It was last Boxing Day when it appeared the game might be up for Andy Carroll.
Liverpool had been held to a frustrating 1-1 draw by Blackburn Rovers and their £35million striker had, to put it mildly, underwhelmed.
Carroll had started only two of Liverpool's previous eight matches in the Barclays Premier League and had not scored since October 29 but all hopes that he would engage in some target practice against basement side Blackburn evaporated.
He ran up blind alleys, drifted into positions where he never threatened to make an impact and was so far out of sync with his strike partner Luis Suarez that many walked away from Anfield that night thinking Carroll would never flourish in a Reds shirt.
Given his dispiriting efforts occurred days before the transfer window opened, it was inevitable he ended up being linked with transfers elsewhere.
A return to Newcastle was mooted, Aston Villa and Tottenham were mentioned, but the thought of him flourishing in red was remote.
Now look at him. After terrorising John Terry twice in the space of 72 hours, Carroll is being put forward as a potential member of England's Euro 2012 squad and his performances have improved to such an extent that his critics have hastily re-evaluated their judgements.
From expensive misfit to striker of enormous potential, Carroll's encouraging finish to the campaign has offered real hope that, come next season, he will be doing what all Liverpool No 9s are supposed to do – scoring goals with monotonous regularity.
So what has changed?
In a nutshell, he strips significantly fitter than he was at Christmas and has been imbued with confidence.
Carroll is a player who benefits from huge amounts of work and the spin-off of him having more start in 2012 is that he is stronger and more effective.
Testing times: Carroll had failed to live up to his billing for much of the campaignThere has been a noticeable improvement in the way Carroll has been training and he looks content with his lot on Merseyside, preferring the quiet life at home with his girlfriend, Stacey, than being a regular on the city's nightclub scene.
He has been making important contributions since the end of January – his towering flick on to Dirk Kuyt created the winner against Manchester United in the FA Cup tie – and the statistics show how much of an influence he is having.
Carroll has been named as substitute 10 times since New Year's Day; of the games he has started on the bench, Liverpool have lost six – including the FA Cup final – and drawn three, with their sole victory coming against League One side Oldham in the FA Cup third round.
True, his critics will argue that some other statistics paint a different picture – he has only scored four goals in the Barclays Premier League this season and created another two.
In the cups, he scored five times and a tally of nine strikes in 46 appearances is not outstanding ratio for a striker.
Dream team: Carroll is tipped to form a productive partnership with Luis Suarez'All the stats prove that strikers, especially target strikers, peak when they are 26,' said Liverpool's former director of football Damien Comolli.
'He is 23. He has got so much more to come. It is incredible. He is intelligent, he is dedicated, he listens, and he has got a good lifestyle.
'I don't see why he shouldn't be a big success. He is a much better player technically. I think his runs are better, he is very, very fit, and his lifestyle is very good.
'All the time I was at Liverpool and he was at Liverpool he was never caught drinking or doing stupid things. He looks after himself. Slowly but surely the perception of Carroll has changed.
'There is now genuine excitement about what he and Suarez may do next season and the talk that he may be a significant summer casualty has started to evaporate.'
'Carroll has to be a key part of this Liverpool team going forward,' said former Liverpool forward John Aldridge earlier this week.
'He can dominate defences and scare the living daylight out of them. I've been on his case but the real Andy Carroll has shown he belongs at Anfield.'
How different that statement sounds to the ones that were being made on Boxing Day.
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