Skirge Posted December 29, 2011 Share Posted December 29, 2011 Newcastle have moved on but Liverpool's Andy Carroll pines for home Arguably Andy Carroll's biggest problem at Liverpool is that it is not Newcastle Liverpool's Andy Carroll is said to spend far too much free time travelling back to Tyneside. Photograph: Alex Morton/Action Images It is easy to imagine Andy Carroll driving alone in his car with I'm Coming Home Newcastle booming out of the sound system. Horribly sentimental, yet strangely haunting, the old Busker song, later covered by Lindisfarne, echoes around St James' Park in the preamble to kick-off at every Newcastle United home game. The following excerpts capture the tone of unashamedly cheesy lyrics penned for homesick Geordie exiles. "I'm coming home Newcastle, I might as well have been in jail, I'd walk the streets all day all night for a bottle of your own brown ale … I'm coming home Newcastle, if you never win the Cup again, I'll brave the dark at St James' Park on the Gallowgate End in the rain. I'm coming home Newcastle … I'll walk the streets all day all night for a bottle of the River Tyne. I wish I'd never been away. I'd kiss the ground for the welcome sound of my mother saying hinny howay." Forget the right foot often more suited to standing on than scoring with, the sometimes wayward positional sense, the frequent lack of subtle, clever, movement and the concerns about "refuelling", arguably Carroll's biggest problem at Liverpool is that it is not Newcastle. According to reliable sources, Anfield's underachieving centre-forward spends far too much free time travelling back to his beloved Tyneside, visiting family, friends and old haunts. Eleven months after a £35m deadline day transfer to Liverpool and a week before his 23rd birthday, the ties that bind Carroll so tightly to his Geordie roots have yet to loosen appreciably. It seems that a Newcastle team increasingly built around Yohan Cabaye's playmaking skills, a growing possession game and Demba Ba's goals have moved on much faster than their former local hero. While Carroll has been warming Liverpool's bench – and with Fabio Capello expressing disquiet about his off-field habits, as well as slipping out of England contention – Ba, a devout, teetotal Muslim has established himself as the Gallowgate End's new attacking darling. On Friday night at Anfield, Ba will attempt to add to extend a scoring streak in which the free transfer signing from West Ham has scored 14 goals in his past 13 Premier League games while Carroll is expected to replace the suspended Luis Suárez. While Kenny Dalglish's players may pine for the Uruguayan, Alan Pardew's team are not about to underestimate an old friend. Fabricio Coloccini and Mike Williamson, Newcastle's likely central defensive pairing, confronted the 6ft 3in Gateshead-born force of nature often enough in training to fear the undeniable brilliance of a powerfully incisive left foot not to mention that ferociously combative aerial ability. "At his best Andy is virtually unplayable," says Glenn Roeder, one of Carroll's former Newcastle managers. "I played him against John Terry and Sol Campbell in games with Chelsea and Portsmouth and neither could get near Andy in the air." Roeder found Carroll consistently receptive to training ground advice but believes he needs to work hard on improving his right foot, movement outside the box, possession retention and first touch. "If I were Andy I'd get DVDs of Michael Owen, look at his game outside the area and study how he does the simple things wonderfully well," Roeder says. If Liverpool's fluent passing style is mentally and technically more demanding of players than the broadly direct approach adopted by Newcastle during Carroll's brief period in the first XI, it would be very wrong to say he is incapable of rising to the challenge. A forward far better on the ground than generally given credit for possesses sufficient natural talent to successfully reinvent elements of his game. Dalglish, who persistently rebutts doubts about Carroll's lifestyle, has long maintained that the thigh and knee injury which have so disrupted his first year on Merseyside represent the principal reasons for a painfully slow burn start. Those who liken Carroll to Michael Ricketts – the former Bolton Wanderers striker who, a decade ago, briefly took Premier League defences by storm, won an England cap and then swiftly disappeared almost without trace – conveniently ignore a significant difference. While Ricketts concedes he fell out of love with football, Carroll's friends are vehement that, if a certain immaturity, homesickness and lack of match fitness have undeniably held him back, disinterest and disengagement are definitely not among the £35m man's problems. Perhaps a sometime England international who, despite registering 11 goals in 19 appearances for Newcastle early last season, had only been playing Premier League football for five months when he was bundled into Mike Ashley's Anfield bound helicopter is as much in need of regular first-team action as decent left wing crosses from Stewart Downing. Courtesy of the eight-game Football Association ban faced by Suárez in the wake of the Patrice Evra racial abuse case he now seems certain to be granted the former. The vogue joke on Merseyside may be: "News Alert: FA offer Carroll eight game first team run; Liverpool set to appeal" but it could yet morph into a serenade sung to the tune of Neil Diamond "Sweet Carroll-ine." http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2011/dec/29/andy-carroll-newcastle-liverpool?newsfeed=true Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
OzzieMandias Posted December 29, 2011 Share Posted December 29, 2011 The vogue joke on Merseyside ... "News Alert: FA offer Carroll eight game first team run; Liverpool set to appeal" Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sifu Posted December 29, 2011 Share Posted December 29, 2011 That article from the Guardian sounds like something HTT wrote many posts back. Roeder found Carroll consistently receptive to training ground advice but believes he needs to work hard on improving his right foot, movement outside the box, possession retention and first touch. "If I were Andy I'd get DVDs of Michael Owen, look at his game outside the area and study how he does the simple things wonderfully well," Roeder says. That would ruin Carroll further. "Michael Owen's How to Bottle it". Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cajun Posted December 29, 2011 Share Posted December 29, 2011 From the looks of it Andy Carroll has gotten hold of the wrong era of Owen DVDs. He is certainly 'playing' like him at the moment anyway. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest neesy111 Posted December 29, 2011 Share Posted December 29, 2011 The same Michael Owen that played 3 games of football under Glenn Roeder. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Venkman Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 I particularly like that he's completely made up the fact that Lindisfarne covered that tune. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LesPaul Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 Bastard is nailed on to have the best game of his career tonight. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest NobbyOhNobby Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 I particularly like that he's completely made up the fact that Lindisfarne covered that tune. Soooooopafan Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Venkman Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 I particularly like that he's completely made up the fact that Lindisfarne covered that tune. Soooooopafan Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fenham Mag Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 At least he had a fantastic game Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KaKa Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 Comical how bad/unfortunate he was. Crazy. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
David28 Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 Comical how bad/unfortunate he was. Crazy. It really was. One of the good things today. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 At least he had a fantastic game Aye, he was awful tbh. Should have had at least two. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dinho lad Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 His performance tonight reminds me of that horse gif. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Howaythetoon Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 He was kind of awful If only we spent some of that 35m on our weak areas... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Optimistic Nut Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 That touch when Gerrard(?) put him through pretty much summed up his 12 months. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mouldy_uk Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 His performance tonight reminds me of that horse gif. Think I know the one you mean, someone needs to find it and post it Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ObiChrisKenobi Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 Did a Chopra. Or as it will now be known as a 'Carroll'. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
toontownman Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 Hilarious tonight, but at least "he got an assist". Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 http://i.imgur.com/r8GvJ.gif Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Optimistic Nut Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 1 nil up, 3 1 down, Andy Carroll's still a clown. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bluegeordie Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 Didn't think I'd be laughing this soon after that performance, but that GIF is hilarious! Cheers Dave. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frazzle Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 Every part of his game looks worse than when he was with us. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disco Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 Thought he did alright tonight personally but I'll whisper that quietly. The Sky sickathon was pretty shameful though. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TBG Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 That touch when Gerrard(?) put him through pretty much summed up his 12 months. Learnt that one from Shola. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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