Shearer's Carroll prediction
Alan Shearer today tipped Andy Carroll to pick up where he left off in 2011-12 and make an impact for England at this summer's European Championships.
After a commanding end to the season, the Liverpool striker was included in manager Roy Hodgson's Three Lions squad for the finals in Poland and Ukraine next month.
And former England and Newcastle striker Shearer believes Carroll has the ability to leave a lasting impression on the tournament.
"He has finished the season well," he said. "The Andy Carroll that I saw coming on against Chelsea in the FA Cup final was the Andy Carroll I have seen week in and week out at Newcastle.
"He was bullying defenders, scoring goals, running the channels. The ability is there."
Carroll ended the campaign with three goals in seven appearances, but that statistic only tells half the story with the No.9 also turning in a series of displays that were described as 'unplayable'.
Shearer believes those performances offered just a glimpse of the striker's true potential.
He added: "People forget that the whole system at Newcastle was designed for Andy. That was always the first movement.
"Age is on his side. He absolutely has time. I hope he can build a partnership with Luis Suarez that's there for many years because he's a good lad, Andy.
"He wants to improve and he wants to play. I don't think that Liverpool should change everything just for one player, Liverpool are bigger than that.
"When you go into the team you want chances as a forward and he probably hasn't had as many as he would have liked."