he'll deliver.
"At the present time, it's 'Andy, hold up - it's coming', and everyone knows what's going to happen, and it makes it impossible for him".
With Carroll in the team, the style of play is definitely more predictable, but that's arguably because Carroll doesn't have the ability to mix it up and play any other way.
If Liverpool changed their entire way of playing and set the team up to serve Carroll then I'm sure he would score goals, but subjugating the performance of the team to make one individual play better is surely not the right way forward. Or is it?
Jaimie Kanwar
Speaking to ESPN, Nicol, who won the PFA Player of the Year Award in 1989, observed:
"Liverpool have got to give him a chance!
"If you give Andy Carroll the proper service, and you get him running at it, he'll deliver.
"At the present time, it's 'Andy, hold up - it's coming', and everyone knows what's going to happen, and it makes it impossible for him".
With Carroll in the team, the style of play is definitely more predictable, but that's arguably because Carroll doesn't have the ability to mix it up and play any other way.
If Liverpool changed their entire way of playing and set the team up to serve Carroll then I'm sure he would score goals, but subjugating the performance of the team to make one individual play better is surely not the right way forward. Or is it?
Jaimie Kanwar
Definitely not!
ReplyDeleteIf you buy a player for what he has shown, he is good at, then you must play to his strengths.
ReplyDeleteWhen we bought Torres, the team was set up to get the most out of his ability.
If you spend 35mill on a player, you should know that he will be able to adapt, not hope he can adapt, to the style you wish to play.
The style Carroll is used to is very different to the style liverpool play. so there are two options, 1) set up to play to his strengths i.e. get a couple of wingers. 2) Give him to the end of next season to adapt and if he does not, sell him.
At Blackburn and Newcastle Kenny played long ball. The only reason he isn't employing the same tactics here is because the fans wouldn't have it. He has signed gritty grafty long ball players, but is playing short passing tactics....Crazy.
ReplyDeleteBlackburn did n't play long ball! They had the Shearer,Sutton with Ripley and Wilcox on the wing and Sherwood in the middle hardly long ball merchants any of those players!!!!
ReplyDeleteAnything to stick the knife in on Kenny embarrassing to read!
Really do not think Carroll is good enough to build a team around, the Team is and should be built around Suarez. It is painfully obvious Suarez can not play with Carroll, like I keep hearing they have 2 totally different styles. Carroll needs a direct runner from his build up play and Flick ons, like a Jermaine Defoe, where as Suarez links up well with technically gifted footballers such as Bellamy and as many have said on this site the likes of Maxi.
ReplyDeleteI have tried to keep faith in my belief in Carroll in hope he can make it at LFC as he must be desperate to make things work as lets not forget he left his boyhood team to join us, he deserves credit and respect alone for that.
Things are just not working for him, I can't see how they will work for him or LFC due to the way KK wants us to play and I for one am delighted with the way we move the ball about with clever, technically gifted players. Maybe we need a quality forward to play inthe hole to link with Suarez, Van der Vaart kind of player, or maybe Gerrard may be that Player.
I now hope Adebayor demands too much money from Spurs who will then come in for Carroll and I wouls snap Harry's hands off for £22m he allegedly offered Newcastle in the Summer!!!!
Carroll has the ball skills of a ten year old and has no clue what to do with the ball at his feet. He might be strong in the air(yet to see) but the negatives out way his positives.
ReplyDeleteKeep him on the bench! We must get a new striker in Jan who can assist Luis, not hinder his play.
YNWA!
it's not about building a team around him, some early passes would be good. It's got to the stage where he almost doesn't expect the pass to come in.
ReplyDeleteDear Mr. Mr. Henry,
ReplyDeleteThis is an open letter to you from a die hard LFC fan of nearly 3 decades. Please follow the footsteps of your fellow American at Sunderland and sack the manager, in our case King "With The Plastic Crown" Kenny Dalglish. He is spending tons of LFC money with nothing to show (well except for Suarez and Enrique) and just like one of his signings, he is DOWNING our beloved club.
Besides spending 35 mill on a one dimensional donkey in Carroll and another 40 mill on a pair of mules in the form of Henderson and Downing, Kenny has no tactital abilities (often with no substitution or leaving it very late when often the game need some inspiration), have yet to show his fame man management, often blame others when we lost and not himself and worse of all continue to play his favourite donkey and mules who does not perform at the expense of others who do (if you do not believe me Mr. Henry you could always check with Maxi, Kuyt, Bellamy).
I know K.D. was massive for us as a player and we would always cherish that but as manager this time he falls far short, maybe as a consequence of not managing for 10 years and last won a trophy in 1995.
However Mr. Henry we must not be sentimental and always live in the past (as a lot of so called fans are fond of) and must continue to look forward. We last won the league in 1990 (yes it was that long ago and it was called the DIV 1 then) and under KD we look set to continue with our wait. We could even forget of playing in the CL for a while under our plastic king.
There is still time Mr. Henry but you must be decisive, just like your fellow American Mr. Short and stop the rot, NOW.
From a TRUE LFC Fan.
I am trying my hardest to believe he will come good but so far there is no evidence!
ReplyDeleteWhen you look at how dangerous Suarez is around goal, his creativity, gets others in play and a constant threat! That is what u come to expect from him! He cost us 23m!
Carroll who cost an extra 12m is one tenth of the player Siarez is!
This going British thing has surely seen us in 7th with a lot of money spent!
Mata was just 3m more than Downing!
Hazard could have been purchased for same as Henderson!
Could have got Sturridge plus 40m for Torres which in effect would have bought all the 3 mentioned with only a few million spent!
Now that would have put us in top 4 for sure!!!
why not, all teams have to base their team around their strikers look at what he did at newcastle, I totally agree with whats said in the article above players need to learn how to pass him and he needs to know were their passes are likey to come down we bought him for a reason and thats because he can score goals so we just need to give him the service he requires
ReplyDeleteAre you suggesting Liverpool should have bought Newcastle to complement Carroll so we we can get the best out of him?
ReplyDeleteGive him until the coming transfer window. Grt Torres back or other reputable strikers to patner Suarez.
ReplyDeleteWhy would Cfc give us their best homegrown talent for the last 20years , who was scoring goals for fun @ Bolton , when they have 2 ageing Strikers in Drogba and Anelka, that had to be replaced.
ReplyDeleteHazard's buyout clause is 40m !!!! and he is at a good club growing every year , he had no desire to leave. End of the season he is off to Real.Barca,Bayern,City, UTD.....Not LFC
Mata was 3m more than Downing , but he is on 3 times the wages , has a longer contract , had a bigger signing on fee , bigger agent fees , Cfc are in the CL every year.... we had no chance !!!
Downing is just off form , he was the best winger in the league last year , he'll come good.
You cant keep harping on AC price tag , we sold Torres , we spent none of our capital on AC. He needs time just like Cavani needed time.
Brief Cavani history: he was terrible at the 2010 WC , he was loaned out of Palermo because they bought Abel Hernandez. He was sent to their biggest rival , branded a flop. He had two very average years but found his form at Napoli who signed him for under 10m ....he is now worth 50m.
Moral of the story is that sometimes things take time.
AC needs service yes but that does not mean playing long balls to him , playing for flick-ons. He needs players supporting him upfront , he needs fullbacks who cross the ball from the byline, wingers that can dribble and beat a man b4 putting a cross in.
At Fulham our crossing was pathetic !! the 2 times Saurez got to the byline AC won the ball and almost scored. Hoofing it to him is not the service he needs. Keep the ball on the ground, turn teams around , force teams to defend deep and AC becomes s huge weapon.
Now he is being wasted at LFC.... not the other way around.
Those who don't want us to be among the 1st four team comes May should continue be advocating we should give Carrol a chance.These are people I think do NOT love our darling club.I therefore disagree totally with this writer.Its high time we continuously bench Carrol and bringing later say 75-80 minutes on when we are sure of winning the game.Carrol starting is always detrimental to us.Check all matches with Carrol's starter and see how many we won.
ReplyDeleterice Tag should NOT be an influence in any teams selection.No true Liverpool fan will blame King Kenny for even loaning Carrol to another club if needs be.Only the English Press will talk more about but who cares about them?
IF we really need the fourth place or more,then its high time we open our eyes and see that Carrol is detrimental as a starter.
We shouldnt waste time lease he is costing us points.If only you dont have Liverpool at heart then you say this.If really you want us among the top four then Carrol should be coming in as substitute.Price Tag shouldnt influence team selection but performance
ReplyDeleteChris if you are talking about what Carrol did in Newcastle then I think your eyes are closed.
ReplyDeleteWhile Carrol was in Newcastle, they were fighting relegation.Look now in Carrol's absence they are above us and even fighting for the fourth lace at our detriment.Open your eyes please Chris
SO what have you to say about my analysis
I totally agree, Liverpool style does not suit Carrol and he was agan poor against Fulham. it does hurt me to say this but I think Jamie Kanwar's reservation about getting Suarez due to his disciplinary issues was right. his another saga with fans will get him into trouble and it seems that now referres wont take his fallings seriously, we need a striker and I know they are few young lads in reserve that may get their chance sooner that later.
ReplyDeleteChan u are a joke of a supporter. look up the defnition of the word support and see if it applies to u. i doubt it. btw are you a premier league standard manager? If not then stop acting like one. KD is a proven manager and knows a damn more about football and Liverpool fc than you do. also would you have written that pathetic piece to Mr Henry after the recent chelsea games?
ReplyDeleteoh ffs!!!!! True fan my ass!
ReplyDeleteRubbish! Pure speculation and heresay.
ReplyDeleteIts all this lack of genuine support that is affecting our fortunes. Get behind the team for F sakes.
ReplyDeleteAnd dont come with your "blind support angle" either, we realise some players dont play well and are not afraid to say so but theres a VAST difference between constructive criticism and slagging players and calling (utterly ridiculously) for the managers head. Are you retarded?
ReplyDeleteLiverpool FC doesnt OWE you f'all, YOU owe Liverpool FC genuine support fgor all the memorable moments, thrilling victories and memories. WAKE the F up.
Swop Carroll for Torres, both more suited to how the other team plays. Easy fix, everyone happy.
ReplyDeleteLet's put each point you've made into perspective. Firstly let's deal with your gripe regarding the player recruitment. We went into the summer transfer window offer NO european football of any kind, therefore players like Jones & Mata opted for United and Chelsea respectively and who can blame them? However we were still able to attract a player with one of the highest assist stats of last season - Downing, a player who was nominated as one of the players of last season - Adam, Sunderland's player of last season - Henderson and one of the the most sought after left backs who Arsenal were in the hunt for - Enrique. Now I grant you that not all have yet truly made their mark but I will argue that each has shown signs of great promise at different times. You must also consider that we are only a third of the way into the season and have consistently had more new faces in our starting line up than all the teams currently above us. Players need time to gel.......FACT! Secondly, under the new managerial regime LFC are playing far more attractive football. We are constantly on the attack and pushing our two full-backs up the wings on regular occasion which make for exciting viewing. (For far too long we have been too predictable as a team so I welcome this change in tactic). As a result of our new attacking play we have peppered opponents goal mouths and have been extremely unfortunate to not have scored more goals. LFC have hit the woodwork more than any other team this season.......FACT! We are also winning away from home on a more regular basis (something we have struggled to do over the past few season) and that's down to our attacking play. Beside the Tottenham game, we were unlucky to not to take points at Stoke or the other night at Fulham. And when we play at Anfield, it's fair to say that most teams (certainly the smaller clubs) will stick 10 men behind the ball which makes it harder to score. Finally, we have a semi final to look forward to, the first we've had since 2008, so that must surely be seen as a plus. All in all we are certainly not the finished article but no real football fan who knows their football, who has played the game a some competitive level expects LFC to be comfortably sitting in a top 4 position when there are teams such as Tottenham, Man City, Arsenal, Man Utd & Chelsea who have come above us in the league over the past 2 seasons. You need to believe and support rather than writing articles with no substance. Back up your points with hard facts and then your comments may be taken more seriously. And by the way, we are all true fans so you only look stupid when making such a comment.
ReplyDelete"As a result of our new attacking play we have peppered opponents goal mouths and have been extremely unfortunate to not have scored more goals. LFC have hit the woodwork more than any other team this season.......FACT! "tell us something we don't know - this is just a depressing stat we have had to put up with for years and years. They sould rename our club to Liverpool "Should have Scored" FC. I get sick of the amount of times I hear "the amount of chances we've created" and not score form them - it happens in every game and it gets to the point where i think that as a club, LFC are cursed (not really, but sometimes . . .).By the way, hitting the post, or the bar means that the shot is OFF TARGET people, OFF TARGET ffs
ReplyDeletetotally agree - and KK is doing the club a massive disservice by continuing to play him even though he is nothing but a liability; no touch, shot or I can't even remeber a decent kncok down or header towards goal (I'm sorry but the second against Citeh las tseason was an own goal, Carroll claimed it but It came off the defender).
ReplyDeleteKK only plays him to justify his price tag and thi is dangerous. the same for Henderson and Downing - poor performances all round there and the likes of Bellamy and Maxi on th bench, even when they do deliver. KK only wants to accommodate his flops and that is that. KK is now beocmgin a liability imho. Even Steve Clark is getting frustrated with him, you could see that when he brought on the two late subs - he was having a word in KK's ear and it appeared Steve was just ignored.
Kenny out!
yeah, whatever. . . .
ReplyDeleteNot sure what your point is? Are you just saying that we're now a cursed club and that is the sum total of how far we have come? I'm confused by your point of view + I never wrote 'should have scored' as no one has the right to say that. But it is true we have a far more attacking style under KD and the law of averages will tell you that if you keep attacking you will eventually score. And as you know in football, when the goals do start coming they can easily come like buses. My comment back to Chan was to summarise the positives and why his rash rant to remove KD is not justified by his comments. There appears to be a lot of p**sed off fans that just want to have a go for the sake of it. Not sure if you are a regular attendee of games but if you are going regularly (like myself) you will feel the difference and that we are actually improving as a team.
ReplyDeleteIt's not rubbish at all!, what he's saying is 100%, correct!!!.
ReplyDeleteJEVON....are you saying that, Carrol, Henderson,Downing and Adam were good buys?.
ReplyDeleteYou can back this donkey and the three mules, as much as you like, but believe you me, you want get far, with them, Carrol especially will NEVER be more than championship material, and if you can't see that, than maybe you should follow another sport!.
No, you're right. It isn't. Use him as back-up for 6 months and pray he's got 5 or 6 goals in the interim, and then sell him for 10-15 million. He'll surely be worth that.
ReplyDeleteOh yeah thats right teams with reasonable players don't play long ball do they?
ReplyDeletePennant, Etherton, Crouch and Jones ---Stoke
Holdsworth, Fash, Earle, Gayle---Wimbledon
Kevin Davies, Jay Jay Okocha, Djorkaef---Bolton
Downing, Young, Agbonlahor, Heskey ---Villa under long ball O'neil.
At Blackburn Kenny got the ball forward quickly and played off the strikers. Shearer always played as an out an out striker whilst Newell and Sutton did all the flickon donkey work. Their goal records whilst playing alongside Shearer also reflect this as they were asked to flick it on or lay it off to their wide players and were not regular scorers.
Look it up or better still watch a game or two.
Spiv, you made some good points and thanks for some ATTEMPT at intelligent exchange which is more than what some fans here are capable of.
ReplyDeleteIts true that new players need time to gel unfortunately for LFC time we can't afford to give them. In the case of Henderson for example, why gives him so much time when we can ill afford it at the expense of performing players such as Maxi, Kuyt and even Bellamy? If J.H is bought with an eye for the future whta is KD's hurry? Why not afford this luxury to Coates? One cost 20 mill and the other 7 mill, is that a consideration.
Suarez choose to join us despite knowing we can't offer CL football and being chase by others who can, so there goes your "no CL and they won't join us arguement". FACT
If Downing is such a great player as what the Stats says) why no mad rush for his signature from our rivals? FACT
No attempts were made on why we have to splashed out 35 mill for Carroll, a player with half a season in the topflight and injured at the time we signed him. Was that panic buying by KD? Why play him at the expense of Bellamy who played well everytime he is selected. FACT
The FACT is your plastic King had blown more that 100 mill to leave us roughly where we are (in the league) compared to RH this time round. We must bear in mind the FACT that FSG invested in LFC mainly due to the UEFA Financial Fair Play rules that kick in in 2014. That means even if FSG have a couple of hundred mill more for the plastic king to blow, they would not be allowed to unless we wish to get ourselves ban from UEFA competitions.
You also ignored my comment on KD's tactital ineptitude. The latest example or FACT if that pleases you would be the Fulham game where he totally left out Maxi (despite him scoring a few goals the last time we played them or another FACT) and started the lumbering Carroll instead of Bellamy despite the FACT that Fulhams CB's are not too fond of quick thinking speed merchants.
Enough FACTS for you Spiv.
Johnson, if that is your intelligence level you could spend more time with your favourite ass hobby. If not you could read my reply to Spiv. Do not try too hard to answer, you might used up all your neurons.
ReplyDeleteSpiv, we do not have a go just for the sake of it. I used we b'cos there are a lot more LFC fans whom i spoke too wants KD gone, now.
ReplyDeleteAs cookedbacon says, attemps alone do not win matches, goals do. You mean after all this while KD had not figured how to deal with this despite being a great striker himself? Bellamy and Maxi knows where the back of the net is, why are they not selected?
How many times have we seen M.U not creating enough chances and scored when they finally do in a game? Noticed their string of 1-0 wins?
Many are not in favor of granting KD a permanent contract (me included) but we kept our counsel as we feel he should be given some games to prove himself. He failed big time. You must remember KD is familiar with LFC and need no bedding in period, unlike AVB of Chelsea. If he is totally new to LFC we would not be on his back.
Its time for KD to go and J.H must be decisive like the Sunderland owner.
Well said
ReplyDelete