Liverpool FC: Is Andy Carroll a £35 Million Problem?

The answer to the question in the headline would be divisive. Most Liverpool FC fans of the day would go by the prevalent feeling at the moment, which is: yes.

It is almost certain that there would be another group of more patient and tolerant followers who would disagree to it on the whole.

However, the point that most people do mention after a Liverpool loss these days or a bad performance seems to be never completely without some Andy Carroll bashing.

Even fans who are ardent supporters of the club on Twitter ranging from journalists to ticket-holders to blind fans of Kenny Dalglish seem to rattled whenever they find Andy Carroll starting a match for Liverpool. The most common fear being, "Will Liverpool resort to the hoof-ball strategy then?" Surprisingly even though some of these supporters come up with some cover for the giant English striker before or after the match, mostly resorting to his age and that he will mature, in all probability none of them apparently want the next match to start with Carroll up front for 90 minutes.

If such nervousness wasn't enough, then comes a flurry of criticism with or mostly without any basis from rival supporters who often begin with the price that Liverpool got him for. Among them are also people who supported their clubs hugely throughout their tolerance campaigns with Veron, Shevchenko and the likes. Some others still moan their club's frugal spending. However leaving apart the petty blame games, let us come down to the main topic here: Is Andy Carroll really a £35m problem for Liverpool?

The way I see it is simple, it is a plain NO.

It is not as if the price tag is the issue with Kenny Dalglish at the helm, unlike Carlo Ancelotti's last six months at Chelsea. Andy Carroll clearly has his strengths and weaknesses but unless he is fit even with the pass-and-play tactics of Liverpool, he would find it difficult to make the cut at Liverpool. Kenny supports him clearly and his press conference after Fabio Capello's criticism of the player was indicative of that fact.

Carroll may not have done himself much favor by being almost not turning up for the Tottenham game, when he was handed a rare start. The former Newcastle man will have his chances though, keeping in tune to Dalglish's words that Liverpool has signed him for five years, not a few months or a year. It's high time though that Carroll turns on the screws in practice, improves his pace of play and ensures that he really deserves a starting spot in the Liverpool lineup.

Andy Carroll was never worth the transfer money that was involved his move, and on any normal circumstances such demand would have met with a prompt 'NO' from the Liverpool camp. However the sudden transfer request from Fernando Torres at the very end of the transfer window forced Liverpool to get into the market for a striker and, bar Newcastle, no other club with Liverpool's targets were even apparently ready to discuss about letting their key striker part.

All that left Liverpool with a £35m buy of the Newcastle spearhead in attack, who by the way had scored 11 goals already and did attract interest from a few other top clubs in the league. Keeping in mind the wages that Carroll takes in, the deal is surely not one among the most expensive deals for Liverpool. In fact both Jordan Henderson and Andy Carroll's deals made more sense than most people understand.

So to conclude the debate I would like to say this that Andy Carroll and all other summer recruits will be given the chances to shine this season. Whether or not they shine it will be up to them (Carroll sure has to better his two goals so far), but there is simply no pressure on Kenny Dalglish if he manages to get Liverpool to their target of a top-four finish. If he doesn't do that, all his decisions in the summer along with the Carroll buy would be criticized.

Rest assured with Kenny Dalglish at the helm, there would be no pressure on Liverpool to play Andy Carroll just because he cost Liverpool some £5m! Liverpool would rather prefer an expensive failure if ever things come to that rather than miss out the right progress in the right direction. Expensive failures are and won't be uncommon in present-day football.