Former Liverpool player, John Barnes believes that Andy Carroll and Jordan Henderson have failed to meet the expectations of the club and blamed lack of first team experience on the duo’s failure.
The former midfielder, who capped 403 appearances for the Merseyside team mentioned that http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Liverpool-c39809 were guilty of signing unproven talent and rushed into buying the two players in 2011.
“Not just [at] Liverpool, it seems these days you have one season and all of a sudden you're catapulted into a big team and they have to spend big money on you,” he told.
Carroll was signed by Liverpool from Newcastle United for a club record fee of 35 million pounds in January 2011. So far in his 42 appearances for the club, the former Magpies player has only managed to score eight times for the Reds.
Henderson, on the other hand, arrived at Anfield from Sunderland in June for a 20 million pound fee. However, like Carroll, the player from http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/England-c749 has failed to make a mark for the Reds in his 37 appearances.
Barnes pointed out that Liverpool’s cup form cannot be kept as a measure of team’s progress in the current season. He stressed the need for the Reds to improve their league form as a league title is the real arbitrator of a club’s progression.
“The mark of a good side is winning the league. You can win the cup because you've played five games and, depending on who you draw, you can get an easy draw,"
Barnes also criticized the Reds for relying too much on skipper http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Chelsea-c38786, Liverpool’s reliance has now shifted on Luis Suarez instead.
He questioned the wisdom of the club, spending lavishly on the duo, even though the players had not proven their consistency yet. He admitted that Carroll had a successful year at the Tyneside but a club cannot go on to spend a voluminous amount on a single
year performance.
He highlighted that he himself had played for six years for Watford before his move to Anfield. He also put forward the example of Peter Beardsley and mentioned that the former Reds player had played for five years in Newcastle before he was signed by Liverpool.
“Andy Carroll's had one year at Newcastle [and] http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Jordan-Henderson-c19102, one year at Sunderland, are unproven. We don't know whether they'll be consistent. Hopefully in the future they will be consistent”
Liverpool will visit Saint James Park on Sunday to play a Premier League match against the Magpies. The trip to Tyneside will be Carroll’s first for the Reds against his former club.
Tags: