By Grayson Dowding:

Liverpool failed to score against Tottenham and by so doing earned another disappointing draw at home much to the chagrin of the ‘Kopites’.

Ironically, it was one of the most spirited performances from the Reds all season but the action in the final third was again woeful for the most part; especially for Carroll.

Tottenham has proven that their current third place position in the league is no fluke and actually deserved a point with Bale surprisingly flopping a chance to put the visitors in front close to full-time.

Liverpool then had two excellent chances of their own from Carroll and Suarez who appeared from the bench – for a fifteen minute cameo performance – in his first game after having served an eight match ban.

The talking point however remains to be the failure of Carroll to shine in what is supposed to be his favored position as a lone striker.

King Kenny has done everything right for Carroll by staying out of the transfer market in January even when a need for another striker was obvious. Sadly, the confidence boost that was expected is nowhere near what is required and the results continue to be poor for the striker in front of goal.

This brings me to the sore point that I cannot help but to rehash, with Gerrard in the latter stages of his long and impeccable service to this club there needs to be two more purchases in the goal-scoring department as a matter of urgency.

The priority must certainly be a second goal-scoring forward who is proven and ready to support or stand-in for Suarez when required and a marauding midfielder who can pile on the pressure with a twenty-five yard scorcher every single game – day in day out.

Liverpool is simply not scoring enough and if Daglish cannot improve the goal scoring ratio at the club then his tenure will continue to be a disappointment. All the new recruits, except Bellamy and Enrique, have failed to shine and that is a problem I rest squarely on the shoulders of the coaching staff.

Bellamy is a revelation so far but he was brought in to step up the wing play with Downing as the other member of what I like to call ‘the conceptual fear-factor approach’. It could require him to restore that three-pronged attack in the middle as in the former Torres-Gerrard-Alonso model. Otherwise, with Carroll failing and Suarez so burdened I think the struggle will continue as the opposing goal-keepers are simply having it too easy; even at Anfield where the club’s demise in front of goal is so glaringly obvious.

Adam is certainly the type to fit the Alonso role – although he needs to shoot more and also drop this clumsy tackling that is now his trademark – and Henderson is still young but it is my humble opinion that, like Carroll, they are simply not the finished article and I think the more venomous combination I alluded to is needed sooner rather than later.

Liverpool continue to hope for an optimistic 4th place finish in the league and that final Champions league spot but Arsenal, Chelsea and Newcastle will have a great deal to say about that as the momentum continues to build and the season shapes up to be a fiercely competitive one – that could go straight down to the wire – to the delight of the pundits and fans alike.