Carroll set to star for Reds

Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish is delighted with striker Andy Carroll’s return to full fitness and has tipped him to star this season.

The former Newcastle United player, signed in January following the departure of Fernando Torres, was quick to impress the Liverpool faithful; however, injury hampered the end of his season.

Now, Carroll looks to have benefited from the summer break and has returned to full match fitness, according to Dalglish.

The Reds manager commented on the striker’s return in LFC magazine, stating: “Andy’s injury meant he was only able to train at 100 per cent on rare occasions last season.”

“He even played in some games when we knew he wasn’t going to be at his best.”

“Now he is fully over that knock and has been able to do a lot more on the training field in pre-season.”

“That’s showed in the games he has played over the last few weeks. He’s fitter and scoring some goals.”

Dalglish’s men begin their Premier League campaign at home to Sunderland on Saturday having recently defeated Valencia in a home friendly over the weekend.

The friendly provided Stewart Downing, Charlie Adam and Jordan Henderson with their first taste of home football at Anfield, which Dalglish thinks they will have gained a lot from.

He explained: “It was good for Jordan, Charlie and Stewart to get a run out at Anfield prior to the real action starting this weekend. That will benefit them all.”

“We wanted to improve the squad this summer and we think we’ve done that by bringing in the individuals we have.”

“We want to compete at the highest level possible and we feel those players can help us do that.”

Commenting on their first match of the season, Dalglsih was wary of the Black Cats, stating: “It will be a difficult fixture.”

“There’s been a major turnaround of players there over the summer.”

“We’ll need to do a bit of revision and see which players Steve has brought in and let go. Their team will be very different to the one we faced back in March.”