1 Mar 2012

LFC Legend admits: Luis Suarez deserves a 'better partner' than Andy Carroll...

Judging by his recent comments, Liverpool striker Andy Carroll clearly believes that his partnership with Luis Suarez can and will be successful. The duo had a good game against Brighton together, but one game does not define a partnership, and according to Anfield legend Steve Nicol, Suarez needs a better strike partner alongside him.

Speaking to The Telegraph last week, Carroll enthused:

"Training together has shown we can do it [as a partnership] and against Brighton we showed we can score goals up front together. We've been training well together so when it comes to a game it's just natural. You saw against Brighton we both got on the scoresheet, so it's coming off."

With the greatest respect to Carroll, combining well against inferior opposition does not mean everything is 'coming off', and Steve Nicol seems to agree. Discussing Liverpool on ESPN yesterday, Nicol was blunt in his assessment of the Suarez-Carroll partnership. He observed:

"After seeing them play together on Sunday, there was nothing to suggest that this pairing is going to be great for Liverpool.

"You talk about Toshack and Keegan and people like that - there was nothing for me; they never had any play between them; neither of them really looked like scoring.

"There was just no reason to think this pairing could become dynamite. I think Suarez deserves a better partner than Carroll. He may come good eventually, but he's not ready yet".


I totally agree - Suarez deserves a better partner upfront, i.e. Craig Bellamy, or even Dirk Kuyt, both of whom play well with him. Additionally, those two players are more suited to the pass and move style of play that has created so many chances for the team this season.

On the same show, Steve McManaman disagreed with Nicol, and argued that Suarez-Carroll just needs 'time to gel':

"I prefer Carroll to play with Suarez when they're at home, but not so much when they're away. They just need to play together a little bit more, and hopefully they'll find time to gel".

I would love to see a run of games with Bellamy and Suarez playing upfront together, but, alas, I don't think it will happen this season.

Bellamy is going to be 33 soon, and this could be his last season of playing this well, or this regularly. Liverpool should be capitalising on the Welshman's form and playing him as often as his fitness allows in roles where he can do the most damage.

Jaimie Kanwar


36 comments:

  1. So you think it would be better to play 1 of 2 men whose future is behind them? You might as well say Dalglish should play himself. Carroll may not be the ultimate solution, but he is the closest thing to a powerful forward that Liverpool have, and he should have a chance to show he can fill that role.

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  2. I was happy about Carroll getting better over last few weeks, but even him playing better he's not good enough and brings the team down. The end of last year we were playing lovely one touch stuff and all the midfielders were bursting into the box. Now we just try to play to Carroll's strengths and it's obvious the other teams enjoy Liverpool doing that because they're used to high balls and crosses coming into the box.

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  3. The problem isnt Carroll its Suarez the service the big man gets is awful. He toiled on sunday in league cup final win (still not acknowledged by this site) with an underperforming Gerrard and an out of sorts Suarez. This was typified by the only cross of the game that came from Suarez occuring when Carroll had been withdrawn

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  4. 'when they're at home', nah shaggy, Carroll should STAY AT HOME if his performances don't reach a much higher standard soon. He has been improving but he is STILL nowhere near the level he should be at for a club of our standard and for that amount of money. Who knows, he might turn out to be worth the money but I doubt it. 

    For a £30m+ striker, he is so tame and poor when it comes to movement inside the box and attacking the ball. Far too lazy and static.

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  5. Carroll is a donkey. The sooner the better we as liverpool fans realise he's not upto scratch, He's brutal end off.  Couldn't trap a bag of cement, no pace and no threat in behind. Awful to watch. Will never EVER be consistently productive for LFC

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  6. Closest thing to a powerful forward...whats that really? Emile Heskey? carroll is not even upto that level. and what other big striker has brought us goals anyway, for heaven`s sake dont say Toshack, that was nearly 40 years ago. I mostly dont agree with Jaime, but hey who are we kidding... at present carroll is first div material at the most. in recent years, only great examples in EPL are Drogba and shearer who are far better players. All respect to kenny but he is providing too much of protection to his signings, adam, downing and henderson have all proven to be flops and in no way should be in team ahead of kuyt, maxi Lucas( i know he`s injured, just saying he`s better than new signings). I for one still fail to understand why tougher stand was not taken on mieriles and more effort not made on aaqualiani. All to best to Kenny but i dont see us finishing 4th, and getting better players in summers. we`ll be lucky if we can make suarez stay.   

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  7. He never EVER bust a gut to get in the box from crosses. He's a poor/moderate striker and i'd wash my hands with him in the summer

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  8. Interesting Jaimie how there are no articles from you on the Carlin Cup Win. Care to comment?

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  9. strange Adam isnt it almost makes you think others are correct when they say he is a fake LFC supporter and is actually a manc getting his kicks. I am also suspicious ashe doesnt seem to understand the difference between a LFC Legend, Hero or Player. Nicol never a legend. McManaman no better than Torres imo he lost the club millions due to his own greed strung the club along then left on a bosman

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  10. Why not Kuyt Bellamy and Suarez

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  11. Will you Jamie,please do an article on the Carling cup final?

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  12. Why should I? I don't respect the carling cup and I've been consistent on that point for years. It's a meaningless trophy sponsored by a beer, and there's no glory in beating vastly inferior opposition on penalties (!) in fact, it's pretty embarrassing. You can revel in mediocrity if you like; I'll celebrate when Liverpool finish in the top 4 - that's all that matters this season.
    I don't have to support the club the way you want me to; I don't follow the crowd just because that's what the LFC fan mafia demands; I have no enthusiasm for the carling cup, so I didn't write about it. There are thousands if other sites out there who did post stuff about it so why not gi and read them?
    This is my opinion and i'm entitled to it, and if people don't like it, tough luck.

    Sent from iPhone

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  13. at the moment suarez isn't up to it as a liverpool striker.
    his success rate is dire,he's far too wasteful.
    carroll as much as people want him to come good will ultimately be a flop.he's just not good enough-people should realise that there's no embarassment in admitting that.
    one of the things i liked about rafa was that when he realised a player wasn't up to it he'd get rid.daglish hopefully will see the light in the summer.

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  14. Here we go again, Steve Nicol sticking his nose in where it's not wanted. How about you just support the team and keep that mouth of yours shut. You are really starting to bore me with your negative comments and have absolutely no idea what your talking about. Carroll and Suarez are doing just fine and will only get better. What we need is a few pacey wingers to trouble defences and supply crosses. Any Two of Adam, Gerrard, Lucas, Henderson and Spearing can control the midfield and let Suarez have a free role just behind Carroll. Bellamy and Kuyt to challenge for positions upfront.

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  15. you are a prick jk a fucking prick a fake and a prick

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  16. Guess who wrote this as the intro to an article not so long ago:
    "Winning the Carling Cup this season would be a great boost for Liverpool FC..."
    Oh yes, it was Jaimie Kanwar.

    But apparently, Jaimie must have thought it would be a great boost to win a 'meaningless commercial trophy' that he hasn't respected for years!!

    How can you tell when Jaimie is telling lies... his mouth moves.

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  17. I think Nicol should realise that there is no more time to make these duo to gel.Time waits for no one.I strongly accept  that Bellamy and Kuyt can gel well with Suarez than Carroll.
    We should take all our remaining matches as a Cup final if we want to get the fourth.As such Bellamy and/Kuyt should start playing alongside Suarez.Maxi can replace any of Bellamy or Kuyt if any is injured.No time left to experiment Carrol and Suarez.Time has gone

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  18. Don't be such a tit , it's not the best trophy in the world , but it's a trophy won at Wembley , a great day out for a lot of people and to say you'll celebrate when we finish fourth , well is'nt that settling for second best (well fourth best actually) . We want to win the league , not Finnish fourth in the meantime if we pick up a trophy don't knock it . By the way anyone who puts Barney Rubble in a Liverpool all time greatest team can't be that much of a judge , I don't think Barney's mum and dad would put him in , but that's by the by

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  19. Fair enough! But it is the same beer which sponsored Liverpool for years. 

    Well, I personally have no more respect for any bank (including Barclays) than a beer company.

    But for many reasons, finishing 4th is more important than winning Carling cup.

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  20. you're talking complete rubbish...carroll is awful.  he has no pace or technique and his touch is like a rapists.  other big target men like gomez, kroos, lorenthe, drogba, muller etc. are mobile and can play in small intricate passing moves unlike carroll. Few pacey wingers? Carroll hasn't even got the pace to get on the end of crosses.  He lumbers around like a bag of cement. KK talks about brining back the days of pass and move and we did that towards the end of last season...you know how? I'll give you a clue...el carthorse carroll wasn't playing

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  21. You don't respect the fact we won it 4 times in a row in the 80's and it is
    part of 2 treble winning seasons 84/01?

    Still rubbishing lower league teams like we and the Premier League have a god
    given right to hammer them even though Man U were turned over by Palace in the  semi-finals by not respecting them? Has Spurs found with drawing in the FA Cup against Stevenage! How many times have we been knocked out by lower league teams in the last 6 years?
    I enjoyed the win a typical Liverpool Cup win done the hard way! When do we do it the easy way?
     If other managers had taken cup competitions more seriously like Mourinho and Fergie instead of calling them meaningless like you may be we wouldn't have gone 6 years without winning anything and the players and fans wouldn't have to release so much emotion in actually winning something!
    Don't you understand instilling a winning spirit into the team ?

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  22. That was then, this is now. In the 80s, the League Cup was not a commercial competition; it was simply the League Cup. You can't compare the past with now because the context is completely different. Liverpool have spent over 115m on players in the last 14 months, and there was no European distraction this season to drain players' energy. Despite that, we still had to beat Cardiff on penalties. To me, that is embarrassing, and it's nothing to shout about.

    The game just underlined the same problems Liverpool have had since the beginning of the season, and the truth is that the club has NOT moved forward on the pitch since Dalglish returned.

    It shouldn't take a win over inferior opposition to instill a winning mentality in the team. What happened to the winning mentality over the last 7 months?!

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  23. carroll is young, he can gel with suarez next season. this season we need to finish 4th. bring on bellaz-suarez-kuyt and kick on. it is highly likely our coach will never ever do that but, his stubbornness will cost us the spot we covert.  ynwa

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  24. jesus!!! the best week we've had all season!! a trophy!! And is all you so called "fans" can do, is come on here, slag the manager off, the players?? the cup we just won!! you guys are a joke!! you should be happy, the team is improving, we in a much better position than last year, any fool can see we are on the up!! and is all you do is find the negatives, never happy!! the team is still a work in progress, some people shouldn't even bother commenting, as they heve noooooo idea about football!! you think that you spend a bit of money, have instant sucsess, get straight bk in the champions league?? yeah, it really is that easy ;) the team still gelling, carroll not quite there, but defo improving every game, this the first decent run of games he had, yet you right him off, after not even having a proper chance in the team, he young, still learning, and with players like gerrard and suarez around him, he'll only get better!! other teams fans, laugh, and mock a lot of liverpool fans, and the reason they do?? is cuz of fans like you!!!

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  25. I am sorry but i think that everyone waiting on the whole Carroll and Suarez partnership is flogging a dead horse, i remember someone saying that Suarez was Nando's partner not replacement and the fact that he left and all those in charge shit themselves and bought Carroll, really did not think that through or did not give themselves time to. Suarez in my opinion is a very awkward footballer very hard to mark, not the quickest but very tricky.
    He likes the fast past game even in very tight areas Carroll can not move quick enough like one said up further he is to slow very little skill and a very one dimension footballer, Torres would have been better suited, even someone like Teves (sorry if spelt wrong) KK needs to find someone for Suarez if he wants to keep him in the club because players do get upset when they can not link up properly with their so called partners and managers do nothing to resolve the problem, Bellamy Kuyt and even Gerrard will not be around for a long time and Hendo in my opinion is the biggest waste of money, he would be worth around 2-3mill max. 

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  26. The winning mentality that got us to one cup final and beating Man U in another.
    Only embarrassing if you are arrogant about the opposition a team that has been to Wembley 4 times already since it reopened. Our easiest win in the last 10 years actually came against you could say a superior team when we beat Man U in 03! Don't you remember 88 and Wimbledon?
    The league form is disappointing and but we won't know if we have moved on this season until May.  

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  27. Weren't Carroll and Suarez involved with Skrtel's goal at the weekend pity Suarez's header hit the post! Suarez is playing a lot closer to Carroll in games playing little one twos between each other and also looking for Carroll's knock downs.

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  28. Yes, I think it is clearly not the same competition any more. Winning it all those years ago was far more of an achievement than it is now.

    And definitely agree, due to our weak attacking line up, we struggle to beat inferior teams who keep it tight against us.

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  29. You'd think that Suarez has scored 20 goals more than Carroll, the way people are talking. Fact is, Suarez has not exactly set the world on fire, on the pitch, in any case. I really do think that we'd have scored more goals with Crouch and Defoe up front this season and that's not a strike force that i would be excited about us having.

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  30. Carrol is not that bad. I think he will improve as he matures and learns how to use his strength and size to better effect. This is also where good coaching comes in and I am sure they will be working on getting the best out of him. We need to be a bit more patient and I think we can get some good games out of him.
    At the same time, I would like to see another quick and skillful striker of Suarez/Torres/Hernandez' ilk (maybe Messi would fancy a switch) to play with Suarez. I don't know who is available- these players don't grow on trees. That would definitely lead to some exciting football. Perhaps one of our own Reserves- Eccelston or Sterling for example

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  31. Funny how Man U and Chelsea have won it 5 times between each other in the last 7 years and Chelsea and Arsenal losing finalists as well, but lot of fans seem to miss that point when they say it isn't the same competition any more . 

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  32. Quite the over-reaction there J. Not showing much class at all.

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  33. Your a muppet talking about mediocre what finishing 4 is good get a grip you twat

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  34. Liverpool were sponsored by Carlsberg, not Carling. They also wear red shirts occasionally if you havent noticed that....

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  35. Carrol is a 35 mil ballbag that would struggle technically in lower leagues. Pls Kenny take yr head ove yr ass, get rid... Higuean would be a great partener 4 Suarez, Lets make Real an offer 4 him and Alonso and watch d good times roll at Anfield!!!!!

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