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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

• Defender back in training after recovering from calf injury
• 33-year-old in contention for Sunday’s trip to Stamford Bridge

Jamie Carragher is in line to make his Liverpool comeback against Chelsea this weekend after recovering from injury.

The defender and vice-captain has missed the last two matches, the win at West Bromwich Albion and a goalless draw at home to Swansea City, with a calf problem. However, the 33-year-old returned to full training this week and is in contention for Sunday’s trip to Stamford Bridge.

“Jamie has joined in training over the last couple of days and looked good,” the first-team coach, Steve Clarke, told liverpoolfc.tv. “We just made sure he took his time, and he’s trained well these past couple of days. He’ll be in contention for the weekend if there are no mishaps between now and the game.”

Carragher said: “It’s down to the manager and the coaching staff but once I’m back with the lads I’m back, for the squad, the team or the bench – whatever it may be.”

Jamie CarragherLiverpoolguardian.co.uk

Luis Suárez answered some of his critics with the two goals that took Liverpool into the Carling Cup quarter-finals. A goal down at the interval, the visitors were indebted to their Uruguayan striker for masterminding their recovery almost single-handedly, dispelling in the process the myth that he does not convert enough chances to be regarded a clinical finisher. He missed a few chances here too but there was nothing wrong with the two goals that he claimed.

Liverpool made eight changes from the draw with Norwich at the weekend but kept faith with Suárez, their outstanding performer in that game, and kept Pepe Reina in goal. Both players were involved quickly, the goalkeeper having to backpedal hastily and ending up relieved to see Jon Walters’ speculative chip over his head land on the roof of the net, then the Uruguayan just failing to fasten on to the rebound when Thomas Sorensen beat out a powerful shot from Andy Carroll. Then Suárez tried a chip of his own but found Sorensen too tall to outwit.

Those who complain that Suárez’s goals to shots ratio is unconvincing may have a point, though he cannot be faulted for getting in good positions to shoot and generally getting his attempts on target. On Saturday he was mostly foiled by the excellence of John Ruddy, a pattern that seemed to be repeating itself here when Sorensen saved at point-blank range mid-way through the first half. Liverpool had just put together their best passing move of the game through Maxi Rodríguez and Lucas and, when the latter’s square ball found Suárez free on the six-yard line in front of goal, Sorensen had to react quickly to smother a first-time shot.

Apart from Rory Delap’s long throws Stoke were finding it difficult to put Liverpool’s defence under pressure, although Jamie Carragher was lucky to escape with only a yellow card for an ugly, scything tackle that upended Matthew Etherington. It was lucky he was not playing for Chelsea against QPR at the weekend, or he would have been off.

Sorensen was called upon again to save from Carroll and then Martin Kelly either side of the first’s half’s major talking point, a disallowed Stoke goal that predictably arrived from a long throw. Stoke moving their touchlines in by a yard or so has given Delap even more of a run-up and less ground to cover and he achieved such a velocity in the 36th minute that Walters was able to beat Reina with a simple glancing header. Lee Probert had already decided that the goalkeeper had been impeded, however, although it was impossible even after a few replays to establish by whom. Certainly Walters did not make any sort of illegal contact, indeed any contact, and there was no one else in the goalkeeper’s vicinity.

If that was an injustice, it was quickly corrected. Stoke took the lead on the stroke of the interval through a Kenwyne Jones diving header, following a fairly calamitous mistake by Sebastián Coates, Liverpool’s Uruguayan defender. Having indicated to team-mates he was about to deal with a bouncing ball near the left touchline, Coates was surprised to be dispossessed by Walters, and could only watch as the hitherto sluggish Jones stooped to a low cross to direct a header expertly beyond Reina’s reach.

Kenny Dalglish sent out Martin Skrtel for the second half, not for the hapless Coates but for the cautioned Carragher. It appeared that what the visitors lacked was a midfield presence rather than another centre-half, yet while Suárez is on the pitch there is always hope and the striker was able to conjure an early equaliser without needing anyone’s help. Cutting inside Robert Huth on the left, Suárez weighed his options, nutmegged Ryan Shotton on the edge of the area then the inside of the right hand upright with a curling shot that not even Sorensen could reach.

That deflated the home side somewhat, though an increasingly laboured Liverpool were unable to come up with any more moments of individual brilliance to take the lead and normal time was dribbling away uneventfully until Suárez hit the winner five minutes from the end. When the late substitute Craig Bellamy hit a post a minute earlier it was just about Liverpool’s first threat since their equaliser, but Suárez was in position once again when it mattered when Jordan Henderson angled in a volleyed cross and he stayed onside to put a firm header back across the goalkeeper.

Carling Cup 2011-12Stoke CityLiverpoolCarling CupPaul Wilsonguardian.co.uk