aCe' wrote:Means fck all. Andy Carroll is not good enough to start for Liverpool week in week out. The manager knows it, the fans know it (some choose not to admit it), and I'm sure he knows it too.
With age and experience he might get better but for now, the only reason he even makes the starting 11 sometimes is our lack of decent options in the position. If he was at ManUtd, ManCity, Arsenal, Tottenham or Chelsea he would hardly get any football.
He's a bench player and a decent option to bring on I'll give you that much. But putting him up there and expecting him to score regularly is not going to happen anytime soon. Says something when a side struggling for goals and creating as many chances as we do keep their 35million pound striker on the bench more often than not.
How do you explain that ?
carroll should be starting every week because there`s no one better than him at the moment at leading the line, though i do think the tactics we play when carroll is in the side might explain the stats a bit, i`m not a big fan of this 4-3-3 with suarez in the middle of a front 3 because with us that always ends up a 4-5-1 with suarez isolated up top on his own, when we play carroll and suarez up front our frontmen have at least some support and when other players see those 2 up front they tend to commit themselves forward a bit more.
it`s hard work being that lone target man striker, you take a hell of a buffeting and players not used to the role can become disheartened especially if they feel the ref`s arent giving them anything like kuyt did when he was the lone striker against stoke at anfield earlier on this season or luis at old trafford in the league. torres never got the credit for the way he handled that side of the game.
one thing about andy he`s always first to show for the ball, if any balls are knocked up he`ll take the ball on his chest and take the crash in the back from the centre half as well, he`ll do that all game without getting disheartened.
carroll may not be ripping the goalscoring charts up but his presense in the side makes sure we commit more men forward and we have a physical presense up the field as well to take the heat off luis, when luis is the lone frontman he`s an easy target for defenders especially because he`s got his back to goal and standing still to recieve the ball but when he`s floating around andy he becomes a moving target which is much harder for the defenders to hit.