West Ham agree fee in region of £15m with Liverpool for Andy Carroll

[Nobody]

To be fair to Carroll, he did score a couple of goals at the tail end of last season when he was given a chance under Shearer. Would definitely not write him off as a Premiership striker, I think he can do a job for us there too.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

He will do it in the Premiership eventually, it just might not be next season with Newcastle. If he ends up not succeeding early then it will be much more difficult to resist the urge to replace him with a 'proven' striker bargain signing.

[LoveItIfWeBeatU]

The worrying thing is, the better he gets the more likely it is he'll get sent down when his case goes to court on April 29th (I think it is).

[Guest BooBoo]

The worrying thing is, the better he gets the more likely it is he'll get sent down when his case goes to court on April 29th (I think it is).

 

How does that work?!

[LoveItIfWeBeatU]

The worrying thing is, the better he gets the more likely it is he'll get sent down when his case goes to court on April 29th (I think it is).

 

How does that work?!

The Football Gods don't like us. The more important Carroll becomes for us, the more likely he'll get done. His case will probably be heard by a Mackem judge. Steven 'Stevie' Gerrard can do anything and get away with it. Knowing our luck I doubt Carroll will be as lucky.

[colinmk]

If he keeps progressing like this then I don't see why he can't do a decent job in the premiership.

[Guest toonlass]

I think Andy Carroll has grown as a player this season. His confidence is sky high which is always good with a striker, he and Lovenkrands are getting a good awareness of each other (although it's still not perfect). It would be madness to drop him (or Lovenkrands) at the moment.

[merlin]

He will do it in the Premiership eventually, it just might not be next season with Newcastle. If he ends up not succeeding early then it will be much more difficult to resist the urge to replace him with a 'proven' striker bargain signing.

 

...and that would be another NUFC mistake.

I agree that it MAY be necessary to replace him with a TOP proven striker, but you don't get 'bargains' with those - any bargains tend to be like Lovenkrands - players who have been OK at a lower level(i.e.Scottish Prem), but will not hack it in the Prem.

 

If Carroll could get 12-15 goals in the Prem it would be a definite success for the first season back ; any less than 10 and I would ask questions about his future provided he was given a fair number of games.

Either way, we WILL need another,proven striker.

[TRon]

He will do it in the Premiership eventually, it just might not be next season with Newcastle. If he ends up not succeeding early then it will be much more difficult to resist the urge to replace him with a 'proven' striker bargain signing.

 

...and that would be another NUFC mistake.

I agree that it MAY be necessary to replace him with a TOP proven striker, but you don't get 'bargains' with those - any bargains tend to be like Lovenkrands - players who have been OK at a lower level(i.e.Scottish Prem), but will not hack it in the Prem.

 

If Carroll could get 12-15 goals in the Prem it would be a definite success for the first season back ; any less than 10 and I would ask questions about his future provided he was given a fair number of games.

Either way, we WILL need another,proven striker.

 

Proven strikers don't come cheap though, unless they are on their way down, in which case I'd rather give Carroll a shot in the premier first. If we can buy a good quality striker at the right age that would be ideal, but no over priced 30 yr olds please...or to put it another way, Robbie Keane for £8m and sky high wages can fuck off.

 

 

[STM]

Carroll needs to be left to continue his development in the premiership. My main concern is that if he has a poor spell, the fans will get on his back very quickly.

 

It's important that we keep Lovenkrands, who would inspire confidence in Carroll but it's equally important that we buy another top quality striker.

 

Suggestions;

 

Fletcher

Tuncay

Santa Cruz (if he can prove his fitness)

Keane

Pavluchenko

Klasnic

Miller

Krasic

Zamora

Cole

 

(Some of which are far more realistic than others because of likely price and availability)

[Guest Stephen927]

If Andy Carroll was called Andrei Karel and we’d bought him for £500k from the Lithuanian Second Division when he was 17 he wouldn’t get half the stick he does.

 

Aside from the age 17 point, which is like 'well of course, thats obvious' I don't think that's true. He'd just get a different kind of stick, more the Xisco kind of stick.

ewwww  

 

[madras]

he gets stick  because when he first broke into the team he could do nothing but challange for the ball in the air..............since then he's came on very nicely but many are loath to admit they may have got it wrong.

[Hughesy]

I think even when he first starting playing in the 1st team, he clearly had the potential.  His technical ability, whilst not great, has been massively underplayed by some on here.

[Wallace]

Carroll needs to be left to continue his development in the premiership. My main concern is that if he has a poor spell, the fans will get on his back very quickly.

 

It's important that we keep Lovenkrands, who would inspire confidence in Carroll but it's equally important that we buy another top quality striker.

 

Suggestions;

 

Fletcher

Tuncay

Santa Cruz (if he can prove his fitness)

Keane

Pavluchenko

Klasnic

Miller

Krasic

Zamora

Cole

 

(Some of which are far more realistic than others because of likely price and availability)

 

Kevin Doyle at Wolves might be an option if they get relegated.

 

[Cronky]

He reminds me a lot of Duncan Ferguson, who went through a phase of being virtually unplayable in the air. Carroll looks to be shaping up like that. He can win clean headers in the area, despite coming under a strong challenge. Whatever else he's got or not got in his game, if there's something that can trouble the very best defenders, then that'll be a big help in the future.

 

On the question of his skill on the ball, it's not as bad as some are making out. Like a lot of tall players, he doesn't have quick reflexes and his first touch can go astray. But once the ball's under control, he can weight a pass quite well. Again, like big Dunc, who wasn't just a battering ram.

[Guest]

If he keeps progressing at this rate the way he has done since January over the next two years, there's a place in the Euro 2012 squad with his name on it. Not a great pool of English players like Carroll, and if he can get two 12-15 goal seasons coming up, he could be there.

 

And no, before anybody starts, I'm not saying he's good enough at this time.

[Pilko]

If he keeps progressing at this rate the way he has done since January over the next two years, there's a place in the Euro 2012 squad with his name on it. Not a great pool of English players like Carroll, and if he can get two 12-15 goal seasons coming up, he could be there.

 

After Heskey, who else is there in the 'big aerial target man' mould?

 

- Crouch is decent in the air but much more than your standard 'lump it at...' target man. Different sort of player.

- Carlton Cole isn't good enough imo and Capello has used him sparingly.

- K.Davies is good but a bit old now and doesn't seem to get a look in.

 

Carroll would be right to ignore the Scottish call-up imo. He could easily be challenging for England caps within a few years.

[Foluwashola]

Holy Guacamole, Carroll for England 

 

I think we're getting a bit carried away here lads, he's doing a decent job in the Championship, this is all.

[junkhead]

He's gooooooooood

[Pilko]

Holy Guacamole, Carroll for England 

 

I think we're getting a bit carried away here lads, he's doing a decent job in the Championship, this is all.

 

He could easily be challenging for England caps within a few years.

[Foluwashola]

Holy Guacamole, Carroll for England 

 

I think we're getting a bit carried away here lads, he's doing a decent job in the Championship, this is all.

 

He could easily be challenging for England caps within a few years.

 

I realised that we were talking about the future but "easily"? IMO he has nowhere near the technical ability to be able to play for England at any point. Hope I'm wrong about the long-haired beaut however.

[Pilko]

Holy Guacamole, Carroll for England 

 

I think we're getting a bit carried away here lads, he's doing a decent job in the Championship, this is all.

 

He could easily be challenging for England caps within a few years.

 

I realised that we were talking about the future but "easily"? IMO he has nowhere near the technical ability to be able to play for England at any point. Hope I'm wrong about the long-haired beaut however.

 

I don't see much technical ability in Emile Heskey. I was making the point that as the large target man who creates space for a Rooney-type, he will hopefully have a shout in a couple of years.

[Guest Heneage]

Holy Guacamole, Carroll for England 

 

I think we're getting a bit carried away here lads, he's doing a decent job in the Championship, this is all.

 

He could easily be challenging for England caps within a few years.

 

I realised that we were talking about the future but "easily"? IMO he has nowhere near the technical ability to be able to play for England at any point. Hope I'm wrong about the long-haired beaut however.

 

I don't see much technical ability in Emile Heskey. I was making the point that as the large target man who creates space for a Rooney-type, he will hopefully have a shout in a couple of years.

You are right tbf, his physical ability is very unique, I can't think of many English strikers like him.

[Foluwashola]

Holy Guacamole, Carroll for England 

 

I think we're getting a bit carried away here lads, he's doing a decent job in the Championship, this is all.

 

He could easily be challenging for England caps within a few years.

 

I realised that we were talking about the future but "easily"? IMO he has nowhere near the technical ability to be able to play for England at any point. Hope I'm wrong about the long-haired beaut however.

 

I don't see much technical ability in Emile Heskey. I was making the point that as the large target man who creates space for a Rooney-type, he will hopefully have a shout in a couple of years.

You are right tbf, his physical ability is very unique, I can't think of many English strikers like him.

 

Come to think of it I'm not aware of any other young tall/powerful English strikers. Still don't think he's good enough to ever play for England, Scotland would be perfect for him tbh.

[johnnypd]

carroll has the potential to appear for england, simply down to his innate physical ability, but he is a long, long way from that just yet. there are plenty of strikers who have done far better than him in the championship and failed in the premiership. shola's looked deadly in this division, for instance. personally i don't think he is ready to lead the line in the premiership for us, and would hope he'll be starting on the bench next season, if only cos we've brought in better.

 

while he's doing well now and in superb goalscoring form, some of the challenges he'll face next season will be different. at the minute he is playing more like a number 9 than a target man but there's no guarantees it'll pan out this way in the premiership. i still think carroll looks poor when he is either isolated on his own or forced to drop deep. basically, the further away from the box he is, the less effective he becomes. this is because his touch, balance, awareness and knock ons are still pretty crap. he's a powerful awkward player, which works to his advantage in the box, but when he has to link play or keep possession, he's not effective, even at this level. and in the premiership this is the kind of stuff he'll be doing on a regular basis as we go from a side currently dominating and forcing plenty of chances to one under the cosh and booting it up field to a lone striker. when we were doing this in the first half of this season he looked poor and it'll only be tougher a division up.

 

these current weaknesses are nothing that can't be rectified by putting hours in on the training ground, though. if he keeps his head down i think he'll look a very good player in a few years time, but it's probably a bit too early for him. i'd guess his career trajectory will be more like carlton cole's who only really blossomed into a formidable premiership striker aged 24.