Carroll experiment proves a lesson in motion

The January window brings back into focus the issue of scouting and how to tell whether a player you are thinking about buying is worth the risk.

It would be nice to think you could tell simply by watching a player play whether or not they would succeed.

You would think that the partnership of Kenny Dalglish, one of the greatest forwards to play the game, and Damien Comolli, who would like to be remembered as the French version of Moneyball inspiration Billy Beane, a partnership that seems to blend the best of the old and new schools, would be able to tell a good striker from a bad one.