Liverpool FC Forum

by **RedAnt** » Sat Jan 28, 2012 3:54 pm

His performance was good but not great today. No one was great. Carroll was my MotM though for his attitude more than anything. I never doubted his ability, just his mind and attitude. Hopefully he can use this performance to kickstart his career with us.

by **Octsky** » Sat Jan 28, 2012 4:00 pm

RedAnt wrote:His performance was good but not great today. No one was great. Carroll was my MotM though for his attitude more than anything. I never doubted his ability, just his mind and attitude. Hopefully he can use this performance to kickstart his career with us.

ya i think he has got the ability but not trying hard enough
to show it.
against our biggest rival manyoo, he tried hard and got the
result.
could have gotten a goal at the end but unlucky.
he got to release that he got the talent but he need to put in
hard work. stop slacking!!! good game.

by **maguskwt** » Sat Jan 28, 2012 4:06 pm

He deserves whatever credit he gets today... but still not convinced...

by **Greavesie** » Sat Jan 28, 2012 4:22 pm

Fair play to him today. Was great. Keep it up and the goals will come

by **Rush Job** » Sat Jan 28, 2012 4:43 pm

Credit where its due, I thought he was much improved today. His touch and knock downs where finding the mark and was unluck not to get his self on the score sheet.
Probably the best all round performance Ive seen from him in red.
Well done.

by **7_Kewell** » Sat Jan 28, 2012 7:34 pm

thought he looked good today, although he needs to put these sort of perfomances in week-in week-out to prove he's good enough for the red shirt.

by **Bad Bob** » Sat Jan 28, 2012 8:27 pm

One of his better games in a red shirt today although we still don't come close to playing to his (narrow range of) strengths. He had to deal with a lot of hit and hope clearances from the back today, with no one to run on to his flick ons and knock downs. When we did get forward and he did get himself into the box, the crosses were pretty poor if they came at all. Fair play to the lad for running his socks off all game. He made a huge contribution with the flick on for Kuyt with two minutes to go...I applaud the perseverance.

by **LFC2007** » Sat Jan 28, 2012 8:37 pm

He's taken a lot of criticism for, amongst other things, his poor touch and control, and his passing, much of it fair, but that wouldn't be a criticism applicable to his performance today in my opinion. Someone said it in another thread of today's game and I agree with them and that is that, although he wasn't as efffective with his head in holding the ball up as he can be (he did win his fair share of headers, though lacking support, many didn't fall easily for teammates), he often instead used his chest to good effect in brininging the ball down, before laying it off to a teammate. I think it was from such an instance of good hold up play that the team was able to advance and win a corner from which Agger scored. Hold up play is a basic skill but an important part of Andy's game and important in allowing the team to build attacks. It's extremely hard to build attacks if your main striker lacks the ability to win it, hold it and lay it off effectively and today I thought Andy was much improved in this respect (although he was starting from fairly a low base

). More than that, though, he showed glimpses of real end-product with his guided knock-down for Kuyt's goal and, after, a header that hit the bar.

Another thing I would add to that is that we went too direct at times especially during the middle part of the match. We kept returning possession to the Manc's instead of retaining possession ourselves and I think that told of the difference in where the two teams are in terms of their development. I don't, though, think that this hasty attacking play and inability to retain possession was simply a consequence of playing with Carroll up top but a deficiency of the whole team. The win today was great but there still is an obviously large amount of work to be done in moulding our attack into a coherent unit. If Carroll is going to play a major part in that then I think we'll need to find a way of mixing up the play more than we do when he's on the pitch.

by **Kerry07** » Sat Jan 28, 2012 8:53 pm

We played like Newcastle for much of today, certainly the last 25 minutes, which caters to his style. He was very effective when we started to ping it in the air. The flick on for Kuyt was excellent.

His most telling contribution came from Pepe's long punt upfield. This is the kind of stuff Barton, Nolan did at the Geordies, long balls upfield, while Guiterriez swung in crosses all day in the wing. Now we either play this way every week and cater to the big fella (we won't win a great deal), or we strive to play the game on the floor which every single successful team plays.

When we play pass and move, hes the equivalent of a heavy metal guitarist thats stuck in the middle of a classical orchestra (quoting The Guardian). Kenny even stated post match that hes come from a style of play at Newcastle that is very different to ours (which begs the question, why on earth did Kenny think he could take him away from a style that suited him, to one that didn't, and think he would succeed?). If we disgard the classy style of play (pass and move, cutting teams open with incisive play) and become direct, uncultured, ala Newcastle, the big fella will feel right at home, but at the cost of us contending for leagues/CL.

by **redtrader74** » Sat Jan 28, 2012 9:37 pm

The effort was there today from Carroll, ( at last ), and playing a crucial part in the victory will give him the confidence to at least perform to his level. The thing is that we had to pretty much resort to the style of football that suits him, and while it can be effective, it won't when Suarez is back. Like Kenny said he needs to fit into the Liverpool style of playing.

by **Kukilon** » Sat Jan 28, 2012 9:40 pm

Credit where credit is due. He was ok today and most impressively was the way he fought for the ball.

by **ethanr** » Sat Jan 28, 2012 10:13 pm

My MOTM as well today. I thought he did really well. His touch was great, and he's looking much more confident. Rarely gave the ball away and wasn't just flicking it on to nobody like he's usually forced to do, but controlled it a lot more.

Well played Big Andy

by **worcester_red** » Sat Jan 28, 2012 10:25 pm

Greavesie wrote:Fair play to him today. Was great. Keep it up and the goals will come

were you guys watching another match, mom to Carroll WTF??? He was fecking useless once again today hardly did anything of note apart from blindly head the ball to Kuyt.

He is still :censored:

and needs to be got rid of but maybe someone out there agrees with you guys so that we can get a bit more money for him.

by **killerp** » Sun Jan 29, 2012 2:20 am

Sorry but for large parts of the FA cup game against Man U we looked like 10 men on the pitch (My hat off to the other lads for making up the slack & and well fought victory) our tall forward was not in the game & even looked lazy in some parts, taking his time jogging around & not applying the pace & urgency expected of a Man U encounter. Almost every ball that went to Carroll he managed to fumble or stumble over & lose possession.

No sympathy for this guy he just is not right for our club....only FA Cup glory would make forget about his mega under achievement for at least a month

by **Reg** » Sun Jan 29, 2012 6:03 am

A lad on the player rating match thread posted >

'Carroll - 7 - did well with ball control and didn't lose possession. Needs to get fit and harrow defenders, really does. But for his unfit self, he does try to keep jogging as much as he can.'

He's played for us for ONE YEAR, how long does he need to get fit? Surely thats it?

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