Phil McNulty: Would Liverpool be making a mistake to let Carroll go?

Andy Carroll may have thought he had finally got his feet under the table at Liverpool after ending last season with the sort of flourish that suggested he had settled to life on Merseyside.

No-one could claim the 23-year-old had even come close to justifying the exorbitant £35m fee Liverpool handed over to Newcastle United in January 2011 as part of the proceeds from Fernando Torres's £50m sale to Chelsea.

There were some vital signs, however, of the return of the form that prompted former manager Kenny Dalglish to make the giant Geordie his prime target once Torres had taken his talents to Stamford Bridge.