Has Andy Carroll surpassed your expectations?
Posted on November 29th, 2010 | 256 Comments |
Not only has his goalscoring been a massive help to Newcastle this term, but his all round work rate has also helped the cause on a number of occasions.
The improvement that Carroll has shown since last Christmas has been remarkable. Bear in mind that when we headed to Sheffield Wednesday on Boxing Day last season, Carroll had only scored four goals in total and had looked a bit ropey at times. He ended up with 19 goals for the season, and he hasn’t stopped scoring since, including nine Premier League goals so far this term.
His performances have also warranted international recognition, and he made his full England debut against France a couple of weeks back. England were outplayed and outclassed, but the effort Carroll put in wasn’t lost on the fans and he wandered off the pitch at Wembley on 72 minutes to a standing ovation.
It’s not just us fans who have seen the improvement in Carroll. Various managers, pundits and ex-professional players have also singled him out for praise. It would appear that we have a real gem of a player on our hands. There are still some rough edges to iron out, but it’s important to remember that the lad is just 21 years old and still has an awful lot of time on his side.
Chris Hughton has played a massive part in the development of Carroll, and the gaffer has had some good things to say about Big Andy;
“Andy doesn’t play with fear. He’s not fearful of any opposition or any individual – that’s how he is at the moment. When you are in a confident mood and you are scoring goals, that’s how it should be. You should look forward to every game. You should think that every game is an opportunity to play well and score.”
He added: “Going back to last season, he came up against some really tough, Championship-hardened centre-halves who at times physically got the better of him.”
“But his movement across defenders has improved, as has his general movement. I think he realises he is up against better players now and to get the better of them, his movement has got to be better. He is in really confident mood at the moment.”
I’ve yet to see a defender cope with Carroll for 90 minutes. At times he has been unplayable, like yesterday against Chelsea. He lost nothing in the air, and that wasn’t an isolated occurance.
Anyway, this article is beginning to get a bit ‘newsy’ so it’s time for a change of tact. The question is:
To me it is no real surprise that he is a handful for opposition defenders. A player that is as physical as Carroll and has the ability he has will always be a handful. Is his goalscoring a surprise to me? Not really as I said all along that he will score. I always backed him to make an impact in the Premier League, but he has still surpassed my expectations.
What has impressed me most about the striker is his work ethic and willingness to work for the team. How many times do we see Carroll back defending? How many times does he recieve the ball, keep it, then lay it off? He chases down and harries defenders. In short, he is a real asset to the team and is making himself irreplacable in my opinion.
The frightening thing is that he is still only 21, and still has room for improvement!
NUFCBlog Author: toonsy
toonsy has written 643 articles on this blog.
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