Liverpool Will Be Able To Fit Both Luis Suarez and Andy Carroll Up Front

Ask any Liverpool fan what he/she is thinking and you'll likely find this question somewhere in the swirl of emotions and hate for Manchester United.

"Can Kenny Dalglish play both Luis Suarez and Andy Carroll in the same team and beat the best?"

Judging from the Chelsea game the simple answer is no, but Steve Clarke explained that formation was selected to nullify our opponents and we can expect a raft of formations as the season progresses.

Except for under Roy Hodgson, you'd have to go back to Michael Owen and Emile Heskey or Robbie Fowler and Stan Collymore for the last time Liverpool found "success" with two forwards (and the game has changed a great deal since the year 2000).

The formidable axis of Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres was unstoppable during the 2008/2009 season, but you'd never call Liverpool's captain a striker.

I think the Suarez and Carroll partnership will work, and emulate the success of Sir Alex Ferguson playing Wayne Rooney or Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez off Dimitar Berbatov.

In the last few seasons of the English Premier League, you'd be hard pressed to make a case for the resounding success of any striking partnership. By striking partnerships, I mean two out-and-out strikers in some version of an "x-x-2" formation.

You'd have to go back to the turn of the century (great that we can use that term for relatively recent events eh?) to the lethal combination of Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole in Manchester United's pre-Nistelrooy days which bulldozed opposition defenses into submission.

It is somewhat ironic that their "greatest goal ever" would come against Barcelona, who today embody the kind of telepathic teamwork we all wish our clubs would display.

Some would argue Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp fit this bill, but I would be hesitant to label them as a classic striking pair. The Dutchman was the quintessential deep-lying forward, his lack of pace rendered irrelevant by his ability to pick a pass to release Henry, Pires, Ljungberg or any other Arsenal flier from that generation.

Carroll and Suarez will be so much more than a modern "Big Man and Little Man" that exists at White Hart Lane at times, with Gareth Bale and Aaron Lennon looking to knock crosses off Peter Crouch into the path of Rafael Van der Vaart.

Mostly because we simply don't have any genuine wingers that can consistently put quality crosses into the box (although Martin Kelly's right boot looks promising) and with the movement and vision of Gerrard and Raul Meireles, much of our play will be on the ground.

The key to this is the work rate and mobility of both players, which may have been one of the reasons that Dalglish was so keen on both of them.

I remember watching Carroll playing for Newcastle up front on his own and the commentator was berating him for chasing back to his own 18 yard box. True, this hindered Newcastle's overall game-plan as without Carroll playing off the shoulder of defenders, they had no out-ball when under pressure, but it just shows his Rooney-esque appetite for getting stuck in.

Luis Suarez has been compared to Carlos Tevez for his work-rate, which coupled with his obvious skill and shooting ability could see him eclipse Dirk Kuyt as Liverpool's workhorse (albeit one that actually can play football).

These two can clearly thrive off each over. Suarez looks like the better football, but Carroll will genuinely be able to bully defenders the way that Drogba is capable of.

In Dalglish's own words: "I am desperate to see him charging in on a header. I would love to be inside the mind of the defender who is standing underneath it waiting for it to come in, and waiting for Andy to plough over the top of him."

Since both strikers are so mobile, this will further benefit the late runs of Meireles that have been so effective recently, as Suarez will be able to drag defenders out of position. Similar to the manner in which Gerrard and our Portuguese midfield sensation alternate going forward, Suarez or Carroll will be able to drop back and provide cover to our rampaging midfielders in the event of a counter-attack.

Furthermore, the predatory finishing of Suarez is something Liverpool have been lacking (Torres aside) since the days of the Premier League's Poacher in Chief: Robbie Fowler. If the Uruguayan shows half the ability of Chicharito (who apparently sold his soul for the ability to hit the net from any position) then playing off Carroll should yield the goals we've been craving.

The bedrock for success is always a water-tight defense and Liverpool in the past seven years found it effective to play a single striker and rely on their midfield for support and goals.

Benitez's favored 4-2-3-1 relied on the outside forwards of Kuyt, Maxi or (god-forbid) Riera to threaten going forward as well as track back to help out with only Torres prowling by himself.

The tenacity and fight in our two new players will allow Dalglish to field both of them in the knowledge that they will pressure from the top of the pitch and break up opponent's play right from the start.

This could be both at the head of some kind of 4-4-2 or else with Suarez on the side and Carroll as the spearhead of another formation which will depend on the make-up of Liverpool's midfield.

Who will be in that midfield is a question for another day.