Andy Carroll

[goodspam]

It seems that we only got a small amount of Newcastle mojo/placenta with the transfers. There is only enough for one player at a time. Enrique was bossing it while Carrol was shite, now Carroll has the flask and won't give any to Enrique.
I suppose that they needed to keep the rest to be shared by Ba and Cisse.

 

[barrymac20]

That's harsh imo. Unlike the header he missed against Everton, he went for placement as opposed to power and it was on target as a result.

Credit to Cech, it was a truly brilliant save.

Maybe its slightly harsh but the fact remains that he should have scored from 5 yards out.

 

[Ryan]

I accept all your apologies & adulation for calling it exactly as it was all along.

Everyone except farky & ryan that is, who will deny his obvious talents for at least another season.

Bahahahahahahaha, are you for real Jon?

The 35M striker that's scored what, 8 goals this season? (correct me if I'm wrong by the way) and missed a free header from 5 yards out to keep us in the Cup Final?

Get real.

 

[Gary25]

Bahahahahahahaha, are you for real Jon?

The 35M striker that's scored what, 8 goals this season? (correct me if I'm wrong by the way) and missed a free header from 5 yards out to keep us in the Cup Final?

Get real.

He'll be a beast next season mate, keep the faith. Big AC is the future.

 

[Skullflower]

 

[Gary25]

Take Andy to the Euros! Gerrard backs Carroll to make England squad

Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard believes team-mate Andy Carroll has made a late case to go to the European Championships with England.
Carroll, the club's record signing, was their outstanding player in Saturday's 2-1 FA Cup final defeat to Chelsea despite only coming on as a substitute with 35 minutes to go.
By that time the Reds were trailing to goals from Ramires and Didier Drogba after a woeful Reds' performance allowed the Stamford Bridge side to seize the initiative.

Carroll's introduction changed the dynamic almost totally in Liverpool's favour as the 23-year-old struck a well-taken goal and had a late header clawed off the line by goalkeeper Petr Cech.

But what was more impressive, was the former Newcastle's forward's all-round contribution as he worked hard to get involved and link up play.

He has not had the best of starts to his Anfield career, scoring just eight goals this season, but has shown signs of progress in the last couple of months.

Gerrard believes that is something new England manager - and briefly Carroll's boss at Liverpool last year - Roy Hodgson should take into consideration.

'Credit to Andy who came on and played brilliantly well,' said the captain of Carroll's introduction.

'He changed the way we played. We were a lot better with him in the team, we were a lot more direct, we created more, we were more of a threat.

'I think his form the last two or three months has been fantastic and he is certainly pushing for a place back in the England squad in my opinion.'
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2140547/Steven-Gerrard-Take-Andy-Carroll-Euro-2012.html#ixzz1u8Poz6Pg

 

[Jack D Rips]

Bahahahahahahaha, are you for real Jon?

The 35M striker that's scored what, 8 goals this season? (correct me if I'm wrong by the way) and missed a free header from 5 yards out to keep us in the Cup Final?

Get real.

Did you post that between your main course and dessert in Perth? Get fucking real!

 

[Gary25]

Handy Andy: Carroll cameo enough to convince Hodgson £35m striker is worth a place in England's Euro 2012 squad

Zero-to-hero Geordie deserves to fill the 'tower' striker slot in Poland and Ukraine ahead of Holt, Zamora and Crouch after proving his frightening potential at Wembley

By Wayne Veysey at Wembley Stadium

In a 36-minute display bristling with intent and almost brutal power, Andy Carroll was not quite able to turn the FA Cup final in Liverpool’s favour.

But he could, and arguably should, have turned the head of the man responsible for selecting the 23-man squad that England will send to Euro 2012 more in hope than expectation.
Roy Hodgson was not at Wembley, presumably putting the finishing touches to West Brom’s preparations for Sunday afternoon’s trip to Bolton Wanderers.

But Carroll’s contribution under the arch will surely not escape the attention of the multi-tasking new England manager, renowned as he is for his thoroughness and fondness for detail.

The much-maligned striker performed with such distinction that he almost made his £35 million fee seem money sensibly spent.

Before his arrival, Liverpool’s attack had been invisible. John Terry, Branislav Ivanovic and company coasted through the first hour with such ease they may as well have draped dressing gowns and slippers over their matchday kits.

Suddenly, a solid defensive shield was needed. Carroll began winning headers and making a nuisance of himself. His touch was sure and his feet were quick. His team-mates finally had a target to aim for.

But Carroll was more than just a big lump for Liverpool to pump long balls at. His second goal in consecutive Wembley appearances was an outstanding feat of engineering and finishing.

Controlling the ball in the area before sending John Terry first one way then the other, the centre forward made space for a shot with his left foot and lashed the ball past Cech in front of the Liverpool fans.

At last, his team had a foothold in the match and it set up a grandstand finish. Every time the ball was whipped or manoeuvred into the box, Carroll looked like he could supply the equaliser.

He thought he had done exactly that with a powerful header from Luis Suarez’s cross 10 minutes from time. By reaching out his right hand from behind the goal-line and clawing back the ball, Petr Cech did enough to convince the officials that the ball had not crossed the chalk.

Immediate replays did not establish incontrovertibly that the ball had crossed the line, as had been the case with Frank Lampard’s incorrectly disallowed World Cup goal against Germany, but later angles suggested that Carroll may have been, by a paper-thin margin, on the wrong end of football’s latest goal-line controversy.

Perhaps he should have been more emphatic with his finish and not given Cech the opportunity to make his dramatic intervention.

The former Newcastle man still had the bit between his teeth. In the closing seconds, it took a terrific Terry block to stop his goal-bound shot.

By turning such a marquee match on its head, Carroll had not only shown the error of Kenny Dalglish’s initial team selection, but proved that he belongs in elite company.

The question now is whether his name should be the one jotted down to fill the targetman slot that is there for the taking in Hodgson’s squad.

England will need a tower centre forward in Poland and Ukraine to rough up their opponents, even if it is only to answer a crisis in the odd cameo role.

With Wayne Rooney’s name already inked in and Theo Walcott, Danny Welbeck, Daniel Sturridge, Jermain Defoe, Darren Bent and Fraizer Campbell vying for two or three positions, that leaves one place for someone who measures up for an extra large shirt.

The spearheads can be narrowed down to Carroll, Peter Crouch, Bobby Zamora and the wild card Grant Holt.

The Norwich City man wins by virtue of the yardstick by which all strikers are measured – goals. His 16th goal of the season helped Norwich draw at Arsenal on Saturday and the records of Crouch (14), Carroll (nine) and Zamora (nine) are inferior.

Nevertheless, none of Holt, Crouch and Zamora could have duffed up Terry in the way that Carroll did on a few occasions on Saturday evening.

By sheer force of will and personality, Carroll felt he could turn the game on its head when he was summoned for an against-the-odds rescue mission. And he did.

Looking mobile, fit and strong, the 6ft 3in striker shimmered with menace. He even looked like he was enjoying himself, something that can’t always be seemed of a mostly disastrous spell on Merseyside weighed down by the fee he could do nothing about.

If England need a late goal this summer – as they surely will at more than one point – they could do worse than to summon Carroll from the bench and ask him to remove his bib.

Unlike Holt and Zamora, he is used to playing under the weight of massive expectation. Unlike Crouch, his best days lie ahead of him.

This display of character and pluck was not a one-off, either. Carroll was outstanding in the semi-final win over Everton. He also scored a last-ditch winner against Blackburn Rovers a few days before that.

The beast within lay dormant for so long but, finally, over the last month, it has reared its head. England should take note.

 

[Ryan]

As is always the case with the these things, people are being selective to suit their viewpoint and to fucking coax themselves into believing something.

Look at his output, contribution, goals, workrate, effort, ability to fit into the team, attitude, etc etc fucking everything really - over an extended period of time. Don't take 30 minutes of a game where he came on as a sub against a team defending deep and hanging on as the barometer of what he gives us, cos it's fucking naive and idiotic.

If you judge him over the 18 months he's been with us against the criteria above, he's been largely appalling. And that's not taking into account the fact that he cost uf 35 bastarding million pounds.

Now I'm all for improvement and patience. My staggeringly brilliant judgement of Lucas alone is testament to that. But carroll - for me - hasn't been improving. He's shown in the odd burst that he can produce a goal or get into a scoring position. Or do the odd something. That's not the output of someone who you "build a team around" cos you can't rely on them at all.

I'm all aboard the hysteria that's accompanied his game on Saturday, or his cameo to be more precise, cos credit to him he changed the game. But there's a difference between that and being someobody who can score 20 goals a season and be a top drawer striker in the Premier League and Europe. Which...

Is something we need. And something that he's never demonstrated he can/could do.

 

[Gary25]

Would you sell him then?

 

[Hansern]

People arent selective at all, we're just happy he's improving and looking like the player he was at Newcastle. Its taken a long time, but thats just the way it is sometimes. Hopefully he can really get going next season.

Most people arent looking for a negative angle in these situations.

 

[Vlads Quiff]

The point is regardless of how well he plays or does not play the team always seem to look better with him there perhaps as he he takes pressure of Suarez. Add that to the fact that he has improved significantly over the last couple of months and I just don't see why he is still getting the same treatment from Kenny.

regards

 

[HC]

He should've broke the net with the header that Cech managed to keep out..

I remember saying after the Semi final how I felt he always had a big miss in his locker and yeah, whilst he took his goal well he absolutely should've had 2 to keep us in the cup final.

I don't think he'll ever be at the level where he bags anywhere near enough of the chances that e should do, unfortunately.

You can blame Carroll or you can blame Kenny but either way it is far too early to heaping adulation on him. I'd like to think he'll be given a chance with England in the friendlies before the Euro's and play his way into Hodges squad and go on from there.

There is, in all honesty, probably as much likelihood that he'll flail about in the friendlies, be left at home and take a lifetime to get going again next season, however.

 

[Wizardry]

Foxy nails it as per

He has become leaner and fitter, but that is only half of it. We also have to consider he is still a young man, not the sharpest knife in the drawer, up-rooted rather unexpectedly from his native city and dumped in Liverpool with this fucking £35m price tag around his neck like an albatross, he was always going to take a little time to settle. Add to that he had a serious injury that took time to get over.
I don't get this business that he has changed so dramatically though either, like foxy and a few others I always saw it in him, he is not the finished product, but he has always been much better than some people believed.
I just don't think he has been managed well in fact he has been managed atrociously, and when he has been on the pitch in this idiotic erratic selection, I don't think the other players have supported him on the pitch in the right way.

Would it not be fair to say, though Vlad, that he's looked pretty uninterested on a number of occasions?

I get the lack of fitness; I get the fact he's been a little dis-oriented; I get the 35m price tag weighing him down. None of it, to me at least, should stop him from looking like he wants to get stuck in. None of it, to me, should mean he looks like he's getting bullied by every defender in the league. I don't think I've been overly critical of him this season; he looked a beast with Newcastle and young enough to develop a lot further; I wasn't sure about the tactics Kenny had suiting him but I thought he was a very good, raw player.

That said I was very critical of Kenny's management of him against the Toon and said so in the thread. I thought it was disgraceful and I know others (JJ I think) thought the same. Yet since that game he's looked markedly different; angry, determined, aggressive. I thought it was terrible by Kenny yet it seems to have changed Andy's thinking. Sometimes people need a pretty rude awakening no matter what walk of life they're from and Carroll is probably no different.

I don't get why Hendo has been undroppable and Carroll expendable unless Kenny believes that one needs to build confidence carefully while the other will benefit more by being thrown to the wolves. But Carroll hardly justified his own inclusion till at least sometime after Christmas. In my opinion of course.

 

[Hansern]

Yep, but I think he didnt dare to head it downwards first either because of Ivanovic.

BUT, I think he could have picked up the second ball if he had went for it. Although he believed it was in..

 

[FoxForceFive]

I agree to a point wizardry, I just disagree on why he looked disinterested, I think because we wre hammering him so much in training & on fitness he was nowhere near sharp enough to compete in the manner he was used to.

On top of this we insisted on playing long balls in the air to him & ignoring his feet, partly cos his touch was poor, again cos he wasn't sharp or fit enough.

As a result he got increasingly frustrated & lost confidence, you could see a reflection of both Torres & Suarez when they came back from injuries & couldn't perform properly, in his attitude towards his teammates & the refs, as well as his frustration with himself.

He then lost his confidence & looked massively disinterested, now he's finding form he needs to play every week.

 

[Hansern]

I actually think the experience from Newcastle away made him realize a thing or two aswell.

 

[Pflancer]

interestingly, all of the ball clearly isn't past the post from the photo, however, the posts aren't vertical in comparison with the line, they lean back slightly away from the pitch. If you superimpose where the line is that is obscured by the posts, the ball is over the line by around an inch.

 

[OLD_Lewy]

interestingly, all of the ball clearly isn't past the post from the photo, however, the posts aren't vertical in comparison with the line, they lean back slightly away from the pitch. If you superimpose where the line is that is obscured by the posts, the ball is over the line by around an inch.

it was probably in, i just think that unless the linesman can be pretty sure he should probably call it not in, and theres no way he could have been sure

 

[HC]

it was probably in, i just think that unless the linesman can be pretty sure he should probably call it not in, and theres no way he could have been sure

In sport, benefit of the doubt should go the attacking side.

 

[OLD_Lewy]

In sport, benefit of the doubt should go the attacking side.

is that the actual rule? if so then youd think there'd be a lot more goals that were actually offside

 

[John McGovern]

Yeah, and it sort of gives Chelsea the benefit with their goal in the Semi.

 

[Red Mullet]

Yeah, and it sort of gives Chelsea the benefit with their goal in the Semi.

Which they did.

 

[gkmacca]

is that the actual rule? if so then youd think there'd be a lot more goals that were actually offside

Exactly.

 

[Dirkus_Circus]

Release the Kraken!

 

[Buddha]

 

[Gary25]

Unplayabale tonight at times. He looks lean, fit, strong and is playing with the swagger and attitude similar to that in his Newcastle days.

Should have scored though, that's the only criticism but he's in with a great chance of going to the Euros with these performances.

 

[El Pistolero]

Bravo Andy i have been one of your biggest critics you have a good last quaryer. I just hope you make the right choices in the summer. dont spend it getting pissed and I hope you carry this fkrm into next season.

 

[doctor_mac]

Unplayabale tonight at times. He looks lean, fit, strong and is playing with the swagger and attitude similar to that in his Newcastle days.

Should have scored though, that's the only criticism but he's in with a great chance of going to the Euros with these performances.

Earlier in the season he was getting shrugged off the ball easily, and for someone with his physique that was unforgivable. He has started making CBs his bitches, which is what we all hoped for him. You're right- he needs to put some goals in too, but the signs are so much better.

 

[Skullflower]

Love him now. What a player.