Andy Carroll – Where’s the support?

In his defence…..

Andy Carroll is widely regarded as the biggest flop of the Premiership season to-date. Fernando Torres, pound for pound, perhaps deserves the title, but pundits have grown tired of taking him to task after each 12 minute cameo in the blue of Chelsea.

But every game the Spaniard starts (usually against weaker opposition) you think to yourself, Torres could get a couple today. In fact, he could get a couple any day. But he probably won’t until Roman Abramovich orders Villas Boas to make the Spaniard penalty taker (and even then I’m not sure I’d bet on him finding the net).

Pic: Andy Carroll in training ahead of the clash with Stoke (Pic from www.liverpoolfc.tv)

The problem with Andy Carroll is, you don’t ever start a game thinking, this could be his day. But rather than bash him for his lack of touch, pace, fitness, finesse, whatever the various criticisms are, let’s consider for a minute that he’s lacked the right support to blossom at Anfield.

(1): Stewart Downing/ Liverpool’s lack of width.

Carroll thrives, we hear all the time, on good crosses. He’ll win more than 50 per cent of hopeful balls launched at him in the air, but when he’s really attacking the ball, the percentage rises. In his games so far he’s shown that if you give him a ball to attack rather than hold up, he tends to beat defenders (though his accuracy is also questionable here).

But the one time he got a chance to do that in the recent 3-0 defeat to Man City, was from a cross from Jose Enrique. Carroll peeled away at the back post, easily beat Clichy with a perfect nod-down for Kuyt whose shot was superbly blocked by Vincent Kompany. So where’s the support from the £20m signing from Aston Villa.

When Downing signed, everyone said he would provide the ammunition for Carroll. To-date, Downing has been the biggest flop of the Premiership season.

Kuyt, Maxi and Henderson have all been tried on the right wing, none are any use to Carroll. Bellamy has been superb at driving crosses in from right and left, but tends to get to the penalty area and cut the ball back, something Gerrard is sure to benefit from in the coming weeks and that the likes of Shelvey and Maxi have already benefited from to-date this season.

The midweek game against Man City was exactly the wrong one for Carroll who played a thankless task in Liverpool’s 1-0 grind. His opportunity early in the game was on his weaker foot, however he out-muscled Savic and created space for the chance which was well-saved by Hart, the league’s most in-form keeper.

When Carroll plays, he needs support and space to make more of those opportunities to score.

(2): The Aquilani experience

Have Liverpool not learned from the signing of Aquilani from Roma? The club was arguably taking more of a risk with the Italian, not only was he injured but his move to the Premiership was bound to throw up the usual ‘foreign playmaker cant hack the rough stuff’ questions?

The signing of a half-fit Carroll in January made little sense. His role in the second half of the season was minimal and Liverpool knew signing him he would have little impact on their season.

The argument that Suarez couldn’t play in Europe was fine, but Carroll wouldn’t play for the team till March and it didn’t seem as though Europe was anyone’s priority in the early days of Kenny Dalglish’s second coming.

Another argument went that the more Newcastle demanded for the striker, the more Liverpool asked from Chelsea for Torres.

But that makes little sense from a business point of view either. Carroll had started well in the Premiership, but in the summer, once he had recovered fitness, he would hardly have cost more than the amount Liverpool eventually shelled out for him in January 2011.

There is an argument, in fact, that Carroll would have cost less as Newcastle would have had time to buy a replacement, but maybe the move was to appease Lfc fans who expected a marquee signing to replace their former idol in the number nine shirt.

Carroll has lost weight and looks fit, but seems to have lost confidence and was his touch always that bad? His goal against Oldham showed he can still turn things around at Liverpool, but against a defeated team late in an FA  Cup third round?

He has a run of games now to show his worth. The Geordie has found himself in and out of the team all season (unlike Stewart Downing who has been given every chance to prove his worth) and has mostly played without Liverpool’s best players Gerrard and Suarez (more often than not chosen instead of, rather than alongside Carroll).

At home, against so-called ‘weaker’ opposition is the time for Carroll to show he can still bully defences and can score goals like that against Oldham given half a chance. Better strikers than Carroll have been given more time to find their feet and the 23-year-old has barely 100 first team starts to his name.

Stoke at Anfield is time to show an ‘old-fashioned centre forward’ can still prove his worth. However if he fails to impress in the coming month, Andy may go down alongside Aquilani as yet another expensive Liverpool mistake.

The weekend: From Man City and Nani to Newcastle and Maxi

The weekend’s talking points:

(1): Man City are eight points off the leaders Chelsea after Molineux shocker.

He's not blind. They're sunglasses.

Wolves claimed a victory over Manchester City whose manager Roberto Mancini described his teams performance as the worst in his tenure as boss. City went ahead through an Emmanuel Adebayor penalty but were pegged back by Wolves who followed up a good Carling Cup performance at City’s rivals Manchester United in midweek with a deserved victory.

City ‘s mutinous dressing room shows no signs of breaking out in peace with Mancini reproaching first teamers including Joe Hart and Adam Johnson for a midweek drinking session in Scotland, after allegations of a bust-up between James Milner and Yaya Toure at half-time of City’s miserable 3-0 defeat to Arsenal last week. Adebayor and Vincent Kompany became embroiled in a row during Saturday’s defeat while big-money signing Mario Balotelli produced a shocking performance, compounded by a yellow card for dissent in the second half.

Verdict: Wolves get a much-needed win their performance deserved but are still lagging behind in the league. Mancini will be nervous after an awful City display and a non-existent team morale. City look nowhere near good enough to challenge for the title on this evidence.

(2): The goal that was. But shouldn’t have been. But was.

Nani scored a controversial second for Manchester United in their 2-0 win over Spurs in the late kick off on Saturday. The Portugese saw appeals for a penalty waved away before stopping the ball with his hand. Spurs’ keeper Gomes placed the ball down (nowhere near the hand ball it has to be said) as if he was taking a free-kick. Nani stopped rolling around and went to close the free-kick down, took a look at referee Mark Clattenburg who appeared to indicate nothing untoward as Nani rolled the ball into the net. Cue consultation with linesman amidst furious appeals and the goal stood.

United manager Alex Ferguson blamed Gomes, rightly so the keeper should have played to the whistle. Spurs manager Harry Redknapp blasted Clattenburg, rightly so, as not only did Nani take a theatrical tumble but he deliberately hand-balled and the referee should have blown his whistle. The goal took the gloss off a good win for United.

Here’s a better look, albeit without English commentary, at the goal.

Verdict: Good game, farcical end. Spurs should be worried about being a club that seems intent on qualifying from the group stages of the Champions League rather than retaining a place in the competition. They will probably qualify from the group. They will have a hard time qualifying for the competition via the league. A good win for United, who are staying in touch with Chelsea and Arsenal, despite not hitting top gear, or anything like it.

(3): Newcastle 5 Sunderland 1.

What a performance from Newcastle. Occasionally brilliant this season, sometimes woeful, a Kevin Nolan hat-trick and cracking performances all over the pitch, particularly from Andy Carroll and Joey Barton helped the Toon Army celebrate a famous win over their neighbours.

Nolan and Barton were outstanding in Newcastle's 5-1 win

But it could have been a different story had on-loan Danny Welbeck squared to an unmarked Darren Bent with the game tied at 0-0 in the first half. A tap-in would have given Sunderland the lead. Newcastle never looked back. Barton was sublime, superb passing and leaving defenders chasing shadows. Carroll showed impressive movement and link-up play and was unlucky not to register a goal. Shola Ameobi scored a perfect penalty and a cracking second. And while Kevin Nolan’s annoying wind-up-the-goalie routine continues from his days under Sam Allardyce at Bolton, seven league goals already this season is an impressive return.

Verdict: Newcastle were arguably better in this performance than the 6-0 drubbing of Aston Villa earlier in the season. Chris Hughton’s future had been the source of great speculation in recent weeks. Today they sit seventh in the league. A decent run recently comes to an end for Sunderland and with just eight points separating Newcastle from bottom-of-the-league West Ham, Bruce knows it will be tight at the bottom and Sunderland could find themselves in trouble if the allow themselves to be torn apart like they did.

(4): Hodgson’s Maxi delight

They left it late and it wasn’t pretty, but Liverpool have won back-to-back games for the first time under Roy Hodgson and gone to a stadium where it is tough to get wins against a well-organised Bolton team under Owen Coyle. A win for Bolton yesterday would have left them joint-fifth with Spurs. Liverpool’s win now leaves them level with Coyle’s men in mid-table.

What's eating Steven Gerrard?

That said, Torres and Gerrard, the men Liverpool fans hope will fire them up the table were awful yesterday. Gerrard hardly managed to complete a pass in the first half while Torres was worse, missing a one-on-one in the early stages that he normally found so easy in his first three seasons at Anfield. That Liverpool managed to win will be a mighty tonic for Hodgson with his star men so off-form. Excellent performances from the likes of Kyrgiakos, Lucas and Meireles helped, but David Ngog’s appearance from the bench will give the manager food for thought. The French man opened up the game as Liverpool applied some belated pressure late-on with Torres limping and out of form. It should of course be noted that bad game or not, the Spaniard’s back-heeled through ball for Maxi to score was sublime. Chelsea next for Liverpool after Napoli in the Europa League. The star duo will miss out on Thursday and Hodgson knows that his team are beginning to grow in confidence and if his stars show up on Sunday it could be a big test for the visiting league leaders.

Verdict: For Bolton, Gary Cahill showed once again why he is capable of performing on the biggest stage. Outstanding throughout, he was unfortunate to be nutmegged by a piece of brilliance from Torres but will have caught the eye regardless. Forwards Davies and Elmander played well without truly threatening Pepe Reina in Liverpool’s goal, but Bolton will fancy their chances of a top-half league place on this performance.

Saturday’s Premiership preview: 10/09/10

Thank god for that we can stop talking about Rooney and his effect on the England team and can start talking about…Rooney and his effect on the Man Utd team…

Everton V Manchester United

After surprising no-one here at TheFC100 by scoring first against Switzerland, Rooney will be Man Utd’s star man against Everton tomorrow in the early kick off on Sky Sports. The Everton fans quite rightly get stuck into Rooney whenever he returns to his boyhood club due to the fact he buggered off just after breaking onto the Everton first team in a big money move to Manchester. However he has stuck the boot in several times since with the usual badge-kissing, Moyes-bashing shenanigans and now the Everton fans will be relishing their chance to chant several brands of filthy at the former Toffee.

This game is more interesting in determining Rooney’s state of mind. The England fans gave him a great reception on Tuesday but tens of thousands will be doing their best to wind him up. That Everton have had a nightmare start to the season makes the pressure fall on both Rooney and Everton. A good start to the game for the home side is crucial, if they can get their noses in front and get Rooney and company frustrated then this could be a bad day for Man Utd fans. In fact, despite their problems so far, we fancy Everton to nick something here and we’ll throw in a card for Rooney at the same time
Prediction: Everton 2 Man Utd 1

Arsenal V Bolton

Arsenal have lost another few players for their game against Bolton (what are they feeding them at Arsenal, cereal with barbed wire?). Walcott, van Persie and Thomas Vaermaelen all miss out this weekend, however Samir Nasri could return from injury sustained against Liverpool on the opening day. Bolton are missing their inspirational keeper Jussi Jaskelaainen though, after the Finn was sent off last time out.

What the second Premiership weekend taught us:

(1): There are plenty of unhappy strikers kicking their heels on benches.

Tuncay is out of favour at Stoke

It was a difficult weekend for some established Premiership strikers. Tuncay is clearly not a favourite of Tony Pulis at Stoke and had to sit on the bench while Jon Walters made his debut just days after signing. Emile Heskey watched on from the bench as John Carew had a stinker for Villa, perhaps wondering whether he should have drawn the line at international retirement. Louis Saha was relegated for Everton and watched Jermaine Beckford being talked up by boss David Moyes after a game in which he failed to score and Everton failed to win. Not to mention the lads at Man City who may never play for the club this season.

But most interestingly, when Javier Hernandez was selected for Man Utd against Fulham, we wonder if Michael Owen

Michael Owen looks on from the bench

regretted all his media statements about being “happy to be selected less regularly for Utd than selected all the time for another club.” While we understand the sentiment, Mr Ferguson can’t have been particularly enthused to hear that Owen was content to sit on the bench.
Wonder if that had anything to do with Hernandez getting the nod away to Fulham, a team that possess a top-class central defender in Brede Hangeland and are a difficult team to break down at all, for nearly any striker. With Stockdale again deputising for Schwarzer in goal, did Ferguson not think Owen’s experience could be crucial in any one-on-one scenario. Granted, Hernandez looked good in pre-season, but then again it was pre-season. Owen must have been wondering what he has to do to get a starting place while Ferguson must be wondering what he has to do to get a win at Craven Cottage.

(2): A little confidence goes a long way.

-Villa miss a penalty, Newcastle score. Villa are denied a legitimate goal, Newcastle score another five.
-Wigan dominate the first half hour, Chelsea score. Wigan heads go down, Chelsea score another five.
-Arsenal score, Blackpool look dangerous on the attack. Arsenal penalty, Blackpool man sent off, Arsenal score another five.

(3): Any English striker who bangs in a few goals will be “on the verge of an England call-up”.

Andy Carroll was very, very good against Villa. He plundered a hat-trick including a swivel and low shot, left foot volley and one-on-one with Brad Friedel. All very impressive. Unfortunately watching it you couldn’t help but feel that ‘Carroll for England’ would be the inevitable cry from the press. And this morning, true to form, people seem to think he’s worthy of a place in the squad.

Man of the moment Andy Carroll

Now to be fair, if he carries on that way he’ll be in the 2012 squad as England need a good quality striker. However let’s all calm down for a moment and realise that he scored Newcastle’s third, fourth and sixth goals when Villa heads were not so much dropping rather plummeting. He missed a good opportunity against Man Utd the week before but didn’t enjoy himself as much up against Vidic and co. Had Richard Dunne been employed to mark him, maybe the result would have been different. Excellent performance Andy, now do it week-in, week-out.

And in brief:

• Alex Ferguson has earned Man Utd a £1,000 fine by refusing to speak to the BBC. It is inevitable he will have to speak to them at some point. We cannot wait.
• West Ham were good in the first half against Bolton. They lost 3-1. A bad start to the season, especially when the likes of Bolton, Wolves and even West Brom and Blackpool have picked up early points.
• Theo Walcott is far from the genius people are willing to portray him as this morning. Arsenal could have had 10-12. His final ball and decision is still in vast need of improving. However if it does and he stays injury free, he can rule the world. And he should definitely be in the England squad. Shaun Wright-who?
• If you decided on removing Gareth Bale and Andy Carroll from your fantasy football team in favour of Martin Petrov and Jermaine Beckford, now would be a good time to kill yourself.

Handy Carroll destroys Villa (Newcastle V A Villa report)

St James Park witnessed a spectacular game this afternoon as Newcastle thumped Aston Villa by six goals to nil with number nine Andy Carroll grabbing a hat-trick.

Handy Andy

Aston Villa enjoyed a 3-0 win in their opening game of the season against West Ham while Newcastle had been outclassed by the same scoreline at Old Trafford against Man Utd. However Newcastle fans were treated to one of the team’s finest performances for many years, albeit after being fortuitous to go 1-0 up.

Always exciting going forward with Routledge and Gutierrez superb on either flank, Newcastle fans will also be impressed by the defensive performance with new signing James Perch in particular and Coloccini excellent at the back. Spanish left-back Jose Enrique was at his devastating best combining with Gutierrez on the left, while Andy Carroll was unplayable throughout.

Stephen Ireland was a peripheral figure throughout on his debut, while questions will be asked of Villa caretaker manager Kevin MacDonald who seemed to employ young centre back Ciaran Clark on Carroll rather than the experienced Richard Dunne.

John Carew stepped up to take Villa’s 10th minute penalty but blasted it over the bar. From there on it became the Toon Army’s day and the ever-controversial Joey Barton stepped up to rifle home a screamer from 25 yards just two minutes after Carew had wasted Villa’s chance to go in front. (Did Barton follow-up his goal with a ‘Hitler’ celebration though http://bit.ly/ad94AB ?)

There was further controversy to come however as Ashley Young was played through to level at 1-1 before the referee disallowed the goal despite it seeming to be legitimate.

From that point on the party started for Newcastle however. A beautiful, flowing move from the left found Carroll who laid the ball off for Nolan to head not once but twice at goal and after Friedel saved the first effort, he could do nothing about the second. Andy Carroll added a third minutes later and Newcastle were cruising at the break.

Carroll hit a fine fourth and last minute sixth for the Toon Army in the second half , while Kevin Nolan grabbed his second as Aston Villa essentially gave up and collapsed at the back.

Pre-Season is over

As I sit in the airport waiting to fly to London, it occurs to me that this seems to have been the shortest period without football I can ever remember.

Granted it seemed a lot longer when you were a kid, dying to see your team for the first time in a new season, but with the World Cup, exciting signings and interesting pre-season happenings, it seems the summer break barely occurred. Which in our book, is a good thing.

Tomorrow’s festivities kick-off with a cracker. Spurs V Man City at White Hart Lane is the 12.45pm kick-off. Will City play one or five of their new gaggle of galacticos? Will both sides go for the jugular, aware that an early win against a big rival will do their squad the world of good. Will Spurs look tired as the same team without any new faces, or will they be able to play like a team unlike City’s superstars playing together for the first time.

Our money is on goals, and a potential thriller. City don’t look like they’ll be sitting back this season, with their new signings. Spurs play fast attacking football too and might fancy their chances of nicking it. We’ll go with a 2-2 draw.

Elsewhere this weekend all eyes will be on Anfield as a new-look Liverpool team take on Arsenal. Much has been made of Arsenal’s injury problems this week but expect a strong team with Fabregas involved at some point. However there is something slightly lacking with Arsenal, they still desperately need a new keeper, we’re gonna go with Liverpool to nick it 2-1.

Newcastle and West Brom get the ultimate reward for promotion, trips to Old Trafford and Stamford Bridge respectively. Both will struggle to get points early with these clashes, with home wins in both. Manager-less Aston Villa take on West Ham with their new man in charge Avram Grant. How the past week has taken its toll on the players will be interesting to see.

Enjoy it folks, it’s back and it’s going to be closer to call than ever….

Can They Kick It (2): Newcastle

The second in our three-part series looking at whether the promoted teams can survive relegation this season in the Premiership.

Fans feel the pain of relegation in 2009

Newcastle’s relegation was a sad day for the Premiership. While any team going down is tough for thousands of supporters, the famous club was probably the biggest team (along with Leeds in 2004) to have suffered relegation. A huge stadium, diehard fans, a legend in Alan Shearer at the helm, none of these things could prevent the demise of the club into the Championship with a paltry seven wins all season.

While the relegation season was beset by off-field problems with Kevin Keegan and owner Mike Ashley, last year Chris Hughton came in and worked quietly and assuredly with the Toon Army topping the league at the first time of asking. This summer the club have brought in Sol Campbell on a free transfer to shore up the defence, but have been dealt a blow with Steven Taylor ruled out for three months. Highly rated youngster Dan Gosling joined in a controversial move from Everton while long-serving Nottingham Forest player James Perch has also arrived. Newcastle have most recently been linked with Marseille prodigy Hatem ben Arfa.

Pre-Season Form:

• 3-0 winners over Carlisle, 2-1 defeat to Norwich and a 2-2 draw with PSV Eindhoven. Next up is Deportivo La Coruna tonight (Aug 3).

Newcastle opt for safety first

Campbell signs for Newcastle

Newcastle today completed the signing of former Spurs and Arsenal central defender Sol Campbell. The experienced English man will apply further steel to a solid back line that Newcastle hope will keep them in the Premiership this term. He’s in his final years as a footballer, and has definitely suffered from a lack of pace in the past few seasons, but showed in the tail-end of the season for Arsenal last year that he can still lead the line in defence, especially playing at home in front of vociferous support.

Behind Sol Campbell is Steve Harper, an extremely able deputy for many years to Shay Given, Harper achieved in his first season what Given never had in his time at Newcastle, a winners medal. Granted, it was for winning the Championship, a division below Given’s experience at St James’ Park, but Harper has proved an excellent deputy, and is now number one after signing for the Ton Army in 1993 and having bided his time patiently as number two to one of the finest keepers in England in Shay Given.

Alongside Campbell in central defence there are options to use Steven Taylor, a potential England international (with just a ‘B’ cap to his name but almost 30 U-21 appearances) who was expected to move on when Newcastle were relegated in 2009 but stayed to help his boyhood team enter the Premiership at the first time of asking. Strong, a tough tackler and good in the opposing box, Taylor and Campbell can provide an impressive foil to Premiership attacks this year. However Taylor can also play at right/left back, meaning Argentine Fabricio Coloccini could line up at centre back.

Player Power: The Gosling factor

Gosling set to leave Everton

Dan Gosling looks set to join Newcastle United on a free transfer this afternoon from Everton. The deal, though not for a huge star, is a significant one as it shows what can happen once a player gets a chance to jump ship to earn more money, live closer to ‘home’ or secure a first team place.

This deal is a controversial one as Everton are losing a young talent for nothing, whom they paid Plymouth Argyle £1.5 million for just two years and 37 appearances ago. It is believed Everton offered the youngster a deal worth more than £13,000 a week, almost doubling his wages, however Everton never put their contract offer in writing and have now suffered a huge loss for a player who would have commanded millions in compensation under a tribunal.

Everton chiefs were left stunned when Gosling informed them he was leaving, apparantly in search of greater first team football. The midfielder is currently injured and isn’t expected to recover for several months, however Newcastle have snapped up his signature for the coming season.

What the affair shows is the pressure clubs are now facing to hold on to their biggest talents. The same situations can be seen from top to bottom, be it Arsenal trying to keep Fabregas or Liverpool with Torres, or Leeds hanging onto Jermaine Beckford after his goalscoring feats last year. Gosling had a free ride to Everton hero status after his 118th minute winner against Liverpool in the FA Cup last year. However he has now incurred the wrath of the blue half of Merseyside by showing that player power is worth more than any verbal contract.

Everton have effectively paid more than £40,000 for each of Gosling’s appearances as well as investing time and money in his training. While they made a mistake in beginning contract negotiations more than a year ago (When Gosling said there was no club he would rather be with) and not concluding them more swiftly, the Everton chiefs will scarcely have believed Gosling would jump ship so soon.

The move is also a blow to Gosling’s first club Plymouth Argyle whom he made his debut for at the age of 16. Plymouth would have stood to receive part of any sell-on fee or compensation figure, but as Gosling has left for free, will not receive a penny.

Writing for the Liverpool Echo, David Prentice said: “While Gosling will make plenty of money from having won the right to be considered a free agent, he’s lost an awful lot of friends and admirers in the process.” And so say all of us.

KEEGAN IS BACK!

Kevin Keegan has returned to St James’ Park on a three and a half year deal to manage Newcastle.

Just when you thought the Premiership had slowed down in terms of excitement! This news has made thefc100 damn well excited and we are looking forward to goals galore at Newcastle from now on.

It’ll hopefully be a return to the days of we’ll score more than you despite the fact that we’ve conceded twelve already. A style that so endeared him to Newcastle fans as well as Premiership neutrals everywhere.

Outstanding news. Roll on the Keegan return…..