OPINION
Sam Allardyce warned Newcastle United boss Steve Bruce about throwing Andy Carroll into first-team action before he is ready.
Carroll is yet to play for Newcastle since re-joining the club on deadline day due to him still recovering from the ankle surgery he had in April, and the Times reported that the player himself was hoping to return to action in September’s clash with Liverpool.
Alan Brazil suggested to Allardyce that with Newcastle currently lacking firepower upfront that Bruce could utilise Carroll before he is 100% fit.
Allardyce shared in his opinion that if Bruce uses the 30-year-old forward before he is ready to play, then it could end up being a dreadful mistake.
The Magpies boss then went into detail about how Carroll has to be careful and put the work in behind-the-scenes in order to get back to his best, due to the number of injuries and operations he has had in his career.
“That would be a dreadful mistake obviously due to the number of injuries and operations Andy has had now are considerable and he’s 30 now,” said Allardyce on talkSPORT (8:53am, August 20th).
“And it’s time for Andy to be, if he wants a career back at Newcastle, he needs to be the most professional he has ever been in his career while doing all the rehab work that needs to be done outside the training hours.
“That means early in on the morning, doing the strength and conditioning with the sport science lads, just being available for the Saturday and even the day-to-day training, he needs to make sure he is fit to be selected.
“And it will be a big decision by the sports scientists, the medical staff and the manager at Newcastle to try and keep Andy fit, as they have to tell him once he is fit and has played a few games that it’s not just a case of training and going home.
“It’s about doing all the rehabilitation, to make him as strong as possible so he avoids injuries.”
While Allardyce tries to warn Bruce off rushing Carroll back into action, surely the Magpies boss will struggle to heed his warning if his side continue to not be prolific in front of goal.
The Magpies have only managed one goal in their first two league games, Jonjo Shelvey scored just before the final whistle against Norwich on Saturday, and it’s not due to them not creating enough chances.
Newcastle created enough space to have nine shots on goal against Arsenal, as per the BBC, but only two hit the target and they managed to register plenty of shots against Norwich on Saturday as they had 12 efforts at goal, as per the BBC, but only four of those shots worked the keeper.
The Magpies’ new No.9 Joelinton understandably needs time to adjust to the Premier League, he is yet to score in his two outings, but Bruce’s other forward options won’t fill him with confidence either.
Miguel Almiron is still yet to score for the Magpies despite featuring 12 times, Dwight Gayle doesn’t have a great record in the Premier League having scored just 21 times in 99 outings and Yoshinori Muto has only managed one goal in 19 outings during his Newcastle career.
So when you consider Carroll is a proven force in the Premier League when fit, he has scored 53 goals in 211 outings in England’s top-flight, averaging 0.25 goals per match (Source: Premier League), then if there is even a chance he can play some minutes sooner than the clash with Liverpool, Bruce will surely feel like he is forced to turn to him.
