No More Excuses For Andy Carroll
One down, one to go. I am of course talking about Andy Carroll's court case, not matches against West Ham this season, but it is about time Newcastle's number nine started doing more of what we saw at the weekend and less of what we have heard about in court rooms this week.
I have said it before and I will say it again. Carroll is an excellent prospect, but he is far from the finished article and he needs to grow up before he comes anywhere near fulfilling his potential.
I don't think that is harsh. If Carroll doesn't sort out what is going on in his head when he is away from the football club then the football club will never get to see the best of him.
Chris Hughton has stood by him like a protective father throughout, despite a rap sheet which is worryingly long in an alarmingly short space of time. And the club has backed his judgement. They cannot continue to do so
By my reckoning, he has had two punch ups with teammates, one with Charles N'Zogbia which moved from the training pitch, to the changing rooms to the car park, and another which left Steve Taylor with a fractured jaw.
And then we have three separate brushes with the law, one of which saw him plead guilty for common assault at Newcastle Crown Court this week.
That is some going for a 21-year-old who has only been playing regular first team football for the last two years and should be enough for the young man to hang his head in shame.
Even the various members of Newcastle United's so-called Brat Pack - and it was interesting to hear Kieron Dyer's thoughts on Carroll last week - under Sir Bobby Robson never went that far.
To put it bluntly, and Hughton has tried to do that in his last two press conferences, it has to stop. Carroll has to learn from his mistakes, not continuously ask others to find excuses for them.
If he can do that - and others players have managed to in the past - then Newcastle have a real footballer on their hands. If he can't all they have is unwanted publicity and trouble on their hands.
It was great to see Carroll end the week among the goals at West Ham, although it was his all round performance which screamed giving something back to his manager and his teammates.
He hadn't played that well for weeks. He was a constant problem for the Hammers defenders, but ultimately it is his goals return upon which he will be judged as a Premier League centre forward and five in nine is decent by anyone's standards.
He wasn't the only stand out player at Upton Park. Cheik Tiote was immense in the centre of midfield, erasing memories of that dreadful performance against Wigan and once again suggested United have a star on their hands.
Jonas Gutierrez was as busy as ever, Kevin Nolan a calming influence either side of his goal, Shola Ameobi worked well alongside Carroll and Fabricio Coloccini looked superb at the back.
It was a victory which means Newcastle are in the top half of the table and on schedule in terms of the points they would have expected to be on given the games they have played.
Now all they need to do is get the home form sorted. Back-to-back victories over Arsenal and Sunderland will do them nicely.
It already has the makings of a classic Tyne-Wear derby because, for me, the Black Cats start as favourites on enemy soil!
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Luke Edwards - is Chief Sports Writer of The Journal and uses his blog to give a unique and entertaining insight into events at Newcastle United and Sunderland.
andy Carroll is a tw&t
football is killing football - we are destroying the players by making them multi-millionaires before they can handle a drink, ok give them the money but is there any reason the bulk of it can't be held in a bank until they've retired at 30+?! if its not chaos on the tiles its injuries they never fully recover from, the pressure is simply too much for them... AC needs hekp asap!
Andy is certainly a tuneless Carroll! The lad is a thug pure and simple and there can be no doubting that the only reason Hughton puts up with him is that the battering ram approach seems like the only thing Newcastle have in their locker at present. It surely cannot be long before Carroll assaults and seriously injures a player during a game. The only question is when he does whether the player he attacks will be a teammate or an opponent. My prediction is that the toxic wonder child will play next in prison stripes and not with three lions on his shirt.
"It surely cannot be long before Carroll assaults and seriously injures a player during a game."
That's not even a bookable offence in The Greatest League in the World.
M Sebastian T said "It surely cannot be long before Carroll assaults and seriously injures a player during a game"
I'm no fan of Carroll's off-field antics but to suggest the above is utter fantasy nonsense, if anything he too placid on the pitch. I can remember a recent No 9 however who did assault a player on the pitch, watch MOTD if you're not sure who he was....