As I said to my scouse mate Dekko last night , however it is achieved, a win only ever shows as a win in the record books.
I know that he was - as I'm sure many of you were too - a bit disappointed in the way the side played yesterday but it needs to be remembered that there was the enormous pressure of EXPECTATION on the team to win it - and in style.
That in my experience always mitigates against the delivery of any such performance especially when you are facing lower league opposition who have no such pressures on them and then have the bloody cheek to go and score!!
I watched the first half at the airport and it seemed to be just such a match. There was a lot of possession and ball dominance but with very little evidence of anyone believing enough in themselves to turn that dominance into something that counted on the electronic scoreboard.
I am sorry to have to say it folks - and I acknowledge my comment is based only the action of the first half so could be wildly inaccurate - but Carroll doesn't convince me that he believes himself to be worth his Liverpool shirt. I saw defenders anticpating - AND getting themselves into - more threatening opponent's space than he was doing. As I say, I had to get on the plane before the second half kicked off so I didn't see any more of the game. I can only imagine he must have improved greatly in the second half, seeing as Kenny kept him on the park well into extra time before swapping him for Kuyt.
I've never held the opinion like some do where they shout the odds about how much money any player has cost etc - none of it's the player's fault as to what was or wasn't paid to secure their services. Someone at the club needs to tell Carroll this - because it looks like the weight of the world is on his shoulders at times.
There were also worrying signs in his body language and even more concerning, in that of some of his team-mates that his attitude out on the park was starting to piss one or two of his team-mates off. I think he needs to convince both himself - and some of them - that he "belongs" if his career at LFC is to be sustainable.
I'm looking for any views that tell me that his 2nd half performance was worthy of him wearing the shirt ....so over to you....
