Carew: I could leave Villa

[hawkeye]

Agree i dont think he has ever recovered his fitness since the back problem,  he had some great moments but never a great season unplayable to unwatchable time to go

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

Overall he has been good but I dont ever feel he will ever get back to that spell of being virtually unplayable.
In fact I find it all rather frustrating. He can be winning every ball in the air but there is no end product from it. Is this because his flick ons arent good enough or because the players around him arent taking advantage ? Perhaps he needs a Gary Shaw playing off him (easier said that done).
His most productive work these days seem to be when he just keeps driving on into the area with the ball and defenders are unable to disposses him or they panic and bring him down.
In the MON era, games could finish up being chased throwing long balls forward to Carew, he would win them but we would most likely as not lose possession.
Against Spurs, even with the enforced change to Carew, those long balls became no more prevalent and we tried to keep playing through on the floor. Carews style completely unsuited to the way Houllier will want us to play, or can he adapt his game at this stage in his career to suit ?

[JJ-AV]

Love him but he's gotta go. He's on gigantic wages and we need a new centre forward so it's the logical thing to let him go on a free.

Plus he's never been consistant anywhere, and it's only gonna get worse as he gets further into his 30's.

I just don't want him to sign for another English club.

[Dave Cooper please]

Surprised he's lasted this long to be honest, must be a record for him.

[PeterWithe]

Even when he's having an off day he has still looked like one of our biggest goal threats. Its a shame that he is not more consistant and his games where he is unplayable seem to get further and further apart but lets face it, if he were more consistant he would have been transferred to one of the biggest clubs in Europe a long time ago.

I just hope we dont sell him to another English club.

[dishy]

never liked him, lazy journeyman, he can trap a ball further than i can kick it, here's hoping we don't keep going down the big lump up front route, we need nippy forwards to play a better brand of football  UTV

[Michel Sibble]

Jeez, some new manager comes in, someone who knows what he's like and he's talking about moving on?

How about knuckling down and proving him how wrong he was to sell him in the first place?

FFS.

[Bottom Right 89]

never liked him, lazy journeyman, he can trap a ball further than i can kick it, here's hoping we don't keep going down the big lump up front route, we need nippy forwards to play a better brand of football  UTV

Staggering

[KevinGage]

not sure how many times hs's played when totally match fit, not many times in the last couple of years is my guess. I have bagged him but just wonder whether fitness has been a problam for quite a while.

It has been.

The back in injury he had diagnosed in 2008 was potentially career ending. Before then he was a robust CF, giving defenders a torrid time even if he wasn't scoring. Going to war isn't really an option for him anymore and he's had to change his game accordingly.

Kevin Mac also said he'd been struggling at the start of the season, so for those who don't think he can be bothered it says a lot about him that he's trying to play through the pain barrier.

He's probably the best finisher at the club (not hard admittedly) and tries to time his runs into the box more now, ghosting in and creating havoc that way. Rather than tenderising CB's for 90 minutes. But yes, when the former doesn't work he doesn't look like he's doing much else.

But he's still capable of creating something out of nothing and had a good second half to the last campaign. Whilst he's with us he can be an asset, it just seems that his good games are becoming further and further spread out.

[gervilla]

When he's up for it he is superb but when he isn't he's about as useful as Heskey ( Pre GHs arrival). Id still be sad to see him go because we know he can do it.  He was dynamite in the second half of last season. We need that now.

[PaulMcGrathsNo5Shirt]

He used to have one game in 3/4 where he was pretty much unplayable, he now has one game in what 7/8 where he is useful?

For what we're paying him and for where we want to be he isn't good enough.

[brontebilly]

our top scorer the past three seasons and that is with injury problems and MON playing Heskey ahead of him stupidly at times - Carling Cup final anyone. Sure he has his fault but he always ends his seasons well and his starts to goals ratio is decent. The goal for Norway midweek might get him going again, he is a very streaky goalscorer. Long term we need to replace him but he might still have a good season and get 12 or so goals. Great business swapping Baros for him in any case.

[eamonn]

Caught his goal for Norway the other night, lovely bit of play from the big man. He can only play once a week, when he does he's got to make it worthwhile to Villa. He'll be here til the end of the season anyway and I don't think Heskey can be relied upon yet so Carew still has a job to finish here.

[UsualSuspect]

Must admit i am bit suprised by peoples love affair with Carew.

perhaps they could explain when it became okay for a Villa player not to try and really give a toss? - as per the games he has played this season

[Phil from the upper holte]

Must admit i am bit suprised by peoples love affair with Carew.

perhaps they could explain when it became okay for a Villa player not to try and really give a toss? - as per the games he has played this season

With the greatest of respect that's bollocks, how can you say he doesn't give a toss? For example he was critisized after West Ham but other than score he was excellent, admittidly he wasn't the best against Newcastle but were any of them? As Kev Mac said he has been carrying an injury. I find it staggering the way people are turnng on a good servant for the club he has been worth his weight in gold