KOP News # 1059

Kenny Dalglish: Andy Carroll does not deserve abuse from Newcastle fans

• Striker returns to St James' Park for first time since move
• Carroll was barracked by Newcastle fans at Anfield

Andy Carroll returns to St James' Park on Sunday. He has yet to win a regular place in the first team at Liverpool. Photograph: Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images

Kenny Dalglish has said Newcastle United supporters have no reason to abuse Andy Carroll when the striker returns to St James' Park on Sunday for the first time since his £35m move to Liverpool.

Carroll has been barracked on two previous appearances against his former club, both times at Anfield, and admitted this week to feeling nervous ahead of the return to Tyneside. Dalglish, however, says it was Newcastle's decision to sell their homegrown striker and that the record fee they received for a British player has helped improve their team under Alan Pardew. As a result, the Liverpool and former Newcastle manager claims, Carroll is undeserving of any criticism.

Dalglish said: "I'm not sure Andy will get abuse because what happened was outside his control. It's up to them what they want to do. They pay their entrance money and, if they want to give him stick, they will give him stick. But I don't think he ever did anything other than give of his best for Newcastle, and then they got £35m into the bargain as well. That's not bad, is it?

"I think Andy will be excited about going back. It's the club he supported as a boy, the club that introduced him and gave him his chance in professional football. So I think he will be excited about it as a local boy and will be looking forward to the game. José Enrique had a few years up there too, and he will be looking forward to it as well."

Newcastle are eight points above Liverpool in the Premier League with Carroll still to secure a regular first-team place under Dalglish or show why the Anfield club paid what they did for his services. Yet Dalglish denies Newcastle got the better of the deal in January 2011. He said: "I'm sure whatever we say about whatever Andy has done, opinion will always be split. There are always going to be people saying it was good or bad. But that doesn't make any difference really. For me we were delighted to get him and we're still very pleased to have him."

Liverpool head for St James' on the back of a dreadful sequence of five defeats in six league games. Of the past seven matches that Carroll has started, Liverpool have won six and drawn one. In the last seven games Liverpool have started without Carroll, they have lost five and drawn two. Dalglish is unconvinced.

"Stats are there for everyone to twist and turn whatever way they want to," he said. "For me it's not about any one individual, it's about ourselves as a squad and what the squad has done to get results. I won't sit and analyse everyone's stats to see where they come out at the end. If you're looking for someone with good stats, the most impressive is Maxi [Rodríguez] when he's started the games."

Liverpool and Everton, meanwhile, are still awaiting a decision from the Football Association on the kick-off time for their FA Cup semi-final on 14 April. Dalglish says his team's focus will not drift towards the Merseyside derby during the three league games that precede the meeting at Wembley and is happy to accept David Moyes's argument that Liverpool are favourites to progress.

He said: "I suppose somebody has got to be favourite, haven't they? Moyesy doesn't want to be favourites – that doesn't make any difference to us. We'll take it. It doesn't matter what the odds are. All that matters is what happens on the day. It is not a distraction for us. We've just got to concentrate on Newcastle. We cannot get carried away with ourselves."