5 Reasons Andy Carroll Deserves to Start.

Andy Carroll has been under fire for his performances all year. People say he doesn’t warrant a starting spot and needs to wait on the bench. I’m attempting to prove that Liverpool are better off with the big man in the starting XI than with him warming the bench.

He has a rocket of a left foot.

Think back, think way back to December 11, 2010. Anyone remember what happened that day? Newcastle 3-1 Liverpool. Anyone remember the left-footed drive Carroll rocketed from around 25 yards out past Reina to seal the deal at St. James Park? How about his goal for England on March 29, 2011? Carroll smashed a ball into his favorite corner again, finally beating Ghana’s keeper for the first and England’s only time that match. Every Reds fan remember the match against Manchester City last year when we silenced the City fans. Carroll scored two goals; one was a beauty from outside the box, low and to Hart’s right side, unstoppable. Carroll scored the only goal with his head for Liverpool that match also. Maybe we’re playing him wrong and he needs to be in a position where he can launch canons at the keeper instead of being used as a target man when we have Suarez.

He’s only 22.

Carroll is still young, despite the fact we share birthday’s (and he’s three years older), Andy Carroll has three caps and one goal for the English national team. If it wasn’t for his “drinking problem” he would probably have more appearances for the national team. Fabio Capello has said he likes Liverpool’s number 9, but isn’t going to call him up until he fixes his “drinking.” Kevin Keegan, the former Newcastle manager has said he is “probably in the top three headers of a ball I have ever seen in football”. After Newcastle played Blackpool last year, Ian Holloway called Carroll the best striker in the Premier League. He may have cost £35, but with so many good words, and so much time to develop, there is only room for improvement, and he can’t score goals if he’s not on the pitch.

He has a good work rate.

Even the Guardian is hating on Andy Carroll these days after they pretty much blamed Liverpool’s loss to Fulham on Carroll. Carroll has been full of movement every match he goes into and tries to prove the haters wrong every time he gets on the pitch. Despite the hate towards Carroll, he actually put in a decent showing. Against Fulham last night, he had eight tackles, more than anybody else for Liverpool. Carroll also completed 19 passes and had one of the best chances of the match, he just couldn’t finish it. Earlier in the year against West Bromwich, Carroll had one of his best matches. In this match he had 9 successful tackles, also the team leader, and grabbed a goal. Carroll has shown a willingness to go get the ball in the attacking half as you can see in the Guardian chalkboard showing Andy Carroll’s tackles against Fulham. These loses you can’t attribute to lack of effort by Andy Carroll.

He’s tied for our second highest league scorer.

This doesn’t sound very good for the players in the squad. Carroll’s goals against Everton and West Bromwich put him as second for Liverpool’s league scorers on the year. He is tied with Charlie Adam who also has two goals, but Adam has made six more starts. Sure Carroll is a striker and should be scoring more, but Adam is known for the chances he creates and the goals he scores. Carroll has showed that he has some technique after he had that cheeky toe-poke against West Brom and the quality finish from close against Everton in the derby. More matches will hopefully bring more goals from our number 9 since he seems to have a decent rate when stacked up against the other players’ goals per game.

We have more points when he’s on the pitch.

When Andy Carroll is in the starting XI, Liverpool brings 1.75 points off the pitch. When Andy Carroll is not in the starting XI, Liverpool only get 1.5 points per match (14 points in eight starts vs. 9 points in six matches without him). This number is hard to speak against as it is the most important of the numbers for Liverpool as a whole. Carroll was involved in the win at Everton, the Arsenal win, the West Brom win, Wolves win, and even the big loss to Tottenham. These points picked up in wins may not seem to be the most lucrative wins compared against the Chelsea win and the home draws against Manchester United and Manchester City. These picked up points have proved to be the hardest to pick up for Liverpool though, as he wasn’t in the starting XI against Norwich and the disappointing loss against Stoke.

Another interesting fact involving Carroll is that Suarez has all four of his league goals when Carroll is in the starting XI. This proves to be important also because Suarez has been consistently starting (only not starting against Arsenal where he scored when coming in for Carroll) and only see’s the back of the net when Carroll starts.

But how can Andy Carroll be effective?

Andy Carroll is described as a target man. When you’re 6′ 3″ (1.91m) and have a pony-tail that could scores goals if whipped hard enough, it’s not hard to see why. But what if we dropped him back, just a tad bit deeper behind Suarez. Don’t make him the lone man in the box receiving crosses, but play around him and use him for 1-2’s around the box. This can create chances for Suarez’s quickness and skill inside the box, spraying the ball out wide if he needs to, or dropping it back to another midfielder to try and create something. Carroll scores more goals with his left foot, so why not put him in a spot to let him hammer away. This position also gives him chances to knock down shorter balls to a faster striker or to himself so he can fire away. I’m no Dalglish, so my tactics aren’t good by any means, but with someone who tracks back, wins tackles and can score goals from distance, we have a player who can be effective against the best defenses if we play him behind another striker.

Please comment if you think I’m right or wrong, or if you have a different opinion.