Today on reflection has still left me gutted but Carroll's Cameo shows one thing... he has the quality, he can act under pressure and the chances he may spurn are chances very few players in the world can get. Suarez might make his chances but Andy's chances are usually balls no other play can work with.
One team put faith in their targetman from the minute go (despite an ineffective performance at Newcastle) whilst we decided to leave our guy on the bench... and the targetmen were the difference.
I personally thought Carroll should have probably played but thats simply because I think Carroll is a better striker than Spearing was a midfielder and that with Lucas out and Gerrard out of sorts, we were never going to win the midfield battle against Chelsea. Therefore I felt Andy winning the balls in the air and holding it up for Suarez was a better option.
However, I understand where Kenny was coming from. The 3-0 against Norwich with 4-5-1 was a good enough trial run of the Gerrard-Suarez partnership to give it a go at Wembley. However, I think Kenny grossly underestimated the difference between Norwich and Chelsea's midfield.
Downing hid yet again, Spearing showed a severe lack of quality, Reina continued to have his worst season yet, Gerrard has shown is now not a keyplayer but a good first team player and Maxi was once against restricted to the bench with Kuyt, a big game player, playing a very small role in the proceedings.
However, Carroll was immense, Suarez was fantastic as usual despite being by himself up there and Kenny showed character in dropping Carragher for the game. We're a work in progress, our midfield is far too weak. A revamp in midfield and a third striker/flair player is what we need this summer.
