Drop Carroll Or Drop Top Four Dreams

Andy Carroll and Luis Suarez cannot play together. Full stop. Suarez needs to play with Maxi, Kuyt, Bellamy and other football thinkers. Andy Carroll just gets in the way...

The apparent inability of Andy Carroll to recapture the kind of form that made him one of the most feared strikers in the Premier League may be in part due to the player whom he was notionally bought to partner. On paper, the big man-little man partnership involving two very good players seemed a winning combination. The reality has been very different - and one has to wonder whether either is a suitable foil for the other.
Luis Suarez is Liverpool's dominant influence. He sets the tone, forces Liverpool to play. His willingness to work and find space, his ability on the ball and his movement all drive Liverpool from the front. Essentially, it is his almost constant availability and his intelligence that makes Liverpool work. He is a pass waiting to happen. A menace to opponents - always alive to possibilities. A midfielder's delight.
Suarez is also the catalyst - his presence appearing to bring out the best of like-minded players, like Maxi, Dirk Kuyt and Craig Bellamy. Players that Rafa Benitez liked to say had game intelligence, who play in between the lines and make opponents uncomfortable with their constant movement and clever touches.
Clearly, since Dalglish returned to Liverpool, his side's most eye-catching performances have come when these players have been involved. Their dynamic rotation across the frontline and their intuitive touches and interplay have given Liverpool a real cutting edge - and a more convincing goal threat. And Suarez leads the way.
Drop Andy Carroll into the mix - and he just looks like he is in the way. He does not appear to think quickly enough or have quick enough feet, and he has a tendency to drift into spaces where Suarez would like to inject a little menace and mischief. He's just not on the right wavelength.
To make matters worse, Carroll's mere presence still brings out the simplistic and cowardly worst in some players - unable to resist a long punt in the direction of a big man, neither helping the striker nor the team.
Very little of this is Carroll's fault. Sure, he could work on his game - do a bit better. But it is hard to escape the feeling that he just does not fit into Liverpool's best XI. Shoehorning him into the side upsets the flow - and frustrates and inhibits Suarez, who on the evidence of his time with Liverpool and Uruguay seems to flourish when he has complete freedom to operate across the front line and is supported by similarly intelligent players.
Suarez is at his best when Maxi plays - and Kuyt and Bellamy. Liverpool are also then at their best. To get the best from Carroll, you feel Stewart Downing must play down the left, which means the Argentine Maxi tends to be left out, denying the Uruguayan one of his most effective foils.
Downing and Carroll cost a combined £55million - the kind of money that suggests they should be your plan A. However, team selection has to be based on performance and not price tag. Liverpool have the squad and the wherewithal to make the top four, but will only do so if their manager deploys his forces judiciously and based on form and the compelling evidence before him. Carroll and Downing may well come good for Liverpool - but at present, they do not merit a place in the team. The concern must be that price tag pressure and a desire to justify a massive transfer outlay if allowed to dictate who gets the nod could derail the club's ambitions this season.
Paul Little

One has 10 Premier League goals in 44 games, and is being heralded as the future of the England team. The other has 16 in 67, and is being heralded as an absolute waste of space. I give you Welbeck and Carroll. Amazing what a £35m price tag can do to get in the way of actually opening your eyes. Just get past the money thing, please.