28 Jan 2012

HANSEN: Liverpool are a 'better team' without this 'unplayable' Star...

In recent weeks, it has become clear (IMO) that Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish is losing patience with Andy Carroll. Despite Luis Suarez being banned, and Liverpool desperately needing goals, Carroll was left on the bench for crucial premier league game against Stoke, and experienced the nadir of being reduced to a time-wasting tactic against Man City. Granted, Carroll has had plenty of chances to impress this season, but according to Anfield legend Alan Hansen, the time has come to acknowledge and accept that Liverpool simply play better without him.

Hansen has been very supportive of Carroll this season, but even he is now starting to accept the inevitable. Speaking to the BBC, Hansen argued:

"[Kenny] paid £35m to sign Carroll, but there is no getting away from the fact that Liverpool look a better team without him.

"I recall him looking unplayable when he scored Newcastle's winner at Arsenal last season. He was unbeatable in the air and quick on the deck.

"Everyone will be working and supporting him behind the scenes to try and find that elusive form he showed on Tyneside, but he was injured when he arrived at Liverpool, has struggled not only for confidence but also touch and is not leaving anyone for dead any more.

"Others will know whether it is a question of fitness or confidence, but Dalglish was right to keep playing him until it became clear he was not getting any better and left him out against City".


I'm not a great fan of Carroll but bringing him on in the 90th minute against City was a bit of a personal humiliation for the player (IMO), especially as he was one of two players dropped as a result of Dalglish's post-Bolton tirade.

There seems to be a disconnect between what Kenny says about Carroll and what he does; all season, we've heard nothing but praise and support for the big-man, but that has not translated into the one thing Carroll needs: a consistent run of games, with the team set-up to get the best out of him.

The opportunity to grant him that arose with the suspension of Luis Suarez, but Carroll has still been in and out of the team, and when he's played, the team has not been set-up to play to his strengths.

Dumping a £35m striker on the bench for big games sends the wrong signal, and this can only have a negative effect on Carroll's already fragile confidence. All of which begs the question: why did Kenny spend so much money on Carroll when:

* It was obvious he wouldn't fit into Liverpool's preferred style of playe.
* He clearly doesn't know how to utilise him properly.
* He is not going to give him the opportunity to properly gel with the team.

Don't get me wrong, if it was down to me Carroll would be sold tomorrow, but Liverpool's handling of the player has (arguably) been counter-productive, and if it happened once, it can happen again with a different player.

For me, as soon as Suarez started his suspension, Carroll should've played every game alongside Bellamy upfront, with Downing and Johnson (or even Gerrard) on the wings. That's not my personally preferred set-up but if you spend 35m on a player you surely have to at least TRY and see if you can get the best out of him?

In the seven games Suarez has been out, Liverpool have won only 3 out of 7 games overall, managing only one win in the last six premier league games. If Liverpool had played Carroll in every game, could it have been worse? Possibly, but it also could've been better.

If Kenny genuinely has faith in Carroll, he needs to play him more, starting today against Man United. If not, he needs to just accept he made a mistake and get rid as soon as possible.

Jaimie Kanwar


32 comments:

  1. Pity it took a year to realise

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  2. Jamie...are you a liverpool supporter???

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  3. he doesn't get any service - we have no wingers who can get to the byline and make crosses for him - when the ball is pumped up to him there is no-one there to feed off him - having said that his positional play is not great - he should stay up as long as he can and not come back into defence or chase out to the wing so much - and when possible he should be available at the far post where he can see both the ball and the goal and be able to run into position for any crosses which do appear - and not be left standing when they go over his head

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  4. in the last 7 games how many did liverpool win with suarez? i fail to see your point. Liverpool struggle with a 4-4-2 formation.

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  5. it is true he doesnt get great service....BUT...he has to link up the play and bust his balls to get in box....HOWEVER....when he plays a 1-2 bout 30 or 40 yards out....by the time the ball get put in box he is like 1-5 yards outside box....he needs to play 1-2 and bust a gut to get too box.  He is struggling for fitness its so easy to see

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  6. LFC wide players' crosses cannot even clear the first opposing defender. ... How do we expect Carroll to get to the ball from the far post. LFC need to improve the quality of crosses first laying into Carroll

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  7. I blame kk for bad man management with Carroll .He was great at Newcastle so why is he bad at Liverpool ? Not enough game time and pathetic service .Carroll should be sold as kk is destroying the lads career , i feel sorry for him .

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  8. not much chance of him getting up to  standard of lfc just not fast enough

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  9. MUCH AS I HATE TO AGREE WITH JAIMIE, I DO THINK WE NEED TO CUT OUR LOSSES. KENNY'S ACTIONS SPEAK MUCH LOUDER THAN HIS WORDS WHEN IT COMES TO BELIEF IN ANDY, SO LET THE LAD GO KD, WE'LL FORGIVE YOU THIS MISTAKE

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  10. If nothing else Andy should use his physique to ensure defenders know they have been in a game....bruised ribs elbow in the throat..but he doesn't look arsed

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  11. they try to put the ball in the middle of the goal for him and fail - if he was at the back post it's easier to lift the ball over the defence

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  12. Jamie, how come you are so brilliant? Was it really obvious to you before he signed that Carroll would fail at Anfield? How come Hansen, Beardsley, John Barnes amongst others did not share your view? Perhaps you should apply to be the manager.

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  13. I honestly believe the Bolton game woke him up. The game at City he was on for a bit but there was a difference. Watch him challenge at Bolton am then at City, he was fighting an stayin on his feet. An also to be fair he played a few decent balls to Bellamy in the Bolton game. There is certainly something there. COME ON BIG ANDY SHUT YA CRITICS UP!!!!

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  14. So, will you praise Kenny's good man management for getting the best out of Bellamy?

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  15. Carroll doesn't show any sort of willingness to prove the doubters wrong, does he ..... ??

    He is lazy, he can't be arsed to close defenders down, he rarely runs at full speed (just jogging around), his touch is awful (to be honest, you can't even describe it as a touch .... it just pounces off him ...), he behaves like a pussy on the field (going down easily on almost every ocassion ... wheter it's on the ground or in the air) and his positional play is ming boggling .....

    At the moment he isn't good enough to play for Liverpool and therefore should be benched .... he needs to show what he can do through sub appearances.

    He needs to earn his place in the starting eleven !!

    It is up to him to show his worth to Liverpool ....

    He either succeeds aptapting to the style of football we want to play or fails miserably !!

    In my opinion, it seems like he doesn't want to be here .....

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  16. He is starting today. If Carroll can't make life difficult for De Gea in the air, when it comes to crosses and corners, than he really needs to go back to the training ground and sort himself out.

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  17. I feel sorry for JK at times, you should be like Tomkins as some of these posters are naively rose-tinted when it comes to our club. Tomkins is ridiculously biased. Even as a Liverpool fan, I find it embarassing how far he goes to show his pro-Liverpool bias in his articles and comments, yet what is even more embarrassing how the fans love it. No wonder some of our fans have acted a disgrace in the Suarez aftermath. 

    Nice to have someone like JK to sort of counter Tomkins' style, to a certain extent.

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  18. I will defend Carroll to some degree. First two games of this campaign he scored one and also assisted in a goal and was woefully called to have fouled. On top of not having confidence those incidents could've made a difference !

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  19. Anyone (No offence Jaimie) could have told you that Donkey was a massive gamble.
    You have £35 million pounds or so to spend and you announce your buy British Policy then you go around trying to find someone whose British us a striker and offer the club Money.
    In this case Mike Riley thought it was Xmas and it was.
    Dalglish F**KED up big time.
    John Henry must be thinking WTF is that player doing.
    We are the laughing stock for paying that much and before you mention Torres he's at least had assists.
    EEEE HAW is KENNY'S MILLSTONE 

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  20. 35 Mill was way over the odds for him and, it seems to weigh heavy on his shoulders. Having said that, who buys a target man who scores with their head from crosses but, has no wide men to get those crosses in?  know KK was after the likes of Johnson from City and got knocked back but surely there are other wide men available.

    Similar situation at City with Dzeko, a tall striker who's goals have come from running onto crosses, what do City do, play him as an out an out target man, playing with his back to goal, go figure.

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  21. I'm done this joker just missed an open chance to score totally screws it up and then starts crying for a non existant penalty. Time to stop making excuses. The guy is simply crap for lack of a better word. He's lazy looks totally uninterested in the game and Im sick and tired of all the dumb ass excuses that are being made for him. I he was Ngog or Heskey he would have been crucified by now. Woke up @7am US time to watch MU outplay us in every department. Where's Belamy, Why is Carra playing in midfield and WTF is Downing doing? Time to be painfully honest this team is not good or fast enough if we win it will be by luck.  

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  22. Kust been at the game and Carroll was brilliant, if he keeps it up like that then he should shut his critics up, he fought for everything, his first touch an control was quality and his heading was. I still think he's bein played without as much support as he should get but that was a lass performance, also I see some havin a go at him during this game, watching on telly I don't think you could appreciate his work rate.

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  23. Most of Downing's crosses and indeed Kuyt's do come from the byline. Byline crosses are useless to Carroll as he is hardly in the 6 yard box when they do happen. He needs cutbacks or diagonals, so our "wide" players have to float diagonals into the 18 yard box earlier. Carroll typically waits at the edge of the 18 yard box, so he's not that hard to feed. defence splitting passes would work just as well.

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  24. A square peg in round hole. Get Texeira fast

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  25. I completely disagree, Tomkins uses excellent statistical evidence and logic to make arguments, much of what come from JK is an opinion and as he has no experience of playing football at the top level or managing at the top level, i find his opinion completely pointless, point in case his belief that Dalglish plays a defensive formation if he plays 3 at the back(as he did prior to the fa cup game against man u), Tomkins has done several posts where he explains how a formation like 4-5-1, 3-5-1-1 can still be attacking, even if it looks defensive to an amateur.  

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  26. Jamie. Surely Carroll was bought when KK was only caretaker manager and I doubt the powers that be let him spend £35m of their money when they had no plans at the time of keeping KK on as they were after a younger manager. Plus KK's contract discussions to take the role on full-time took so long as he was adamant he wanted final say on all signings, so how could he have had final say on this signing!?

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  27. Give the guy a break, players go through bad spells, but to judge him now is short sighted. It's not about the money spent, it was always known that it was exorbitant. But to bash the player after this amount of time giving that he is young and adapting to a new style, as well as coming back from injury and the pressures of the English Media. Liverpool have time and fans should give him time. 

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  28. he is hardly the biggest problem.
    LFC have no midfield. Meireles or Alonso would have helped AC alot.

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  29. im really disapionted with liverpool supporters this year, they seem to be putting twenty years of hurt on KK in his year in charge, get of his back, bad management my arse, 100 million yes but thats just to try and keep pace, not win the league, we have just beat man city who spent 400 million and manchester who are 750 million in debt and spend an average of 20 mill per player for the last 15 years. Carrol played well today,its a shame that liverpool supporters have lost itand are expecting miracles so quickly ,

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  30. You really are missing the point why Liverpool bought Carroll,we can change the style of play with his style to suit playing different opponents.He is young and finding the change from his hometown club to a world famous club tricky.Your expecting instant results which your not going to get my friend.The new owners and the management are building a new future for LFC not a instant knee jerk decision to satisfy so called fans like you,you dont know better than KK so get behind his decisions

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  31. I have defended AC all the way, and still think he'll come good (whether it's in time to actually make a difference remains to be seen).

    But the only thing that is really starting to piss me off is how he's constantly playing around with his poxy little pony tail! I saw him pulling it tight at least 6 times during the match yesterday. Cut the bloody thing off; might help him concentrate on playing the game!

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  32. I was excited for Carroll to join but its just been disappointing. After watching all the games a few things are apparent. Our crosses are coming in too low for Andy to take advantage of his height and presence. Also when crosses come in, he's on the ground half the time. He seems out of form when it comes to strength and staying upright in the box. I still think we should hold onto him but address these issues and let him find his feet at Liverpool. Give him another season, but bring in texeira in the mean time.

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