With the Liverpool – West Ham game edging even closer, more and more is being said in the build up to this game about Andy Carroll and his time at Anfield. On Sunday, Carroll will be lining up for West Ham against the Reds as Liverpool look to return back to the top of the table following Manchester City and Chelsea picking up wins on Saturday.
A lot has been said about Carroll’s disastrous spell at Liverpool and now the giant striker has come out and said that he was told to leave Liverpool by Brendan Rodgers, something that shocked Carroll as he claims he was told that a partnership of himself and Luis Suarez would work.
“I just feel that when I did go I never really got a chance,” Carroll said in the Telegraph. “I came out of a dressing room at Newcastle where everyone was close, everyone, like here at West Ham, and then to go into that dressing room, at that time, when it was the opposite.
“I was disappointed with the way it [his Liverpool career] went, but I don’t feel I was given a real go at it. I was in one game, out three games, back in for one, so it was stop-start constantly and I never really got going.
“Obviously I never really knew my place when Kenny Dalglish got sacked and coming back, I thought I’d had a good season, I ended the season with a few goals and was told by [Dalglish’s successor] Brendan Rodgers that me and Luis Suárez could be the partnership up front. And then I was told: ‘Ah, you’d better leave’ so I didn’t know whether I was coming or going.”
Liverpool made the right decision in my opinion to ask Carroll to leave as his style of playing was simply not suited to the Reds. At West Ham where they hoof the ball upfield, that suites him perfectly. It still amazes me how Kenny Dalglish of all people who know the Liverpool way of football decided that Carroll would be a good signing for Liverpool.
The important thing now is that Liverpool must continue to play well against the Hammers on Sunday and get three points. It will be important to keep close tabs on Carroll as he will be fired up for this one as he seeks to prove a point against his former employers.
Liverpool’s defence has not been at its best this season but in the last couple of games, a steady backline of Mignolet, Johnson, Agger, Skrtel and Flanagan have been playing very well and it will be interesting to see how they cope with Carroll.
Liverpool will be making a big mistake by concentrating a lot on Andy Caroll. Mind you we are playing Westham not Caroll.