Liverpool News: Loaning Andy Carroll Was a Mistake, Says Brendan Rodgers

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has made a stunning admission that the club did indeed make the wrong decision regarding Andy Carroll over the summer transfer window—stating that they made a mistake to loan the striker.

Carroll will spend the rest of the season on loan at West Ham after it appeared he didn't fit into the former Swansea manager's new scheme and tactics at the Merseyside club.

However, after just three Premier League matches this season and just one since his departure from the club, Rodgers has already conceded that loaning Carroll was a mistake, and one that the club could regret throughout the 2012/13 season.

Per The Sun:

[Brendan] Rodgers was stony-faced when questioned about [Andy] Carroll’s exit on a season-long loan to the Hammers. 

Asked if Carroll would have gone had Rodgers known he would not be able to secure a replacement, he offered a one-word reply: “No!” But when pressed on what had happened to his plans to replace him—with Clint Dempsey his No 1 target—Rodgers was more forthcoming.

He added: “I was very confident I had a deal sewn up but it has gone and I can’t do anything about it. There’s no point me crying about it or wishing we had or hadn’t done this or that...”

Rodgers' admissions about the star striker's departure from the club could not have come at a more interesting time for the Reds, with owner John Henry penning an open letter to the club's supporters as to the reasons behind their lack of summer transfer activity—particularly on the transfer deadline day, when it was revealed they would not be able to sign Clint Dempsey from Fulham.

Henry stated that the club would not be drawn into "expensive, short-term quick fixes that will only contribute for a couple of years" (anybody else reading Andy Carroll's name there?) and went out to state they would not be making similar transfer mistakes to those made in the past few seasons.

Read the full letter here via The Sun, which is essentially a short statement in defense of why Liverpool sold Andy Carroll and didn't buy someone to replace him.

That's basically it.

So have Liverpool made a mistake in loaning Andy Carroll? 

On one level, not so much—the real mistake is the fact that they did not manage to sign another striker to add to their team this summer. The exit of Carroll on loan this season to try and regain some Premier League form is okay, as long as the Reds aren't left a striker short for the remainder of the season—which it appears they have been.

Luis Suarez cannot be expected to shoulder all the attacking responsibilities, and Joe Allen simply will not be as effective as he could be at Anfield following the departure of Carroll—the same could also be said for Raheem Sterling.

Liverpool's mistake was not ridding themselves of the £35 million signing; their mistake was not adequately replacing him with another striker and leaving themselves a man down for the remainder of the 2012/13 English Premier League season.

Would you have sold Andy Carroll over the summer transfer window?

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