Kenny risks Liverpool future on Carroll

Nobody wears the ‘me against the world’ look better than Kenny Dalglish. And few managers stand as stoically behind their players – through the good, bad and the ugly. Especially through the bad and the ugly. However, Liverpool’s American owners and even the die-hard at Anfield will be watching carefully as Dalglish prepares for the FA Cup final and then next season. Every indication right now is he will still be there next season. Liverpool fans will not mind that. What they will be more worried is that King Kenny is insistent that his buys – the Kop-dividing Andy Carroll and Jordan Henderson will also be there. If one semifinal header is enough to justify more time for Carroll then by all means Kenny has it. However, if a season is to be weighed and all stats brought to bear, then Kenny needs to take a long-term view on whether Carroll has it to be a Liverpool forward who can power them to the title. Or, is Liverpool a cup team, like many footballing commentators in Britain have said now, with a shake of their heads. For the moment, Carroll is certainly a Cup forward. Kevin Keegan once described him as ‘the best header of a ball I’ve seen in 20 years’. Jamie Carragher has gone on to say that Carroll would now be a ‘hero for ever’. However, Carragher is given to hyperbole. He also compared the win over Everton to Liverpool’s Champions League victory in Istanbul. On the terraces of Anfield though, the view is more pragmatic. Si Kenny risking Liverpool’s future by sticking with the likes of Carroll and Henderson?