JOHN TERRY urged Andy Carroll to 'Curb the boozing'

• zocoss

  25 Aug 11, 11:40

  Finally fit and with the Liverpool team now set up for him, it's time for Andy Carroll to deliver

  

  By David Anderson

   

  

   

   

   

   

  It's strange how Andy Carroll seems to have been awarded hero status by some Kopites when he is not even a regular goalscorer for Liverpool.

  His performances - Manchester City apart - since his record £35million arrival in January have hardly been the stuff of Anfield folklore, especially when compared to the impact Luis Suarez has made over the same period.

  Perhaps he has been feted so readily because the Kop were so keen to eradicate completely the memory of former favourite Fernando Torres.

  But two goals in 11 appearances does not make him the new Roger Hunt, Ian Rush, Kevin Keegan or Robbie Fowler.

  In Carroll's defence, and as Kenny Dalglish rightly pointed out, injuries blighted the first four months of his Reds career.

  He arrived with a thigh tear and Dalglish admitted he rushed back into action too soon, only for him to suffer a knee injury just a few games into his comeback.

  Another mitigating factor is that Liverpool were not set up to get the best out of him when he arrived last season.

  The Reds were still shaped around Rafa Benitez's 4-2-3-1 formation to supply lone striker Fernando Torres.

  Then suddenly, almost at a stroke, the Spaniard was gone and in came Carroll, who is a totally different player.

  Liverpool lacked the quality out wide to supply Carroll and Dalglish has spent the summer putting that right.

  His new Liverpool has been built very much with Carroll in mind and Stewart Downing and Jose Enrique offer proper width on the left, while the England striker can also feast off Charlie Adam's free-kicks and corners.

  Suarez is also an excellent foil for Carroll and the Uruguayan star loves to drop deep and pull defenders all over the place.

  He can also look forward to playing in front of Steven Gerrard when he finally returns to action next month.

  Carroll, 22, is finally injury free and has enjoyed an interrupted pre-season with the Reds ahead of what will be a defining campaign for him.

  There are no more excuses for the 6ft 4in hitman and it is now up to him to deliver.

  He is fully fit, he can count on a proper service and the onus is on him to start living up to his £35million pricetag.

  Everyone is watching, including England boss Fabio Capello, and he will only have himself to blame if he fails.

  Carroll needs to score at least 15 goals to answer the doubters.

• Susanteo2011

  25 Aug 11, 14:28

   

   

  LOL........................deliver ???

   

  Carroll will prove what a HALF-season wonder he was......................

   

   

  he will go down in history as Liverpool's most expensive flop....................

   

  i wouldn't pay 3.5m for him................

• zocoss

  29 Aug 11, 13:10

  Kenny Dalglish left with Andy Carroll question after Liverpool play better without him

  Three games, three shades of red. Kenny Dalglish enters the international break with the first skirmishes of the season behind him with much to ponder.

   

  

  Plenty to think about: Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish on the touchline Photo: AP

   

   

  The biggest of those issues, metaphorically and physically, spent 77 minutes seated behind Dalglish on the Anfield bench.

  The Scot must work out how to solve the Andy Carroll quandary. The striker, all £35m of him, had started both Liverpool’s draw with Sunderland and the victory at Arsenal, first alongside Luis Suárez and then alongside Dirk Kuyt. Here, it was his turn to miss out.

  Of all three combinations, this worked best. Uruguayan and Dutchman provide endless intensity, affording a side built to the Scot’s energetic, pressing specifications the sharpest of edges.

  The contrast with Owen Coyle’s side’s last visit, when only a late Joe Cole winner — “an offside winner,” to quote the Bolton Wanderers manager — salvaged a victory, granting the doomed Roy Hodgson the most temporary of reprieves, was stark.

  “If you want to compare Liverpool today with back then, they look a very good side,” said Coyle, Ivan Klasnic’s late strike of little consolation.

   

  

  Coyle, "if you gave me £110 million I am sure I would have a team that look dangerous every time they walk on the park"

   

   

   

  “They can score goals. Having said that, if you gave me £110 million I am sure I would have a team that look dangerous every time they walk on the park.”

  Kuyt and Suárez certainly seem most suited to what he is trying to achieve; that much was clear even last season. They offer the movement, the versatility and the remorselessness Dalglish demands.

  The issue for Dalglish is that such a style seems to flow more naturally with Suárez and Kuyt on the pitch, and Carroll on the bench. It is a problem Dalglish will welcome but it will offer him no little trouble, too.

  The issue is not with Carroll himself, but more his consequences. The 22 year-old’s presence inspires Liverpool to adopt a more agrarian philosophy, one they are ill-suited to and one which does not, in truth, elicit the best from the striker.

  That is the challenge facing Dalglish. His outlay on Carroll now totals £66m, such has been the cost of the striker himself, Stewart Downing and José Enrique to provide the requisite width and Adam to create the space. This is a side built for Carroll. The irony is that it does not appear to need him in it.

   

  Liverpool’s three strike options

  Carroll and Suárez: Financially, Kenny Dalglish’s first choice. Suárez buzzes behind Carroll, playing off the £35m frontman in a system which allows Liverpool to play high tempo, passing football but also offers an aerial outlet. Fine in theory, yet to succeed in practice.

  Carroll and Kuyt: The more defensive option, where the industrious Dutchman functions essentially as a fifth midfielder. Used to some effect in victory at Arsenal, stifling the home side and allowing Liverpool to use Carroll as a focal point. Victory was only assured once Suárez was introduced, though.

  Kuyt and Suárez: Devastatingly effective at the end of last season, the pair offer Liverpool a highly mobile, versatile strike force that affords the energy Dalglish’s style requires.

• zocoss

  29 Aug 11, 13:26

  Andy Carroll spotted at Man City (sort of) plus could it soon be 'taxi for Kean'?

  

   

  

  Yet another big name arrives at Manchester City… (see pic above).

  Spotted by OffThePost.info, picture by Len Lavelle

   

   

   

   

  The chickens are coming home to roost at Blackburn, where promising youngster Jadan Hall has deleted his Twitter history and apologised after appearing to suggest that the first team was being picked by popular owners Venky’s, not manager Steve Kean.

  Couple that with rumours that the Scot is not highly regarded by some senior players and it could soon be “taxi for Kean” - literally, in view of his recent driving ban for being over the limit.

  
  
• zocoss

  5 Sep 11, 10:55

  Fabio demands more focus from Carroll as £35m striker fails to impress boss on England duty
  

   

   

    

  All smiles: But Carroll has fallen down the England pecking order

   

   

   

  Fabio Capello has called on Andy Carroll to get fit amid enduring concerns about the Liverpool striker's lifestyle.

  The England manager sees the most expensive English player in history as an important member of his squad and he is clearly frustrated by how long it is taking the 22-year-old to get back in shape after recovering from a knee injury.

  Carroll was given permission to miss the European Under 21 Championship in the summer so he could focus on his recuperation and get ready for the start of the new campaign.

  But Capello, Sportsmail understands, has only noted images of Carroll holidaying in Barbados and Ibiza, and appearing to enjoy a drink at the Glastonbury Festival.

   

  

  Carroll chilling out in Barbados

  Carroll has courted controversy in the past, having been arrested several times and sent home from England's Under 19 squad for breaking curfew.

  And even when he signed for Liverpool in January for £35million, he made no secret of his desire to keep enjoying a beer or two.

  But now Capello, clearly unimpressed by the form and fitness Carroll has shown since joining up with the England squad last week, is beginning to exert some pressure.

  The striker did not even make the bench in Bulgaria on Friday and he is unlikely to play much of a role, if any, against Wales tomorrow night.

  'He needs to find good form,' said Capello. 'I chose 25 players and decided that the first 11 would be the players who were, for me, in the best form.

  'Andy didn't start the last game with Liverpool and probably he is not at the top. Also he is big. He needs to play games, games, games. It's the start of the season.'

  Capello is, though, a firm admirer of Carroll's talent. Last season he said: 'Carroll is a player who's really good in the air, but not only this. The movement when he receives the ball is good.

  'With the ball, he's strong. He's a good player. He's a good forward, but he's young. Really young. His behaviour now is really important. He needs to be careful at every moment.

  'When you play with the England national team, at every moment you are the focus of the fans, the newspapers, the photographers, the people that live around him. He needs t o improve, to drink less.'

   

• Rock^Star

  5 Sep 11, 11:06

  Andy Carroll is another of those English players who thinks he's the business, big time player of the future. Look at his stupid long hair and you can tell.

• zocoss

  6 Sep 11, 10:24

  John Terry warns Andy Carroll: Curb the boozing

   

  

  LAST ORDERS ... Andy Carroll

   

   

   

  JOHN TERRY has urged Andy Carroll to learn from his mistakes and curb his drinking.

  England boss Fabio Capello wants the party-loving Liverpool striker to look after himself on and off the pitch.

  Terry, speaking ahead of England's Euro 2012 qualifier with Wales at Wembley tonight, said: "He's a young player who's at a very big club with a really good future.

  "He has still got to enjoy his time away from football. I'm sure he will.

  "He's a really good pro on the pitch and good around the camp. I've made my mistakes, maybe drank a little bit too much when I was younger and gone out a little bit too much.

  "But, having gone through that, at 26 or 27 you maybe look back and are glad that you did it then because you don't want to do it now."

  Carroll is still only 22. But Terry — along with Capello — has told the £35million Liverpool hitman that he must continue to keep himself in good condition, which also includes eating healthy food.

  Carroll, signed from Newcastle in January, suffered injury towards the end of last term.

  And he has got off to a sluggish start this season, netting just once — against Exeter.