Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish has backed Andy Carroll to make an impact over the festive fixture list if he receives the opportunity to do so.

 

Carroll has featured only sporadically for the Reds this season, despite being brought in for a club-record £35M almost 12 months ago.

 

The striker landed at Anfield to replace Fernando Torres, who switched to Chelsea on the very same day. But the England international has found the going tough and Dalglish has often preferred to play free signing Craig Bellamy instead of the 22-year-old.

 

Dalglish though has been satisfied with Carroll’s commitment in training, which points to chances coming his way.

 

"Training well never does anybody any harm whatsoever, and if you are going to get an opportunity then the better you train, the more capable you are of taking that opportunity", the Liverpool boss told his club’s official website.

 

"As we have said before, everybody that is in this group of players have trained fantastically well and if they have been given an opportunity they have always taken it and if the big yin gets an opportunity I am sure he will take it with two hands", added Dalglish.

 

"I think what we have to remember also is seven new players it’s their first season and you would include Andy in that as well.

 

"He came in last season with an injury and never featured until the Manchester United game (in March), when he came on as a sub. So his career really only started in August there."

 

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