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The pair have combined well in recent matches and leave Kenny Dalglish with a big decision to make when Luis Suárez returns

The beauty of being a defender is that you are in control of the space. In an otherwise reactive role – you respond to the opposition’s moves and try to break up them – the offside rule means you can keep the striker as far away from goal as you like, providing the ball isn’t behind you, of course.

Last week’s column discussed the merits of Jonny Evans and Chris Smalling as a partnership following their largely impressive display against Robin van Persie at the Emirates Stadium. Sir Alex Ferguson was evidently convinced by their performance as he retained the combination despite the availability of Rio Ferdinand for last Saturday’s FA Cup tie against Liverpool at Anfield. This was a completely different test for the duo; Van Persie drops deep and becomes involved in build-up play while Andy Carroll wants to challenge for crosses in the air.

Kenny Dalglish might have used Carroll to exploit United’s potential aerial weakness. He had other options – in the absence of Luis Suárez, the Liverpool manager has used both Dirk Kuyt and Craig Bellamy as a lone striker. Granted, Bellamy’s fitness precludes him from playing frequently and Kuyt has been having a poor season in front of goal, so stylistic concerns were far from the only reason for Carroll’s selection, but his physicality made the decision easier.

However, playing Carroll with no partner played into the hands of Evans and Smalling. To oversimplify things, if a defence is up against a quick striker they defend deep to prevent him using pace in behind, if they’re up against an aerial threat they defend high up to prevent him getting the end of crosses. By playing Carroll up front alone – and hardly a great amount of forward thrust from the flanks in Stewart Downing and Maxi Rodríguez – it made Evans and Smalling’s decision easy. They pushed up, stuck tight to Carroll, and he was ineffective; winning headers 40 yards from goal with no runners is not particularly useful.

Incidentally, it’s worth mentioning that Carroll does have the potential to be more of an all-rounder, offering pace as well as height. Last season for Newcastle, when defenders worked out Carroll was predominantly an aerial force, he often surprised them with his quickness across the ground – he was more akin to the quick, mobile Alan Shearer in his Blackburn days than the penalty-box specialist Shearer became in his thirties. There is no obvious solution to defending against a player who offers both qualities, which makes a player like Didier Drogba positionally as well as physically difficult. Carroll’s fitness problems have meant his threat on the ground has been minimal, but already he looks fitter and leaner than a couple of months ago.

Presently he’s purely an aerial threat, and while quiet for long periods, he noticeably improved after Dalglish turned to the bench at the weekend. Then, Liverpool had two wingers on their natural sides, rather than the right-footed Rodríguez on the left and the left-footed Downing on the right. Downing moved to the left and Kuyt to the right and Liverpool quickly looked more suited to Carroll. Both wide men sent a couple of crosses in, with varying success.

But it was Bellamy’s introduction that provided the mobility to complement Carroll’s aerial threat. The Welshman often played behind Carroll, but also made runs past him, scaring the United defence with the pace he, perhaps surprisingly, retains at the age of 32. Immediately, Evans and Smalling looked more nervous, their positioning was less assured. Liverpool’s dominance of possession clearly contributed to the pressure, but the United centre-backs seemed to drop deeper after Bellamy’s introduction and Carroll could inch closer to his natural habitat, the penalty box.

The winner was interesting. United started off defending high up the pitch for José Reina’s goal-kick (so no offside, despite Carroll and Kuyt being in an offside position) but then immediately dropped deep. Smalling needed to get into a covering position when Evans went for the header but retreated a whole 15 yards from his starting position, possibly to give himself a couple of yards head-start on Bellamy. As it happened, it was Kuyt who found himself on the end of the flick-on – primarily because of Patrice Evra’s poor positioning, but helped by the fact Smalling was so deep, and therefore playing Kuyt onside. Subtly, it was the combination of height and pace that put Liverpool through.

The previous weekend, a Carroll flick-on had also resulted in a goal. Bolton were defending high and the classic big man-little man combination saw Bellamy springing onto Carroll’s header to score. These two seem an ideal combination and have a more natural understanding than either has with Suárez.

Suárez’s imminent returns means the Bellamy-Carroll partnership is unlikely to enjoy much more time together. Suárez is the main man at Liverpool and there’s every chance that his mid-season break

Part one of the Observer fans’ network’s review of the 2011-12 season so far

ARSENAL: 6/10

Bernard Azulay, GoonersDiary.blogspot.com It feels as if the mettle we’ve displayed in our recent run of form was forged in the debacle of the opening weeks of our campaign, when we struggled to cope with the departures of Fábregas and Nasri, together with the absence of Vermaelen and Wilshere. We may remain only one hamstring away from disaster in respect of Van Persie but, no matter where we end up, most Gooners see plenty of reason for optimism in the burgeoning spirit within this squad – something that had been missing for far too long.

Star man Obviously Van Persie, but with plenty of kudos to the unstinting commitment of others such as Koscielny.

The flops Chamakh, a mysteriously pale shadow of the striker who first arrived at the club, and Arshavin, who appears as if he can’t wait to escape.

The gaffer: Arsène Wenger, 7/10 While Wenger’s desire to cling on to our star players was perfectly understandable, the fact that he was forced into the equivalent of Supermarket Sweep in the final few hours of the transfer window felt like a failure on his part. Nevertheless, all credit must go to Le Gaffer for silencing the critics who were far too quick to sound our death knell.

Who should he sign? Although our recent injury crisis at full-back has exposed a disconcerting lack of depth in the squad, we are desperate for some replacement firepower up front. Albeit somewhat erratic, Podolski is not cup-tied in Europe and may be best suited to adapt to the Premier League.

ASTON VILLA: 4/10

Jonathan Pritchard, Observer reader It has all been so grimly predictable: beating the rubbish, losing to the quality, the massive anti-McLeish tidal wave when we play badly … You could read our season like a book. And not a very good book. We are all craving something sublime or ridiculous to lift the general malaise: football surely isn’t supposed to be this humdrum? It feels like death by a thousand Blackburns right now.

Star man Gabby Agbonlahor has been easily our best player: we’ve scored 18, he’s scored five and assisted eight, and the buzz around the ground when he gets the ball has returned.

The flops Controversially, I’d aim the most criticism at Bent and his inability to do anything but goal-hang. Five tap-ins and absolutely nothing else is what he’s contributed in 14 games. I’d sell him.

The gaffer: Alex McLeish, 4//10 I don’t blame him as much as most. He’d been stripped of his two most creative players before he arrived and the gamble on N’Zogbia has failed. We play dour football, but doesn’t everyone apart from the billionaires? I’m not sure anyone could make a silk purse out of this sow’s ear of a squad. Villa fans need to stop being so parochial with the “Bluenose” stuff: he’s our manager, so we may as well get behind him.

Who should he sign? Bobby Zamora.

BLACKBURN: 0/10

Marcus Tattersall, Blogs.soccernet.com/blackburnrovers A farcical, tragi-comedy that should have the theme tune of The Benny Hill Show playing in the background. Nothing surprises any more about a club that have undergone a character assassination, from being a model of calm respectability under the guidance of John Williams to a dysfunctional shambles that epitomises Venky’s. Contrary to popular belief, the supporters have been magnificent but the daily rumour mill has taken its toll and the majority have never felt as disillusioned and distanced from the club. The authorities have driven a divide between supporters through mixed messages and spin, and the club are in danger of imploding and losing a generation of fans.

Star man Samba is still dancing and the Yak has had a good appetite.

The flops Radosav Petrovic resembles a deer in headlights every time he plays.

The gaffer: Steve Kean 1/10 The greatest spin doctor since Alastair Campbell. If Kean were captain of the Titanic he would tell the passengers it had hit ice to help keep the drinks chilled. The only positive is we score more goals but if we can’t keep the ball it counts for nothing.

Who should he sign? An experienced chairman or chief executive who could command the respect and trust of the fans is priority.

BOLTON: 3/10

Shaun O’Gara, Supporters’ Club The season started well with a 4-0 win at QPR but it has been downhill ever since in a disastrous run. Rock bottom of the league, nine points from 15 games – in fact since our semi-final defeat to Stoke last April we have played 21 Premier League games with only four wins and 17 defeats. A dramatic improvement is needed or we’ll be relegated by New Year.

Star man There’s been so many inconsistent performances and so many players who are not performing, but Klasnic’s seven goals are one plus.

The flops Reo Coker and Pratley in midfield have both disappointed. Eagles has been inconsistent. Ngog is still finding his feet, only one goal so far, and Boyata in defence looks like he’d rather be somewhere else – probably back at City.

The gaffer: Owen Coyle 4/10 This time last season he’d just won the manager of the month award and we were playing free-flowing, attractive football. Now we’re unable to string two passes together, have forgotten how to defend and confidence is at an all-time low. Owen’s managerial reputation has taken a battering. The slump in form since the FA Cup defeat to Stoke is alarming – it’s as if the players’ belief in the manager and what he is trying to do evaporated in that moment as up to then things were on an upward spiral we were in the top 10 most of last season and in the FA Cup semi final for only the second time in 50 years. Owen Coyle is certainly enduring his most difficult time in management – he’s had terrible bad luck in that injuries have robbed him of key players – Stuart Holden, last season’s player of the year and the heartbeat of the side being the biggest blow. All our problems seemed to start with his injury last March, both him and Chung Yong Lee, the previous year’s winner, are both out for most of the season. In fact, 11 players are currently on the injured list, four with broken legs! We lost 20 goals in Elmander and Sturridge which we haven’t replaced. He’s been hampered by a lack of money to spend. The replacements look short on quality at Premier League level..

Who should he sign? We desperately need some steel and creativity in midfield. Presuming Gary Cahill is sold then a centre-half, as well as two full‑backs and a striker. In fact, we need to strengthen everywhere.

CHELSEA: 7/10

Trizia Fiorellino, ChelseaSupportersGroup.net We started well, flopped badly and have picked up dramatically. Given we have some new players and a new manager trying to impose a new style on the old guard, I am more than happy with our current lofty position. Annoyed to have lost to some average sides but there will always be those that capitalise when another team are undergoing a significant change – they were lucky to play us at a vulnerable time.

Star man Romeu has been a revelation and has made us a more difficult team to break down, but Mata has shone. He instantly makes us look more inventive. Leaving confused opposition players in his wake, he provides excellent service to our strikers. Whisper this – he may be better than Zola.

The flops Malouda – we all know what he’s capable of, but all we invariably get now is him losing the ball, bottling tackles and putting in poor crosses.

The gaffer: André Villas-Boas 7/10 I like the way he conducts himself, especially the digs at Gary Neville and the media – we need a manager who sticks up for us. We are finally beginning to see the emergence of his first team and it doesn’t look bad at all. He is not afraid to make controversial decisions and give him a couple more of his own signings and I think we could be on to something.

Who should he sign? With the exits of Anelka and Alex, and the Africa Cup of Nations to consider, we really could do with a striker and a central defender – but January is not the best time to do it, especially as our contract negotiations seem to go on for ever.

EVERTON: 6/10

Steve Jones, BlueKipper.com The season has been very frustrating for Evertonians so far. With Beckford and Yakubu leaving for financial reasons, and Arteta to play in the Champions league, it left us with very few attacking options. We’ve suffered because they haven’t been replaced. David Moyes has had to use young players like Rodwell, Vellios, Barkley and McAleny, who have all had some great moments but have also shown us that they need to learn a bit more before they can be given a run in the team.

Star man Leighton Baines. He has shown yet again why he is the best attacking full‑back in the Premier League.

The flops A lot was expected from Louis Saha, but two goals so far is a poor return.

The gaffer: David Moyes 6/10 I think Moyesy is great for Everton, but he has slipped below his high standards this season so far.

Who should he sign? We desperately need an experienced striker for a couple of million. Unfortunately, I don’t know one.

FULHAM: 6/10

David Lloyd, TOOFIF.co.uk Largely frustrating so far. We’ve got a better squad than last year, have greater strength in depth and yet have struggled to find any consistency as lineups and tactics have been chopped and changed. Backstage bickering hasn’t helped the cause, neither has an over-cautious, at times negative approach. In among it all there’s a good team trying to get out, but the key question is can Martin Jol settle on his best lineup and tactics?

Star man Ruiz and Dembélé are getting better by the week, while Murphy remains hugely effective, but it’s hard to look beyond Hangeland.

The flops Zamora has blown hot and cold while John Arne Riise has improved recently after a run of stodgy

Yakubu may be Steve Kean’s saviour; clear goalscoring opportunities lack clarity; Stoke carry flame at home and abroad

Feed the Yak and Rovers may stay up

There were boos at Ewood Park again on Saturday during Blackburn’s 4-2 win against Swansea. But some of them sounded different – they were celebratory ‘bus. Rovers fans took time out from protesting against Venky’s ownership of the club and Steve Kean’s management to chant Yakubu’s name after each one of the four goals he scored to lift Blackburn off the foot of the table. The big-boned striker, signed for £1.5m from Everton in the summer, may turn out to be Kean’s saviour. Whenever he has scored, Rovers have not lost. And he has now scored nine goals in nine Premier League games. He started and finished the move that led to Blackburn’s opener against Swansea, a fluid exchange of passes with Gaël Givet on the left, before he bust his considerable gut to finish beautifully into the top right-hand corner from close to the edge of the box – a fantastic display of instinctive skill from a striker who is arguably responsible for the worst miss ever. Rovers are the sixth-highest scorers in the league with 21 goals. But only Bolton have conceded more than their 32 goals. Unless Kean finds a way to plug the leaks in his defence, Yakubu will need to add to his impressive tally. Feeding the Yak with a bucketload of chances, not chicken, may not smooth over the farce of the club’s ownership but it may keep Blackburn up … and make fans a little more forgiving towards Kean, if not the owners. GR

Obvious goalscoring opportunities are not always so obvious

The rule of the fifth of seven sending-off offences in Fifa’s Laws of the Game reads: “denying an obvious goalscoring opportunity to an opponent moving towards the player’s goal”. The clue seems to be in the wording. Obvious, according to Collins, means “easy to see or understand; evident”. So how did two referees interpret this law in strikingly different ways?

It took only five minutes of Saturday’s early kick-off between Newcastle and Chelsea for Mike Dean to step into the crosshairs, as the man from the Wirral elected to show David Luiz a yellow card after his tangle with the goal-bound Demba Ba. To most observers – not least the Newcastle manager, Alan Pardew, who said: “I can’t understand why the referee didn’t send him off” – David Luiz seemed the beneficiary of Dean’s lenient interpretation of the rule, specifically the instruction to consider Ba’s “likelihood of keeping or gaining control of the ball”. Ba had not actually latched on to Peter Lovenkrands’s through-pass, which ended up in Petr Cech’s grasp moments later, but he looked the favourite. He might not have scored: Cech might have foiled him, he might even have dribbled round the keeper, then missed. But it was clearly an opportunity. However, Dean thought otherwise, apparently deeming that Ba would not have got to it first.

Dean’s judgment was thrown into sharp relief later in the day, when Stuart Attwell brandished his red card in the direction of Bolton’s Gary Cahill after 18 minutes of their match at Tottenham. Cahill had been dispossessed a few yards inside his own half after attempting to evade the attentions of Emmanuel Adebayor with a Cruyff turn, only to run into the terrier presence of Scott Parker. The Spurs midfielder nicked the ball away and made as if to go gallumphing through on goal, only to be upended by Cahill. That the offence was committed near the touchline a good 50 yards from goal was not enough to save the England centre-back, with Attwell deciding that Zat Knight’s presence in the middle of the park did not constitute cover.

Again it is instructive to look at the laws, which in addition to mentioning the “location and number of defenders” tell the referee to factor in “the distance between the offence and the goal”. Whereas Dean was generous in letting off David Luiz, Attwell erred in the opposite direction to conclude that the red card was his only option. Their methodology differed but in both cases it seems fair to say the referee got it wrong.

What is to be done about this maddening inconsistency? Until the launch of Robo Ref 2000, probably not a lot. To err is human, to forgive a ref something exceeding divine. The requirement for a split-second decision means that these debates will not go away – but a sending-off should always be the last resort for the official. That is why Dean, in exercising restraint, made the better (or less bad) call than Attwell. AG

It’s already squeaky bum time for top-four hopefuls

Five points separate Liverpool in seventh from Chelsea in fourth, and the gap will be narrowed to two if – a big if – the Anfield club beat Fulham in the Monday night kick-off. Manchester City look unstoppable, Tottenham are on an excellent run, Arsenal have recovered from a seriously dodgy start to be a team to be feared again, Chelsea will remain a threat as long as Daniel Sturridge stays on form and Manchester United need a defensive midfielder, an attacking midfielder and a striker but will still finish above all but their most bitter rivals. Newcastle’s welcome disruption of the natural order is likely to unravel after Christmas as the fixture pile-up takes its toll on the smallest squad in the current top seven. But that still leaves two very disappointed “big” clubs come May who will have to settle for Thursday nights on ITV4. Cup runs, the Africa Cup of Nations and injuries (Lucas Leiva and Javier Hernández will be significantly missed, although the latter should be back early in the new year) will play a significant part but the most exciting race this season may not be at the top of the table. PW

Garth Crooks is no fun

The news that Mario Balotelli had converted Manchester City’s fourth goal against Norwich via his shoulder was greeted by Garth Crooks, sitting on the BBC’s Final Score couch, as if the Italian had just committed an atrocity against football, rather than added to the gaiety of the nation. Crooks, fuming like the matron of a girls boarding school, puffed out his cheeks and launched into an impromptu rant about “stupid Mario”, a player he decried as a “liability” before adding that City should get rid of him immediately “if they wanted to be taken seriously”.

This line of thought seems to follow on from Roberto Mancini admitting that he might be forced to drop Balotelli for important games if he does not stop getting himself into trouble. But it is one thing for Mancini, Balotelli’s manager, to express mild concern at the striker’s propensity to get himself sent off and quite another for a pundit to froth at the gills over a modest piece of showmanship. Sure, Balotelli could have misjudged the act, caught the ball on his arm and been denied a goal for his impudence … Maybe then Crooks would have been justified in loosing off his sanctimonious cannonade of killjoy opprobrium. Maybe.

But he did not. Gauche it may have been but the Balotelli shoulder nudge, like the Panenka or the Rabona, was a piece of cheek designed to cheer – and, in its nonchalance, was the perfect finish for a man with such a studied air of indifference. Balotelli shrugged and the world, Crooks aside, smiled. AG

Stoke fire while carrying the flame in Europe

For the first time in five matches, Stoke managed to win a league game following a European fixture. A run that included the bucket-of-cold-water hammerings at Sunderland and Bolton – two clubs in the bottom four – was ended with a gritty one-niller at Goodison Park that propelled them above the hosts, Everton, to eighth in the table with 18 points. While there have been whisperings about Stoke’s perceived slide this season, distracted by their European exploits, their record after 14 games bears comparison with each of the past three years, in which they have finished 12th, 11th and 13th, as well as reached the FA Cup final.

In 2010-11 Stoke had 19 points at this stage; the year before 20; and 17 in their first season in the Premier League. While the tricky business of squad rotation has clearly taken some getting used to for Tony Pulis, Stoke’s progression to the knockout stages of the Europa League has not significantly impacted on their domestic form, at least in comparison with previous campaigns. And after the familiar sight in recent years of English teams prioritising their final league placing ahead of the chance to win a trophy (even the 2009-10 finalists Fulham treated Europe’s second competition as a distraction in the early stages) it is refreshing to see Stoke getting to grips with both. AG

Premier LeaguePremier League 2011-12Blackburn RoversNewcastle UnitedMario BalotelliLiverpoolStoke CityAlan GardnerPenny WoodsGregg Roughleyguardian.co.uk