andy carroll = poor mans grant holt unfortunately for andy carroll, he doesn't fit into brendan rogers style of football. i feel sorry for him, as he is young and has this riduculous price tag around his neck like a millstone. he could be a great CF with the right system, and i can see why the hammers are interested. how many strikers do west ham need? they seem to be linked with everyone as well -they are the new newcastle utd - i.e a circus
he is not a poor man's grant holt - he is a wealthy man's grant holt! different players in my opinion anyway but as i said elsewhere, stick him in the right club with the right supply line and you've got yourselves a really, really top striker and an absolute nightmare for defenders. he's just not at that club right now. i think its right to label him a failure because for that price tag he hasn't come close in any way to justifying it, but to say he's crap is completely misguided. he isn't crap at all and has some seriously big strengths in his game.
I think he'd do really well at Norwich, (not saying I want him here), but our side could easily play to his strengths and it really is not difficult to see him scoring many goals over a season.
In 10 years will we look back and say "why was there so much fuss over Carroll?" In the scheme of things, he's generated far more column inches than he deserves. Not a crap player, but not one that so many hours of discussion deserves. And grant holt is better, end of.
Carroll is a massively average player and will remain so, no where near as good as he is made out to be. I'd imagine in 5 years time he will be an average striker playing for a lower mid table prem team at best. I just don't see any footballing potential there other than he is big, but at the top level that is not enough.
ok, well i wouldn't bet against one of either chelsea or ac milan attempting to sign andy carroll. he is not average - far from it in fact! some of the biggest clubs in europe will chase his signature because he is incredibly difficult to play against IN THE RIGHT SETUP. people seem to have confused 'poor form' with 'poor ability'.
Ok I will revise my statement and say he could potentially be decent but he is a long way off been a really good striker as things stand. My biggest problem with him is he lacks control. He is not that good with his feet and although he can win a lot in the air he just tends to head it anywhere and hope people will get on to it, rather than effectively direct the ball. I would also question his attitude at times as well, I can never see him as a main striker for a top club.
he's far from world class, i'm happy to admit that, but then there are few truly world class players on the planet. it annoys me to hear rooney or gerrard described as world class - they are not. messi, iniesta - they are! he's better with his feet than you give credit and his hold up play, when confident, can be sublime. he's got one hell of a shot too which people forget, not to mention he's one of the most powerful headers' of a ball i've ever seen. i think you're right about his attitude not being up to scratch though
I agree "world class" is a much overused term. I would say he could progress further if his attitude was better. Still dont see him been more than an average prem striker but time will tell
Its a paradox that at a time when wages are so high, transfer fees for English players are so large, and strikers still attract the most attention, we have a dearth of good strikers. Andy Carroll attracted a lot of attention with his move to Liverpool and a whole lot more with his elevation to England striker. Lets face it, he went to the wrong club. The fee was too much, the players ability was overrated and the club itself was in decline, certainly on the pitch. I remember that we were interested in him earlier in his career. He was a prospect at that time and the year NUFC were promoted he stood out in the Championship. I don't think he's a donkey. He runs like one admittedly. He has a place in a certain style of football. I'm sure alongside a totally different type of striker he could be a real handful. To compare him to Holt is unfair as they arrived in the Prem in totally different circumstances. If I were to guess or bet, I would say Carroll could do as useful job for us. He won't be coming of course. His wages would be the first thing that would disqualify him. But many people argued that Holt was worth a longer contract and more money if his goals keep us in the Prem for another £43M. So if we could conjure up a suitable deal for Carroll, I would welcome him.
Thinking back last season Norwich had one of the highest cross and long ball rates in the league. No doubt carroll would be a useful asset with his head. Still only backup to Holt imo though. Holt fulfils the same target man role but as all the pundits and opposing fans seem to miss, Holt has the ability to do so much more. Those moments of simply excellent close-up skill. Think back to Everton / Wolves last year. I think Norwich plays (or did play last season) the type of footy that would suit Carroll perfectly, but as several have commented, will never happen due to ca$h. Shame really.
can you imagine the chat at the returns desk... "Yeah, the salesman told me he's good for at least 20 goals a season but I've read the instructions back to back and the best I can get out of it is 4. Do you have anything else in red?"
Rarely do English players come out from major tournaments with England well but I think Carroll and Welbeck were actually quite impressive. Carroll's goal was brilliant and I thought Welbeck done really well at times when he was isolated up front with a lacklustre Rooney supposed to be helping him out. Bit off topic but I seen the tournament mentioned higher up the thread so thought I would comment. No point considering him for Norwich because it won't happen. Big year for him nonetheless and if I were him I would go abroad. I think he can be a machine but he needs to fit into the right system, he should never have left Newcastle, where let's face it he was one of the best forwards in the Prem at the time. Purely because they nurtured him and they built the system around him. Short memories.
Anyone noticed that Brendan Rodgers is getting a bit of stick in this? IT BEGINS! gone by January I reckon, just a shame Swansea got mixed up with them
Rodgers or Lambert who will go first ? Lots of expectation on guys who have done well with up and coming players now having to manage big club expectations different ball game
Rodgers will go first. Did anyone see the Mirror article yesterday about Lambo bargain hunting at Villa? There was a delicious picture at the bottom. Supposedly there are some players he's tried to get, they've asked for silly wages and he has told them where to go!
