THERE will undoubtedly be plenty of eyes on Andy Carroll this Friday, as Liverpool take on Newcastle United at Anfield.

And what a difference a year has made to Andy.

Twelve months ago, he was in the form of his life. His mere name on the teamsheet was enough to terrorise defenders, and his reputation was growing with every passing game. It was his form for Newcastle which brought about his £35m move to Liverpool last January but, almost a year on, he is still waiting for his career to really take off on Merseyside.

Against Blackburn on Boxing Day, nothing went his way. Mark Bunn made two or three really good saves, and he sent a good headed chance wide.

It was, in a way, the story of his Liverpool career so far.

The fact that Newcastle seem to have gone from strength to strength since he left won’t help. They have found a new goalscoring hero in the prolific Demba Ba, and Alan Pardew has got them into a really good position at the halfway stage of the season.

I’m sure their supporters will give Carroll a tough time on Friday night, just as they did back in April, but the truth is that they still love him, and would take him back at the Sports Direct Arena in a heartbeat if they could.

And anyway, it is not them who he needs to convince.

I did Match of the Day on Boxing Day with Alan Shearer, and I said that, to me, he just didn’t seem to have that same sort of mean streak which he had when at Newcastle. At Newcastle he would go barreling into defenders and make his presence felt; he seems to have lost a little bit of that at Liverpool.

Is he starting to think “I’ve made it now”?