Andy Carroll - Best Striker in the World

[Craig_H]

Yep.

Incredible to think how much grace period Crouch got, Carroll's got more goals early on and yet people are writing him off already.

[Mattshark]

Yep.

Incredible to think how much grace period Crouch got, Carroll's got more goals early on and yet people are writing him off already.

Crouch's all round game was much better than Carroll's imo though, which helped.

[RichC]

Didn't a certain chap we bought from Wrexham take some time to get amongst the goals for us? He didn't turn out to be too bad a signing in the end.

Amazing how little time he's been given to show us what he can do and almost as amazing is how little faith in the management team that bought him in.

[Craig_H]

Crouch's all round game was much better than Carroll's imo though, which helped.

Carroll's all round game is improving virtually every outing.

People are judging him because of the price, pure and simple.

[Mattshark]

Carroll's all round game is improving virtually every outing.

People are judging him because of the price, pure and simple.

He has been up and down a lot imo, it is his serious lack of positional intelligence that worries me though and his poor touch.

[Craig_H]

A reincarnation of Pele, mixed with Best, would worry you.

[Mattshark]

A reincarnation of Pele, mixed with Best, would worry you.

[McDermotX]

A reincarnation of Pele, mixed with Best, would worry you.

As it would worry all women.................Georgie's legendary libido, mixed with Pele's special pills.

[Exiled_red]

Crouch's all round game was much better than Carroll's imo though, which helped.

Crouch came into a more settled team and system of play though IMO

[Mostar]

He has been up and down a lot imo, it is his serious lack of positional intelligence that worries me though and his poor touch.

I have to agree.

He depends so heavily on the support of others and yet his movement and positioning in the box is very poor. He always seems to be one step too late and I want to see him surge and attack the box, which is not what he's presently doing.

His heading is another problem. For a big, strong man he should be unstoppable in the air and he's far from it. His technique needs big time improvement and many times he jumps too early and heads the ball on the way down without any power or conviction.

Also his technique on guarding the ball needs polishing as he is trying to pass right away and gets it wrong many times yet his physical strength should make him capable of shielding it until the play develops and proper support is there.

His ability to play 1-2 touch pass is not the greatest neither and he cannot take defender one-on-one nor he can create for others.

I also think his reflexes are too slow (unfortunately not much he can do about that) and as result he cannot convert "garbage" balls or execute on any reflections and that is one of the areas you want strikers to be very effective.

He needs to work very hard and take advantage of god given physical attributes and presently he doesn't do that but I hope for his and our sakes he does.

[truefan999]

I have to agree.

He depends so heavily on the support of others and yet his movement and positioning in the box is very poor. He always seems to be one step too late and I want to see him surge and attack the box, which is not what he's presently doing.

His heading is another problem. For a big, strong man he should be unstoppable in the air and he's far from it. His technique needs big time improvement and many times he jumps too early and heads the ball on the way down without any power or conviction.

Also his technique on guarding the ball needs polishing as he is trying to pass right away and gets it wrong many times yet his physical strength should make him capable of shielding it until the play develops and proper support is there.

His ability to play 1-2 touch pass is not the greatest neither and he cannot take defender one-on-one nor he can create for others.

I also think his reflexes are too slow (unfortunately not much he can do about that) and he cannot get close to "garbage" balls or execute on any reflections and that is one of the areas you want strikers to be very effective.

He needs to work very hard and take advantage of god given physical attributes and presently he doesn't do that but I hope for his and our sakes he does.

WoW! Sounds a bargain at £35m then!

[Mostar]

WoW! Sounds a bargain at £35m then!

No need to make my post in what it wasn't intended to be.

My point was that he has some limitations (which player doesn't) and that he can turn things around and be a good player for our club but he needs to work hard to improve his shortcomings and take advantage of his strenghts and currently he is not doing that.

[BigChief]

I think Mr Carroll will prove a lot of people wrong over time...

Andy Carroll has an awfully long time to get it right and when he does he will be worth a fortune

I was happy enough to sign him for the ridiculously high price as he is definitely one for the near future and yes he will prove a lot of people wrong soon.

[yamiedo]

I think he's a hell of a lot better than Crouch and when he get's firing he'll prove that.

[BringbackBiscan]

Crouch was on loan at Norwich in Division one from Aston Villa when he was Carroll's age.