Andy Carroll Back To Being "The Beast"

At Liverpool, Andy Carroll had to adapt his playing style. Then again, at Newcastle, Dalglish had been favoring a classic no. 9 already so the signing of Carroll for Liverpool should not surprise many last year. What was more disappointing was the lack of service for Carroll especially when Dalglish also bought Downing and Enrique to lay bombs on Carroll's head. For me, Carroll was not a flop at Liverpool, the supporting cast of Downing and Enrique let him down badly.

The move to West Ham, where Sam Allardyce plays the football that Andy craves, could not come at an opportune time. Andy Carroll scored arguably the best goal in the Euros and he proved that when it comes to heading the ball, he has no peers in the Premier League.

It may still be early days but Carroll looked to be back to his best, terrorising opposing defenders with his body strength and target man abilities. Against Arsenal, he towered over Arsene's defenders, winning 17 aerial duels against the experienced Per Mertesacker and Vermaelen. Carroll also created four chances for his team while completing 13 successful passes in Arsenal's penalty area. That's astounding numbers, and it shows that in the right team, Big Andy is a major force.

The numbers continue to stagger. At DW Stadium, Carroll won 14 out of 16 aerial duels against Wigan, an astounding 88% rate. However, the bad side of Andy showed up as well when he failed to control a simple ball over the top which could easily have been a goal. So although he is still short of match sharpness, the move to West Ham has allowed Carroll to dominate in the penalty box as he did when in Newcastle.

Suffice to say, "The Beast" is back and Premier League defenders had better watch out!