Carroll goes from flop to Liverpool 'icon'

Liverpool's  most expensive player Andy Carroll seems to have finally turned the corner since his £35 million move from Newcastle a year ago.

The gangly pony-tailed striker was in his element in Liverpool's 6-1 rout of Brighton in the FA Cup to the delight of skipper Steven Gerrard and manager Kenny Dalglish.

Gerrard believes he is continuously developing a better understanding with Carroll who got on the scoresheet and provide an assist for a strike partner Luis Suarez who missed a penalty earlier.

"(Carroll) has been getting better and better in training and he was our man of the match today," said Gerrard.

"We believe that the more we play together, the more we'll click. We're all good players and good players like playing with other good players. We're all on the same wavelength now."
 
Carroll put the visiting defence under pressure all afternoon and the striker said: "Every goal feels good, but it couldn't get any better today with the result as well and now we're through to the next round.
 
"We haven't played many games all together, but we've been playing well in training and we put it into the game today."

Gerrard believes their performance shows they can get better for the rest of the season with all of their top players available as they eye the League Cup final next Sunday.

"It's always nice to first of all get the win and then to win convincingly," he told ESPN. "In the end we went through the gears and got better and better as the 90 minutes went on and we deserved our goals.
 
"The important thing was to focus on this game. The Carling Cup final was in our minds, because we have a massive game at Wembley next week, but we want to go to Wembley again in the FA Cup so today was just as important."

Dalglish acknowledges Liverpool will benefit from the 'iconic' Gerrard, Suarez and Carroll combination, after starting a game together for the first time at Anfield.

Dalglish said: "The three of them are fantastic footballers and they played really well today.
 
"The more any team gets iconic players like they are on the pitch, the better chance they have of being successful.
 
"But we have got more than three players.
 
"The fact we have done as well as we have and that was the first time the three of them have started a match tells you how well the other boys have done.
 
"We will stand and be counted as a squad and I don't think we have done too badly this year."

Liverpool will look to secure their first trophy since 2006 when they take on Cardiff in the League Cup final at Wembley next Sunday.

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.