Andy Carroll - Best Striker in the World

[Daniel 7]

Re Ashton

2000–2005 Crewe Alexandra 159 (61)
2005–2006 Norwich City 44 (17)
2006–2009 West Ham United 46 (15)
Total 249 (93)

He was born in 1983, so was around Carroll's age when he joined West Ham. He had one season in the top flight playing for Norwich where he scored 17 in 44. Carroll had 15 or so for the Geordies in his first season in the PL, and his record in the second level is arguably worse than Ashton's for Crewe, by far a less gifted team than Newcastle. I'd say its a valid comparison.

[RedSince1964]

Carroll was bought for his POTENTIAL. He is what? 22? We have signed him for at least 5 years. He has a record no better then Ashtons but how long has Carroll been playing in the premier league compared to Ashton?

We signed him when he was injured and he has been recovering from that injury for the back end of the season.

You would like an international quality proven forward? Look no further then the man who lines up next to Carroll.

Once upon a time Liverpool fans (maybe not you personally) complained that we never had the money to compete for the best players and the best young players. Now we DO have the money to compete and people complain because we paid too much

Agree 100% people, give the lad a chance to improve and gain more experience under Kenny before writing him off

[little dave hedgehog]

no, we're complaining that now we have the money, but we are still not competing for the best players. instead we are over paying for players who may never come good. i have no problem with paying lots for quality. but i don't think we're in a position to gamble all our money away.

[redmacca]

It's such a shame we don't have a scouting system in place with people paid to judge whether someone will be worth the outlay eh?

[Daniel 7]

Those scouts might not always get it right. For every expensive outlay like Rooney, there's always a David Bentley to throw a spanner in the works.

LDH put it as well as anyone.

[Neil Young]

Those scouts might not always get it right. For every expensive outlay like Rooney, there's always a David Bentley to throw a spanner in the works.

It's not "might not", it's "will not". It's the nature of any transfer, it's always a gamble.

It's less of a gamble buying English players, other things being equal, because (a) they don't have to adapt to an unfamiliar league etc. and (b) they're less likely to turn round in two years time and say they want to return home because their partner can't settle or they want to raise their new kid back home, etc. So you pay a premium for them.

But we've all been through this (and the Homegrown rule and playing with passion ) a million times before so maybe we should stop.

The fundamental point about all this moaning about Carroll or anyone else we might buy this summer is that people's expectations are way too high.

World-beaters would be lovely but I'm perfectly satisfied with us not having those American cowboys bleeding us to death and Bronto buying up parp like Jones and Kon****sky.

[Kenneth]

Old people always look back rather than forwards.

[Neil Young]

There's nothing wrong with having aspirations but some people have unrealistic expectations IMO.

[Kenneth]

The sums we seems to have to spend have obviously set high expectations. The bit many seem to be overlooking is the relative attractiveness of lfc compared to clubs in capital cities who can offer CL football. We're not going to sign the highest profile/very brightest prospects because they will go elsewhere. However, we need top four and a good year or two in the CL as our first aim, then we probably can challenge for the very best. I think signing more experienced players, alongside the younger talents, would make this more likely. We'll see what we have in a couple of months I suppose.

[Neil Young]

[Daniel 7]

FFS, this signing is looking more and more like when you buy a great tele for £750 and then you see a better one on offer for £499 in Richer Sounds the week after.

Luka Modric for £30m? Suarez and Modric would have been an amazing double capture that would have enthused EVERY fan. I know they don't play in the same position, but a proven premiership attacking player (this seems to be the argument) young enough to have potential to progress even more against Dean Ashton lite with similair injury issues?

Not happy with these transfer windows, we seem to buying wrong.

[Tomovich]

I just hope Carroll will be fit when training starts. And I'm sure he'll be very good, on the condition we have some quality wingers. You don't buy a 30m giant when you're not planning to aid him on the pitch with some quality players.

He and Suarez will be great.

[john316]

FFS, this signing is looking more and more like when you buy a great tele for £750 and then you see a better one on offer for £499 in Richer Sounds the week after.

Luka Modric for £30m? Suarez and Modric would have been an amazing double capture that would have enthused EVERY fan. I know they don't play in the same position, but a proven premiership attacking player (this seems to be the argument) young enough to have potential to progress even more against Dean Ashton lite with similair injury issues?

Not happy with these transfer windows, we seem to buying wrong.

Why would Modric have wanted to join us anyway? We need to up the English count anyway for the future rule changes so you're only going to see other teams following us and the Mancs in mad English transfer fees.

[Chrono]

The good

First touch was a header on target. He also looked handy as a defensive player from set pieces, a la Drogba. I liked his lay off for the Kuyt volley. He is going to be a big player for us, not just in height!

Its a refreshing change to have a physical fella up front who can dish it out instead of someone who looked upset, hurt and moody every time it got a bit tasty up front.

I remember being hugely impressed with Drogba for the same reason. I'm not going to join the love-in for Carroll yet, he hasn't played, but the prospect of having a fella of this size and stature bullying Man Utd is pretty exciting.

The bad

Cumbersome, slow witted, poor in everything he tried to do and he slowed down the play. We were a million miles away from the Fulham game, I think Carroll was a major factor in that.

It was a huge disruption bringing him in, and ultimately a hugely wrong one.

I hope he's our Plan B long term, rather than our default first choice. I'm praying.

Why not just wait and see instead of leaping from one conclusion to another? You've gone from being excited and seeing potential to writing him off and mocking the signing after a handful of games where he wasn't match fit. He might turn out to be dog **** but let's wait and see

[little dave hedgehog]

i regard pretty much everything he wrote as pretty true.