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

[Liam Liam Liam O]

Shola's the best finisher at the club but Carroll's got more to his general play. We're not f***ed without Carroll, but we'll lose a lot. We'd have to change our whole set up if we went with Ameobi upfront instead.

 

 

I wish you'd let that line die like.

 

It's a forum cliché, isn't it Matt?

[Yorkie]

Dunno, don't think so - i'm the only who seems to think it.

 

It's either him or Nolan.

[Guest BooBoo]

Carroll needs a goal on Sunday

 

Yeah this two game goal drought is simply not on.

[Nobody]

Carroll needs a goal on Sunday

 

Yeah this two game goal drought is simply not on.

[gray]

All I mean is it will do his confidence good

[TaylorJ_01]

Aye, hat-tricks are pretty gash. He'll be feeling down.

[JH]

Was at fault for their equaliser - shouldn't have taken his eyes off Jones, nevermind turn around and attempt to get a ball that two of our players were already jumping for.

[alpal78]

I don't wanna be harsh on him because on his day he is quite decent and he is really the only hope we have upfront. Bu Carroll need sto improve the basics like running off the ball...he was as static as Nolan today.

[Dokko]

I don't wanna be harsh on him because on his day he is quite decent and he is really the only hope we have upfront. Bu Carroll need sto improve the basics like running off the ball...he was as static as Nolan today.

 

He's a player learning, there was nothing for him to do in that match because he was isolated. Fair enough his defensive duties didn't make the grade but really not many would have faired much better the way we played Carroll yesterday. He had no service, Routledge managed only a couple of decent crosses in to the box, but were too far away from Carroll, wrong angles or pace and his only really chance for me came from Jonas and he at least hit the target,  one or two more of them and he might have got a goal.

 

The team 2nd half was atrocious, uninspired crap, we can't expect the young lads to pick us up, it has to come from our captain and senior players but those have shown to be the real problems, ones which show no signs of going away until their contracts run out.

 

You mentioned his movement, but really his movement was typical of the whole front line. Carroll needs a partner to help with the burden, preferably a fast tricky player he can flick and head on too and be set up by. HBA is the only player we've got that matches that description even though he's not a striker but that means dropping Nolan, and that isn't happening apart from injury or hell freezing over.

 

 

 

 

[afar]

I thought he easily had had worst game of the season on Saturday, his general play was poor, he didn't seem to show the desire to get the ball he has for the majority of these opening games.

 

He was well handled by the Stoke defence but didn't really test them too much either.

 

Is the performance he gave on Sunday going to be his standard fare or is he going to play to the high standards he set in the previous games ? I hope it's the latter.

[alpal78]

I don't wanna be harsh on him because on his day he is quite decent and he is really the only hope we have upfront. Bu Carroll need sto improve the basics like running off the ball...he was as static as Nolan today.

 

He's a player learning, there was nothing for him to do in that match because he was isolated. Fair enough his defensive duties didn't make the grade but really not many would have faired much better the way we played Carroll yesterday. He had no service, Routledge managed only a couple of decent crosses in to the box, but were too far away from Carroll, wrong angles or pace and his only really chance for me came from Jonas and he at least hit the target,  one or two more of them and he might have got a goal.

 

The team 2nd half was atrocious, uninspired crap, we can't expect the young lads to pick us up, it has to come from our captain and senior players but those have shown to be the real problems, ones which show no signs of going away until their contracts run out.

 

You mentioned his movement, but really his movement was typical of the whole front line. Carroll needs a partner to help with the burden, preferably a fast tricky player he can flick and head on too and be set up by. HBA is the only player we've got that matches that description even though he's not a striker but that means dropping Nolan, and that isn't happening apart from injury or hell freezing over.

 

 

 

 

 

I agree with you mostly. Obviously playing up front alone and Hughton's stupid insistence for Nolan to 'support' him contributed to him not beng able to do anything of substance.

 

But putting these factors aside, he too had a poor game (perhaps measured by his earlier performances). What struck me the most was that he wasn't making any runs at all. Surely he realized at some point that it was gonna be difficult for him to outmuscle both Huth and Shawcross, but even when HBA ran to the middle and looked up for a killer pass, Carroll jus remained static. There were just no options for HBA. Compare this to his run against Villa for the last goal. My assessment of him does not depend on him scoring, like against Everton eventhough he didnt score, I thought he had a decent game. Remember that run he made when HBA perhaps passed a split second too late? Carrol had a shot anyway but the keeper saved. Didn't see any of that against Stoke.

[merlin]

I don't wanna be harsh on him because on his day he is quite decent and he is really the only hope we have upfront. Bu Carroll need sto improve the basics like running off the ball...he was as static as Nolan today.

 

He's a player learning, there was nothing for him to do in that match because he was isolated. Fair enough his defensive duties didn't make the grade but really not many would have faired much better the way we played Carroll yesterday. He had no service, Routledge managed only a couple of decent crosses in to the box, but were too far away from Carroll, wrong angles or pace and his only really chance for me came from Jonas and he at least hit the target,  one or two more of them and he might have got a goal.

 

The team 2nd half was atrocious, uninspired crap, we can't expect the young lads to pick us up, it has to come from our captain and senior players but those have shown to be the real problems, ones which show no signs of going away until their contracts run out.

 

You mentioned his movement, but really his movement was typical of the whole front line. Carroll needs a partner to help with the burden, preferably a fast tricky player he can flick and head on too and be set up by. HBA is the only player we've got that matches that description even though he's not a striker but that means dropping Nolan, and that isn't happening apart from injury or hell freezing over.

 

 

 

 

 

This - Good post.

[Beren]

I don't wanna be harsh on him because on his day he is quite decent and he is really the only hope we have upfront. Bu Carroll need sto improve the basics like running off the ball...he was as static as Nolan today.

 

He's a player learning, there was nothing for him to do in that match because he was isolated. Fair enough his defensive duties didn't make the grade but really not many would have faired much better the way we played Carroll yesterday. He had no service, Routledge managed only a couple of decent crosses in to the box, but were too far away from Carroll, wrong angles or pace and his only really chance for me came from Jonas and he at least hit the target,  one or two more of them and he might have got a goal.

 

The team 2nd half was atrocious, uninspired crap, we can't expect the young lads to pick us up, it has to come from our captain and senior players but those have shown to be the real problems, ones which show no signs of going away until their contracts run out.

 

You mentioned his movement, but really his movement was typical of the whole front line. Carroll needs a partner to help with the burden, preferably a fast tricky player he can flick and head on too and be set up by. HBA is the only player we've got that matches that description even though he's not a striker but that means dropping Nolan, and that isn't happening apart from injury or hell freezing over.

 

 

 

 

 

I agree with you mostly. Obviously playing up front alone and Hughton's stupid insistence for Nolan to 'support' him contributed to him not beng able to do anything of substance.

 

But putting these factors aside, he too had a poor game (perhaps measured by his earlier performances). What struck me the most was that he wasn't making any runs at all. Surely he realized at some point that it was gonna be difficult for him to outmuscle both Huth and Shawcross, but even when HBA ran to the middle and looked up for a killer pass, Carroll jus remained static. There were just no options for HBA. Compare this to his run against Villa for the last goal. My assessment of him does not depend on him scoring, like against Everton eventhough he didnt score, I thought he had a decent game. Remember that run he made when HBA perhaps passed a split second too late? Carrol had a shot anyway but the keeper saved. Didn't see any of that against Stoke.

 

Agree with Alpal, though he wasn't atrocious by any means IMO.

 

Don't like the idea of having a nippy second forward just so Carroll can flick stuff on to him - it would seriously under-utilise his capabilities and make our team play unnecessarily ugly and one-dimensional stuff.

 

If Carroll had dropped back a bit and collected the ball at his feet, he could have held the ball up and encouraged our relaxed midfield forward a bit more - that was my main gripe. No shame in winning only 50% of your headers when you're facing fucking Stoke - even if you are as good in the air as Carroll is.

 

Relatively speaking a two-game "drought" is nothing, but sure a goal would pick up his confidence which is generally a good thing for a striker

[Ronaldo]

Three-game.

[Wallace]

I thought Carroll was excellent against Everton - but only outside the box as he is a marked man in that area now with so many defenders around him.  Unfortunately for him, the opposition know they don't need to worry about any other strikers so they focus all of their attention on him.

[Mr Logic]

Carroll still has the potential to create space. If he's being marked by both CD he comes deeper to pick the ball up in midfield, at least one defender will go with him. But he needs the ball to feet more often than head in such a situation - even if all it means is he becomes the one in a one two. HBA's pass to Nolan against Everton, where Nolan was marginaly offside, and HBA kept running into the box, he was there so quick and in lots of space if Nolan's shot had been spilt or a return pass was coming. So personally speaking I'm sure HBA would improve the game of Carroll just by playing in the hole rather than Nolan.

[Tachikoma]

I don't wanna be harsh on him because on his day he is quite decent and he is really the only hope we have upfront. Bu Carroll need sto improve the basics like running off the ball...he was as static as Nolan today.

 

He's a player learning, there was nothing for him to do in that match because he was isolated. Fair enough his defensive duties didn't make the grade but really not many would have faired much better the way we played Carroll yesterday. He had no service, Routledge managed only a couple of decent crosses in to the box, but were too far away from Carroll, wrong angles or pace and his only really chance for me came from Jonas and he at least hit the target,  one or two more of them and he might have got a goal.

 

The team 2nd half was atrocious, uninspired crap, we can't expect the young lads to pick us up, it has to come from our captain and senior players but those have shown to be the real problems, ones which show no signs of going away until their contracts run out.

 

You mentioned his movement, but really his movement was typical of the whole front line. Carroll needs a partner to help with the burden, preferably a fast tricky player he can flick and head on too and be set up by. HBA is the only player we've got that matches that description even though he's not a striker but that means dropping Nolan, and that isn't happening apart from injury or hell freezing over.

 

 

 

 

 

I agree with you mostly. Obviously playing up front alone and Hughton's stupid insistence for Nolan to 'support' him contributed to him not beng able to do anything of substance.

 

But putting these factors aside, he too had a poor game (perhaps measured by his earlier performances). What struck me the most was that he wasn't making any runs at all. Surely he realized at some point that it was gonna be difficult for him to outmuscle both Huth and Shawcross, but even when HBA ran to the middle and looked up for a killer pass, Carroll jus remained static. There were just no options for HBA. Compare this to his run against Villa for the last goal. My assessment of him does not depend on him scoring, like against Everton eventhough he didnt score, I thought he had a decent game. Remember that run he made when HBA perhaps passed a split second too late? Carrol had a shot anyway but the keeper saved. Didn't see any of that against Stoke.

 

Agree with Alpal, though he wasn't atrocious by any means IMO.

 

Don't like the idea of having a nippy second forward just so Carroll can flick stuff on to him - it would seriously under-utilise his capabilities and make our team play unnecessarily ugly and one-dimensional stuff.

 

If Carroll had dropped back a bit and collected the ball at his feet, he could have held the ball up and encouraged our relaxed midfield forward a bit more - that was my main gripe. No shame in winning only 50% of your headers when you're facing fucking Stoke - even if you are as good in the air as Carroll is.

 

Relatively speaking a two-game "drought" is nothing, but sure a goal would pick up his confidence which is generally a good thing for a striker

 

Well the problem with that is that he still isn't very good with the ball at his feet; he always takes a little too long to get the ball under control, which allows defenders to nip it off him.

 

Carroll has improved quite a bit but its still a bit too early in his career for us to rely on him for goals. Our other strikers aren't great, but perhaps Xisco should get a shot in his preferred position.

[Guest Howaythetoon]

I still fail to see anything that suggests he's going to be anything other than an extremely limited/average centre-forward. He was shocking against Stoke I thought.

[Guest palnese]

I still fail to see anything that suggests he's going to be anything other than an extremely limited/average centre-forward. He was shocking against Stoke I thought.

 

He had no support for 90 minutes though,

[Elliottman]

I still fail to see anything that suggests he's going to be anything other than an extremely limited/average centre-forward. He was shocking against Stoke I thought.

 

shocking?? very harsh.

[joeyt]

Radio Newcastle's phone in is speculating that he's going to not be included in the U21 squad, because he's going to be called up to the full squad

[ponsaelius]

He'd be so much better with a proper strike partner.

[johnnypd]

He'd be so much better with a proper strike partner.

 

like last season. best stuff from him came with a strike partner like lovenkrands who made runs and opened up space. he can't do it all by himself and certainly not with a Nolan type behind him.

[Ronaldo]

Time will tell. He isn't a top striker yet but I've been very impressed with him since around February, and he hasn't looked out of his depth in the big league whatsover. Needs legs and intelligence around him to be fully effective in our new system.

[Dave]

Not picked for the U21s.