OPINION
Stephen Warnock handed Newcastle United attacker Andy Carroll some spot-on advice when discussing the Magpies’ struggle for goals.
Newcastle have managed to score just four goals in their opening six leagues games, and no Magpies player has individually scored more than one goal this season so far.
The Sky Sports pundit was asked whether the 30-year-old could make a difference for Steve Bruce’s side and he implied that the forward could, depending on how long he could stay fit.
Warnock advised Carroll to not rush himself back to fitness just because of being emotionally connected to the Magpies and being worried about their performances, as there are still plenty of games left to play.
“Depends how long they keep him fit for,” said Warnock on Football Centre (11:22am, Sky Sports News, Monday, September 23rd).
“That’s the key thing with Andy as we all know the qualities he has, the presence he brings to the team and from a defender’s point of view, you change your mentality when a player like that comes on.
“As you’re thinking, where is he? What is he doing? Suddenly you take your eye off someone else and he starts to free up other players.
“The big thing for Andy is making sure he isn’t rushing himself and that he is fully fit as emotionally you don’t want to get carried away, it’s my hometown club, the team’s not performing at the level we think it should be and he gets carried away as he feels he needs to get back quicker and quicker.
“There’s plenty of games to play.”
Seeing as Carroll seemed genuinely moved by the reaction his cameo appearance in the 0-0 draw with Brighton got from the Newcastle faithful based on his Instagram post, it’s easy to imagine him pushing himself as hard as possible to be fit and potentially featuring when not at 100%.
The 30-year-old has had a terrible time with injuries during his career as not only does his injury record cover two pages on Transfermarkt, he has had nine separate injury problems that have seen him rooted to the sidelines for over 100 days.
Given that similar problems seem to crop up for Carroll, he has had numerous knee, groin and ankle issues, then playing him when he is not 100% could easily see a fresh injury develop.
Also when the forward isn’t 100%, he loses his impact.
The 30-year-old looked off-the-pace in his 12 league outings for West Ham last season and as a result, he failed to register a goal or an assist in his outings, with him instead picking up two yellow cards to show for his efforts.
Despite his terrible form in 2018/19, given Warnock is right to suggest Carroll’s physical presence throws defenders off and due to the attacker being Premier League proven having scored 53 goals in the division then it’s easy to see why he could be the man to score goals for Steve Bruce’s side this season. (Source: Premier League)
Only Carroll can truly know when he’s 100% fit, and you feel that if he really wants to help Newcastle’s cause this season then he has to heed Warnock’s advice and listen to his body, no matter if the Magpies continue to struggle.
