£55 Million Wasted: Allardyce Will Get the Best out of Carroll/Downing Combo

West Ham have taken it upon themselves to relieve Liverpool of previous mistakes this summer, taking unwanted fringe players Andy Carroll and Stewart Downing off their hands for a total sum of £20 million.

The club confirmed Downing's arrival today after he passed a medical, signing for a knock-off fee of £5 million just five days ahead of the new Premier League season.

Carroll changed hands for just £15 million earlier in the summer, and when you take into account the pair cost Liverpool an original total of £55 million, it becomes clear the Reds have made an astonishing £35 million loss.

That's shocking business whichever way you look at it, and Kenny Dalglish and Damien Comolli will forever carry the stigma of such atrocious financial mismanagement and decision-making.

The two players have also carried the brunt of fan resentment, with Downing's paltry 2011-12 seasonal tallies making for nothing short of a laughing matter in the pub.

In effect, both players are scapegoats for fan frustration at the club's fall from grace, as they epitomise the mistakes made at the highest level.

The second half of last season saw the Downing enjoy a mini renaissance in form, and he put in some pretty respectable performances during Liverpool's preseason tour, too.

But Brendan Rodgers had already informed him in December 2012 he was free to leave the club, as confirmed by Sky Sports, and the winger failed to convince his manager otherwise.

Downing and Carroll combined for an utter waste of £55 million in signing for Liverpool, but in moving to West Ham they represent value of the highest order.

The reason, of course, lies in philosophy and managerial style.

Liverpool were caught in two minds while housing the two players, as Anfield had come to expect fluent football with the ball on the deck. Carroll and Downing are old-school, traditional English players who play an aerial game, and the Reds suffered something of an identity crisis under Dalglish.

Appease the crowd and follow tradition, or alter radically to accommodate an overpriced pair?

The recruitment of Brendan Rodgers as manager, who made Swansea a possession-based force and attempted to do the same with Reading, spelled the end for Carroll, and the striker moved to West Ham on loan.

He thrived, and despite injury troubles and a lower goal tally than you'd expect, he became a fan favourite at the Boleyn Ground after some dominant performances up front.

The club made him happy, and he reciprocated with brutish, unforgiving displays which left defenders no hope of staving off.

Sam Allardyce built his side around Carroll to ensure the player succeeded, and he favours the traditional, direct method that the former Newcastle man loves. Crosses into the box are the norm under Big Sam, and now he's got one of the best crossers in the league to find what is likely the fiercest aerial battering ram since Duncan Ferguson.

There's no division of agenda or philosophy at West Ham, they're set to play one way and one way only under Allardyce.

Carroll and Downing are a match made in heaven—all they needed was a manager who believed in their way of playing football. In Allardyce they've found him, and he's set to unleash two revitalised, dangerous players on the Premier League next year.