Andy Carroll - Best Striker in the World

[dww]

You're comparing a Carroll who has no confidence to Crouch at his best.

Carroll's form at Newcastle last year was better than anything Crouch has shown his whole career. He was genuinely dominant.

He was good but for ~20 games which makes it hard/impossible to distinguish a good run of form from genuine class. I dare say Heskey was a better player for his first 20 games for us and that blinding run of form he had for WIgan a few seasons ago. I also don't see how you can take mental factors out of it like that. Carroll may never be able to take the pressure at a big club, Crouch manifestly was and still contributed to the team even when lacking confidence.

[cled the red]

People who are writing him off are being way too premature.

Every good performance Carroll has managed this season has been met with a relegation to the bench a game afterwards. It is impossible for a striker to build any kind of rhythm or confidence when he's getting dropped regardless of his contribution on the pitch. Dalglish's mismanagement of Carroll is one of the worst I've ever seen from a manager.

Andy Carroll was a top class prospect who was playing for his boyhood club in the city he's grown up in. He was living the dream and had a wonderful start in the Premier League last season. We come in and offer a ridiculous amount of money for him. He doesn't want to leave but his greedy chairman makes it clear he wants him out at that price, so off he goes from his comfort zone at Newcastle to the pressure cooker of a "big club" with extremely high expectations as well as a huge price tag on his head.

He comes in injured and can't get consistent minutes in his first six months while struggling to adapt to his new surroundings. So a new season starts and you'd expect the manager who has spent 35 million pounds on you to have some faith and give you a consistent run of games, yet Andy Carroll gets treated like a rotation player. He plays well, he gets dropped. He doesn't play well, he gets dropped and slagged off and written off.

Does anyone remember how Rafa persisted with Crouch week in week out despite not scoring to send him the message that he's got his back no matter what?
Does Dalglish not owe it to himself to play the guy he's invested so much money in for more than 2 games in a row and give him a proper chance to settle down?

It's just bizarre.

- totally agree with you on this. Kenny was my hero growing up so I don't say this lightly, but I've been baffled by his treatment of Andy. As far as I'm concerned, if you play well you keep your place - this doesn't seem to have been applied in Andy's case.

[Craig_H]

Carroll is not currently better than Crouch. What Carroll might become remains open for me but Crouch has a consistently decent first touch, better movement and scores goals - none of which Carroll has demonstrated on a regular basis at PL level.

Was Crouch as good as he is now, when he was 23 years old?

[Red_Polo]

I think crucially, when Crouch signed but wasn't scoring, he was otherwise functioning really well as part of the team. He was able to sustain attacking play / bring others into play. Goals were the icing on the cake. There was nowhere near the same frustration with lack of overall productivity.

[dww]

Was Crouch as good as he is now, when he was 23 years old?

No but that was't the point I was responding to. I agree that Carroll might develop but many players stagnate or fail to live up to the hype they generated when young. Personally I think he has the makings of a good player but he's not in any way proved that for us.

[Craig_H]

No but that was't the point I was responding to. I agree that Carroll might develop but many players stagnate or fail to live up to the hype they generated when young. Personally I think he has the makings of a good player but he's not in any way proved that for us.

I think he's shown several glimpses, but then automatically been dropped for the next game, which is helping nobody.

One can make a comparison between Crouch and Carroll, but i'm not sure how fair a comparison it can be because Crouch was much further down the line when he played for us (and obviously now) than Carroll is.

[Roboklopp]

I think crucially, when Crouch signed but wasn't scoring, he was otherwise functioning really well as part of the team. He was able to sustain attacking play / bring others into play. Goals were the icing on the cake. There was nowhere near the same frustration with lack of overall productivity.

Aye.

[Gibbo]

You're comparing a Carroll who has no confidence to Crouch at his best.

Carroll's form at Newcastle last year was better than anything Crouch has shown his whole career. He was genuinely dominant.

Wrong. Crouch's form with us and arguably at Spurs was better than Carroll's at Newcastle, Even at Newcastle it was very stop start he just happened to go through a purple patch.

I was speaking to two Newcastle fans the other day who said they have watched Carroll ever since he broke into their side, said his form with us now was exactly the same as he was when he first broke into the team at Newcastle and that they knew that his purple patch would be exactly that. They said it was always clear to see he showed promise but they never thought he would reach a level higher than Shola Ameobi.

Same bloke text me when we signed him saying we made a big mistake.

Its a shame with Carroll, because what he is good at he is really good at (Shooting, Passing, general technique) but his other attributes let him down. I have no doubt he is a good squad player. But even though it was a year or so ago now it's very difficult to get over the fee.

[Shaggy]

I remember watching Carroll for Newcastle reserves against our reserves, when had the corn rows , and he was absolutely ****. Think Brouwer played up front for us that night and they both looked as useless as each other.

[baitman]

would we really have been any worse off if we had played ngog instead of carroll

[Daniel 7]

Not really, but there are a multitude of reasons for that.

[RedReet]

I remember watching Carroll for Newcastle reserves against our reserves, when had the corn rows , and he was absolutely ****. Think Brouwer played up front for us that night and they both looked as useless as each other.

**** me, I've heard some nasty things said about Carroll but that has to be the worst yet.

[Craig_H]

Come the **** on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[JohnDoe]

Decent enough game, scored a goal, watch him get dropped now.

[Chris]

Some of his hold up play tonight was brilliant. Nice goal aswell!