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Spain and England left out £85m of misfiring striking talent this week but when a centre-forward is on song it lifts the entire team

As any Middlesbrough fan will tell you – just mention Afonso Alves or Massimo Maccarone as prompts – buying the wrong striker is a peculiarly calamitous act that invites external derision and internal angst. The dud No9 becomes emblematic of some deep structural flaw, and the manager’s life descends into a daily churn of justifying the purchase while he prays the big/little man will come good.

No other position attracts such merciless scrutiny. The centre-forward is the house gladiator and nothing undermines a coach faster than splashing out on a goalscorer who is incapable of fulfilling the most glamorous brief. Chelsea managers were not the purchasers of Andriy Shevchenko (£30m) or Fernando Torres (£50m), but both José Mourinho and André Villas-Boas will recall in their memoirs the remarkable power of the big-name striker to shape the lives of those around him.

This week £85m worth of Premier League striking talent warmed seats in international fixtures against small nations. To conflate the transfers of Torres from Liverpool to Chelsea and Andy Carroll from Newcastle to Liverpool in January is in one sense misleading, because Anfield parted with £35m for big Andy largely because they suddenly had £50m sloshing around from the sale of El Niño.

But it remained poignant to see Torres fail to make even Spain’s bench for the 6-0 win over Liechtenstein. The numbers are catching up with the most expensive player to have been traded in these isles. Torres, who struck 81 times in 142 games for Liverpool, has scored once in 21 appearances for Chelsea. It took him 14 goes to break his duck. In the international sphere he has been usurped by David Villa and Alvaro Negredo, prompting Vicente del Bosque, the Spain coach, to say in midweek: “Those who stand out with their clubs will get the call to the national team, not the other way round.”

It was hardly a week of bouquets and eulogies for Carroll, either, as England’s Fabio Capello delivered another sermon on the perils of intoxication. “I think if he wants to be a good player, a good sportsman, he needs to drink less,” Capello told a press conference. “He needs to be careful, because he’s an important player not only for the England team but for Liverpool. I think he understands what he needs to do.”

Not since Graham Taylor drew attention to Paul Gascoigne’s “refuelling” has an England player’s alcohol intake been so publicly censured by the manager. “We need to help him,” Capello said of Carroll, softening the blow, just a bit. Fairness and logic dictate that we desist from writing Carroll off 13 games into his Liverpool career. Nor will his future be settled in the next six games, or even months. Plenty of hedonistic footballers have found the path of (relative) dedication just in time to keep the why-oh-why brigade at bay.

Equally, we see him at a critical juncture. As things stand Carroll lacks the mobility, sharpness and all-round dexterity to earn his place as a first-choice Liverpool striker, which is why Kenny Dalglish dropped him for the 3-1 win over Bolton and Capello restricted him to one minute off the bench against Wales. Carroll’s quiet form has national as well as local implications because Wayne Rooney would be much more effective for England in the “hole” behind a centre-forward than leading the line alone, as he did against Wales.

All across Premier League grounds this weekend strikers will enter dressing rooms as the subjects of intemperate debate about their right to wear the most hallowed jerseys. The tall minstrel, Peter Crouch, has waved farewell to last year’s Champions League adventures with Spurs to join a very good project at Stoke. At Tottenham, Emmanuel Adebayor will seek to correct the impression that his career is one long false start after his loan move from Manchester City.

Also on Saturday, Carroll will hope to make the Liverpool starting XI to face Stoke and Torres takes his personal wheel of fire to Sunderland. The aim, beyond scoring, will be to avoid being taken off in a fourth consecutive league fixture. For Fulham’s visit, meanwhile, Newcastle fans will ask yet again why the vast hole left by Carroll has not been filled at a club where Alan Shearer was the emperor of Premier League No9s.

Patience and sympathy will not be plentiful in a trade where a player of Dimitar Berbatov’s natural ability can be rendered a tragic figure by his marginal inability to make the team. When a manager strikes the jackpot – Javier Hernández or Sergio Agüero, say – the whole life of the club takes a disproportionate jump because the goalscorer brings the smiles, brings the happiness.

So the converse also has to be true. Torres, in his current state, brings the drooped shoulders, the pained eyes, the complications for his manager.

Carroll brings the beers. Only joking. For £35m you would hope not to have to make allowances for “youth” but they must be made all the same, because strikers are not like us. Their world is all or nothing.

Andy CarrollFernando TorresChelseaLiverpoolEnglandSpainPaul Haywardguardian.co.uk

• Liverpool manager defends ‘fantastic’ Arsène Wenger
• ‘They have lost Fábregas but it will be a difficult game’

With respect to Arsène Wenger, big clubs do sell big players and retain ambition providing they reinvest on the field and not into their bank accounts. Liverpool, for example. Roles have reversed for their eighth visit to the Emirates Stadium. No longer are they the soap opera cloaked in turmoil, but Kenny Dalglish rejects the theory that Arsenal or their manager are a diminished force.

The Liverpool manager does not class Wenger as a friend. “But then you would say that about most managers. There’s no great relationship between any,” he says. “You might see each other at various LMA [League Managers' Association] dos and at matches, but I don’t think there’ll be too many kissing each other.”

Nor did they part on good terms when they last met, Dalglish sending expletives Wenger’s way when he contested the penalty in the 12th minute of added time that Dirk Kuyt dispatched

• Manager insists Liverpool have acted responsibly on transfers
• Dalglish pays tribute to ‘fantastically supportive’ owners

Kenny Dalglish has defended this summer’s lavish recruitment drive at Liverpool by saying the club have acted “responsibly” in the transfer market and that the principal owner, John W Henry, has dispelled any doubt over the level of financial support from Fenway Sports Group.

Liverpool have spent almost £50m on three midfielders, Jordan Henderson, Charlie Adam and Stewart Downing, and remain in the market for a central defender and left-back, although they have yet to make an offer for José Enrique of Newcastle United. Having committed £57.8m on Luis Suárez and Andy Carroll in January, albeit a sum offset by the combined £56m sales of Fernando Torres and Ryan Babel, FSG has sanctioned the largest spending spree in Liverpool’s history since acquiring the club from Tom Hicks and George Gillett last October.

“It’s been very impressive that they haven’t flinched with the players that we have asked for and they have provided the money,” Dalglish said. “The most important thing for us was getting people in and we’ve brought good people in.

“We’ve acted responsibly in the transfer market and we’ve also acted responsibly and respectfully with the owners, who have been fantastically supportive financially during the window. If there is a better owner that is as supportive as John Henry, then they have done very well for themselves because he’s fantastically supportive.”

Questions have been asked over Liverpool’s willingness to pay Sunderland £16m and Aston Villa £20m for Henderson and Downing respectively, although, having failed to qualify for the Champions League for the past two seasons, Dalglish said the club could not afford to stand still as they seek to rejoin the European elite. He believes FSG’s outlay has been invested wisely so far.

Dalglish added: “I don’t think anyone would dispute the ability of Luis Suárez, would they? You’re not always fortunate to get someone as good as him every time you sign a cheque but we were fortunate with what we got when we brought him in.

“Certainly spending money does not guarantee you success but I don’t know of any football club that has ever had success that has not spent money. So it is necessary. But it’s even more important to spend it wisely.”

José Enrique, one of the Twitter rebels at Newcastle, could be the subject of a bid from Liverpool before the Premier League season opens on 13 August but Dalglish said he would not be rushed into a decision on his defence by a pre-season campaign that has seen 15 goals conceded in five matches so far. “We don’t mind speaking about our own football club but we don’t speak about any other football club and certainly not any other players,” the Liverpool manager said. “Pre-season is not a barometer. You make your assessments. We know we have still got people to come back that will be important for us. If they do come back, they will be like new signings.”

The support and spending power of the Anfield hierarchy provides a stark contrast with Liverpool’s divisive situation 12 months ago and the manager is confident a lack of off-field distractions will assist the club’s attempt to return to the top four.

“I don’t think what happens off the pitch can be used as an excuse for what happens on it,” Dalglish said. “But it is always helpful when there is a lot of positivity around the club. It’s certainly helpful if everyone is singing the same song. John [W Henry] is genuinely a good fella. He cares passionately about the football club and he wants it to go in the right direction. Anyone who has got any affinity for the football club will want that too. We are fortunate that there is nobody pulling in the wrong direction.”

The manager said Steven Gerrard is recovering well from an infection related to the groin surgery he underwent in March, although his comeback target date remains September. Dalglish said: “The operation has been a fantastic success. It’s just the infection. It’s good news for Steven and for everyone else.”

Martin Skrtel has suffered a relapse in his recovery from the calf injury that has interrupted his pre-season training. The defender said: “I am still not with my team. I suffered an injury setback on Friday. I felt strong pain in my leg so I am back with the doctors receiving treatment. I really don’t know how long will it take to heal. I am doing my best to be back as soon as possible.”

LiverpoolKenny DalglishJohn W HenryTransfer windowAndy Hunterguardian.co.uk