Andy Carroll, what does he do?

[billypilgrimnz]

Makes Carragher hit unnecessary long balls forward.

.

 

I think it is Carragher who makes Carragher hit unnecessary long balls forward.

[cmuller]

Is LFD so far wide of the mark though?

 

After nearly a year - ok he was injured for a bit and there was the summer break - Carroll still looks like a park player who's somehow has found himself playing professional football for Liverpool. I'd agree with LFD that almost every move that he gets involved in either breaks down as soon as he gets the ball or slows to a snail's pace. Also the amount of time he needs to sort his feet out to do anything with the ball is far too long for a top class player. Especially a top class striker.

 

Saying all that! - I don't think he's as bad as he looks at the moment. He just doesn't suit the way the rest of the Liverpool team naturally plays.

[zigackly]

Is LFD so far wide of the mark though?

 

After nearly a year - ok he was injured for a bit and there was the summer break - Carroll still looks like a park player who's somehow has found himself playing professional football for Liverpool. I'd agree with LFD that almost every move that he gets involved in either breaks down as soon as he gets the ball or slows to a snail's pace. Also the amount of time he needs to sort his feet out to do anything with the ball is far too long for a top class player. Especially a top class striker.

 

Saying all that! - I don't think he's as bad as he looks at the moment. He just doesn't suit the way the rest of the Liverpool team naturally plays.

 

That's all true. The only mitigation is that nobody on the planet knows the way this Liverpool team naturally plays at the moment or even which eleven players should be in it more often than not.

[Code]

Carroll has been at the club for 9 months now, during that time he has played

14 PL matches and scored 3 goals, thats not very good.

 

The thing is though he seems like a great guy from what I`ve seen but he needs to start getting a better return, I doubt he ever will be better than a 1 in 3 striker maybe getting close to 1 in 2 at times but thats not really good enough considering his price, he should be a 2 in 3 striker for that price.

[zigackly]

Carroll has been at the club for 9 months now, during that time he has played

14 PL matches and scored 3 goals, thats not very good.

 

The thing is though he seems like a great guy from what I`ve seen but he needs to start getting a better return, I doubt he ever will be better than a 1 in 3 striker maybe getting close to 1 in 2 at times but thats not really good enough considering his price, he should be a 2 in 3 striker for that price.

 

I know the price was ridiculous, but if you accept that we've paid it now and move on then he can still be an asset to the team if he plays to his full potential and the rest of the team learn how to unlock that. I think one in three is acceptable for a target man as long as other players are scoring as a result of the space and opportunities he creates, but as yet we have not seen a lot of that either. It's an important few months for Andy as he has not done enough yet to prove he should be a regular first team starter. However the balancing equation is that we have to keep giving him opportunities to have a chance of seeing any return on our investment.

[PaulMcC]

If he scores 1 in 3 and Suarez gets about 1 in 3, that's not really enough for a forward partnership.

 

Hopefull Carroll gets a game on Saturday and starts to play well.

[The Dude Abides]

We'd of been better of holding onto N'gog and using the £35m on someone who's world class now, not potentially in three years.

[Code]

Holding on to N`Gog means there are a slight chance we actually would play him at times so no that would not be better.

[Xherdan]

N'gog is gone, get over it.

[Phoenix]

Nothing at the moment. all and well going on about the team fitting around him but he hasnt shown much himself.

[kev g]

The biggest issue with Carroll is not how poorly he has played in most of his time with us, its that when he is on the pitch it seems to have a massive impact on the overall effectiveness of the team. That being the case its really hard for us to give him enough playing time to play his way into form. I hope he turns it around but I just don't see it happening. I don't think he will ever fit into our team and he really isn't good enough to build the team, and the way we play, around him.

[RobbieOR]

We'd of been better of holding onto N'gog and using the £35m on someone who's world class now, not potentially in three years.

 

No we wouldnt.

 

Had we of done that there would have been murder

[BringbackBiscan]

Could have swore he scored the opener in our last meaningful he played in. It was against some small club wearing blue, nah surely not, he wouldn't have so much shit talked about him if that was the case.

[Kopite Pete]

N'gog is gone, get over it.

 

I certainly have. Took me all of five secs mate. As for Carroll, is a Comolli signing or Kenny's, considering we signed him when Kenny was a caretaker.

[Bobby Hundreds]

You know what the boy is here, regardless of it all he's a Liverpool player there's no point in debating his worth what's done is done. I say we persist with him in the first 11 let's see if our team begins to find an understanding more and he may become effective for us.

 

Personally I wouldn't have him as an important role in our defensive duties I'd keep him as far up the pitch as possible at all times.

[Abs]

I honestly dont think he's more talented than Ngog. Lets see who will be a better player 3-4 years from now. I think it will be Ngog

[Rick Sanchez C-137]

I honestly dont think he's more talented than Ngog. Lets see who will be a better player 3-4 years from now. I think it will be Ngog

 

Have you not got it yet? Nobody gives a fuck what you think. And I'm not just talking about this forum.

[Major Tom]

I honestly dont think he's more talented than Ngog. Lets see who will be a better player 3-4 years from now. I think it will be Ngog

 

They are no Chamakh or Gervinho. Those two are quality for you*

 

 

 

 

 

*Where quality = poor.

[Guest LFD]

Holding on to N`Gog means there are a slight chance we actually would play him at times so no that would not be better.

 

His goal to minute ratio I suspect is better than Carroll's at present.

 

Doesn't mean Ngog is good enough, but that's not the point I am making!

[Code]

Chamakh, I remember when we were linked with him and a lot of people argued he would be a great signing.

 

Those were the days.

[The Dude Abides]

Chamakh, I remember when we were linked with him and a lot of people argued he would be a great signing.

 

Those were the days.

 

Still though, it's better to get free shit, rather than £35m shit.

[JMARKH]

Did he not score the key goal in the last game he played in? he's not going to make goals out of nothing like Torres did but if he gets better service he'll score more goals, people need to get off his fuckin case.

[myrlas]

Read a blog on Carroll, and found myself agreeing on bits of it. Personally i think Johnson/Gerrard back in the team will help us getting more out of Carroll. Anyway, here's the blog:

 

So what is Kenny to do with Big Andy Carroll?

 

When Andy doesn’t play, Liverpool seem to be a more crisp flowing, passing team. Luis Suarez furthest up field, pulling out wide, left and right, dragging defenders where he goes, with support coming from midfield from Adam, Downing and Kuyt. Unfortunately our downfall with this system is we never seem to get enough people in the box, Adam seems to be lacking the pace to get far enough into the box to get on the end of chances, Downing seems to be suffering from a lack of confidence similar to our number 9, and Dirk Kuyt has evidently lost a yard of pace.

 

 

 

 

Andy Carroll, would without doubt, be an excellent strike partner for Luis. Unfortunately for Andy, and through no fault of his own, the team seems to lack fluidity when he plays with the majority of the team looking for Andy far too early, Carra and Adam being the main culprits. Since the arrival of Andy and beyond, Jamie Carragher it seems has lost the ability to pass the ball less than 50 yards, with Charlie looking for the long diagonal ball every time the big man is on the pitch. Andy Carroll seems to be the most frustrated at this style of play, constantly pointing to his feet and into space bellowing “on the floor” as each player raises their hands in anologetic nature, but still making the same mistakes time and again.

 

To get the best out of Andy we need to get the ball out wide, and hit him from the wings, and when this isn’t happening Andy needs to work on the way he holds up the ball when support isn’t available. Against Wolves his link up play improved immensely, and against Everton he won numerous amount of headers, creating chances for himself and teammates. However his holding up of the ball, wasn’t the best in those games or the matches previous, and for a man of his size and frame this is something that should come naturally.

 

Another problem we have when the ball is played up to Andy from deep is the amount of freekicks we concede. When the ball is played to his head, and with Luis coming from deep, if Andy doesnt concede a freekick his flick ons tend to find no red shirts running on to them.

 

The problem for Carroll is that if Liverpool don’t play 4-4-2, or 4-3-3, in general he won’t play due to the fact, Suarez has made himself almost undroppable because of his form since he arrived at the club. With Downing and Kuyt occupying the wide areas, due to Luis’ effectiveness through the middle Luis will always be selected if there is only one cenrtal striker birth.

 

So what can Andy do to make sure he’s selected more often than not? Andy has to work on his game with his back to goal. His holding up of the ball is just not good enough for a target man and if wants the ball to be played into space for him his movement needs to be better, not to only create space but to find it and to use the space he creates to make space for team mates too.

 

What can Kenny do to make sure we have an Andy Carroll reflective of the one that played for the magpies? We need to find a system where our wingers cross the ball, and don’t continually cut inside. Dirk and Downing are letting us down with their service of late but Enrique seems to be making up for that. And as much as I rate Martin Kelly, the return of Glen Johnson will be a huge thing for Carroll.

 

And finally the team, need to look for Andy less from deep and work it to him as if he was 5”10. He has shown he has the ability to run on to balls and he will thrive on balls into the box from the wide areas and byline and I’m sure Kenny will be communicating this to the team on a daily basis.

 

A performing Andy Carroll will be a huge plus to Liverpool and an absolute handful for the rest of the Premier League.

[piscinin]

Good point about Johnson, Kelly's delivery is too vanilla for Carroll IMO, Johnson has more variety and is more likely to serve up something Carroll can make something out of.

 

I didn't see much of Carroll at newcastle, but when I did, it was obvious Barton and Nolan, were completely clued into how to get the most out of Carroll and the mayhem that follows him around.

 

Neither Adam nor Henderson have shown a similar ability to exploit the situation. You know Gerrard can surpass Nolan, as long as he isn't pinned down in CM. And henderson has the ability to do what Barton was doing from out on the right, if he can just start imposing himself.

 

As a team we need to get much smarter about how to use him and quickly.

[Nelly-Szoboszlai]

He's coming up to 12 months at the club, but I still don't think he's fully match fit or has had a real run in the team to get to that first team level. He's looked a lot leaner and a lot more mobile in the past few weeks, which is a positive. Granted, he could've done a lot more in some of the games that he's played in, but I'm not writing him off yet.