KOP News # 1072

JOHN BARNES SAYS ANDY CARROLL WILL COME GOOD

 

John Barnes believes Liverpool must persevere with Andy Carroll rather than selling him

Wednesday April 4,2012

By Paul Joyce

JOHN BARNES believes Liverpool must persevere with Andy Carroll rather than look to offload the striker in the summer.

Anfield legend Barnes claims that Carroll's "inexperience" is largely behind his struggle to exert himself and argues that with the support of the club and fans he can still salvage his career on Merseyside.

His comments came on the day his old team-mate John Aldridge delivered a withering assessment of the problems facing Kenny Dalglish's side, calling them a "laughing stock".

Carroll's toils have become a distraction, his situation further inflamed by his reaction to being substituted against boyhood club Newcastle on Sunday when he told manager Dalglish to "f*** off".

Yet Barnes feels severing ties with the forward at the end of the season, and accepting a huge loss on the £35million he cost Liverpool, would be premature.

"I wouldn't sell Andy Carroll," said Barnes. "I would give him another season and see how he goes.

I wouldn't sell Andy Carroll

John Barnes

"The biggest factor with him is his inexperience. He is a young boy still and that leads to inconsistency.

"When I moved to Liverpool, I had played for six years at Watford and had 30 England caps to my name. Peter Beardsley had the same sort of experience, Ray Houghton was established and John Aldridge had scored a lot of goals at the top level. Andy has really only had one year in the Championship and half a season in the Premier League before Liverpool signed him.

"It is a similar situation with Jordan Henderson. Liverpool bought them for the next seven, eight, nine, 10 years, not just this season. They have great potential and can fulfil that with Liverpool."

Barnes does concede that Liverpool's performances in the league this season have been underwhelming – Sunday's loss was their sixth in seven – but says Dalglish will emerge from the storm engulfing his reign unscathed.

"I expected Liverpool to be in the top five. Not necessarily the top four, but the top five," he said.

"It has been very disappointing in the league. The team seems to be able to raise its game in the cup matches, beating Manchester United and Manchester City over two legs, but then is inconsistent over the course of a campaign."

Aldridge was less positive. "There is no getting away from the fact that Liverpool are now in a crisis," said Aldridge. "To lose six out of seven in the league is something the club won't ever tolerate, we can't tolerate that.

"To have picked up just eight points out of 36 since the turn of the year is shambolic – that's relegation form.

"The eyes of the world are on Liverpool and the critics are having a field day. We're becoming a laughing stock.

"We're all proud to be associated with the club and everything it has achieved over the years. But, at the moment, being a Liverpool fan is just embarrassing, and that's something I haven't had to say before."

Aldridge also demanded the club's players started to show more pride in their performances and justify their huge salaries.

Writing in his column in the Liverpool Echo, he said: "The team just seems to have lost their belief. You can blame the manager and the coaching staff but at the end of the day it comes down to the players.

"They are getting paid unbelievable amounts of money and aren't producing the goods."

John Barnes is supporting the Community Football Awards presented by McDonald's and launched last week. For further details please visit www.mcdonalds.co.uk/kickstart