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Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish reassured his most expensive player Andy Carroll on Thursday that he was worth the 35 million pounds paid for him as the striker faced a media grilling over the club record fee.

The striker became the most expensive English player when he was brought in just before the transfer window shut on Monday as the club sought to fill the hole left by Fernando Torres's departure for Chelsea.

Carroll, who has scored 11 goals this season, was asked whether he felt he was worth the money.

"I'm sure that time will tell really," he told reporters. "I've scored goals at Newcastle and that is what I want to do here. We'll just have to wait and see."

Dalglish stepped in to defend the massive fee paid for the 22-year-old, who will not make his debut for a few weeks because of a thigh strain he was carrying before he joined on the same day Liverpool signed Uruguay striker Luis Suarez.

"Every question you ask is negative, we don't see any reason whatsoever to be negative in any way shape or form about Andy Carroll signing for Liverpool Football Club," Dalglish said.

"It is a great signing for us, it's fantastic for us. We can reassure Andy that we are more positive than what yourselves are.

"The price might be a bit more than what some people think it should be but every single person in here has got to justify their wages and their costs so if you can do that for yourselves then I'm sure he can do that for us."

Suarez made a dream start by scoring on his debut in Wednesday's 2-0 home victory over Stoke City in the Premier League as Carroll watched from the stand.

"We're really looking forward to getting him fit," Dalglish said. "It may be a few weeks but we never signed him for a few weeks, we signed him for five and a half years."

Labels: Carroll, Dalglish, defends, Eurosport, underfire, Yahoo

Arsene Wenger has claimed Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas was the subject of a witch hunt.

According to Everton manager David Moyes, the Spain midfielder made unrepeatable comments to match officials as the players went down the tunnel at half-time of their Barclays Premier League clash at Emirates Stadium on Tuesday night, which should have earned him a red card, but Lee Mason did not include the incident in his report.

Asked if he thought there was a witch hunt against Fabregas, the Arsenal manager replied: "Yes. We are long enough in the job to know that somebody picks on you for a while, and you are in the heat of the moment. But for me what is the most important is the player behaves well."

He added: "When Cesc is on the pitch, he tries to play football - I cannot say everybody who plays against him tries to do that.

"For example, some people reproach him for not exchanging shirts with a player after the game - but I hope he will not exchange shirts with players who try to kick him for 90 minutes and them come to say 'please can I get your shirt'. I think that is a normal and natural reaction.

"Overall this guy is an example on the football pitch and shows you how to play football."

Wenger, however, feels Fabregas has the strength of character to silence the critics.

"People are more demanding, and Cesc has to live with that," the Arsenal manager said. "It is not easy, but he is a very intelligent man and he will learn very quickly to cope with that.

"Cesc is 24 this year, he has played 250 games in the Premier League - at that age, it is absolutely remarkable.

"He has gone through a lot, difficult moments, but has always come out stronger - this guy is a fantastic leader."

Labels: Association, backs, Fabregas, Press, underfire, Wenger