Former Republic of Ireland international Clinton Morrison has raved over the aerial ability of Newcastle United striker Andy Carroll.
There has been a debate recently about whether the art of goalscoring headers is slowly dying, but Sky Sports pundit Morrison believes Carroll is hanging in there in regards to that particular trait.
“That’s where as a defender, fair play to centre halves, you’ve got to be strong enough to go and head that ball and attack it,” he told talkSPORT [16/10; 11:42].
“Because big Andy Carroll’s coming. He’ll take everything into the back of the net – he’ll take you with it. To score goals you have to be brave, to score headed goals, and he is brave.”
OPINION
There’s no doubt that Carroll is one of the premier attackers in modern day football when it comes to scoring headed goals. It’s true that we don’t see as many headers scored in the Premier League as we used to, but Carroll is one of those players who still contributes regularly – when he’s fit, at least. The official Premier League website provides statistics on the top headed goalscorers in top flight history, with Carroll coming in fourth all time. The England international has managed to smash 24 strikes off his noggin in English football’s top division, a tally bettered only by Crystal Palace man Christian Benteke, Chelsea star Olivier Giroud, and recently-retired beanpole Peter Crouch. The latter is out in the clear with his tally of 40 headed goals, whereas Giroud is 10 behind on 30. Carroll shouldn’t be too worried about his current ranking, with the next highest-ranked current Premier League player being Harry Kane down in 11th. However, his 18 headed goals suggests he should probably catch up with the Magpies star’s 24 at some point over the next few years.
