Source: Northern_Echo
Hughton backing Carroll
CHRIS Hughton believes Andy Carroll won't be affected by Fabio Capello's decision not to select him for England's Euro 2012 qualifier next week. Carroll has impressed this season, scoring four goals in seven games including a hat trick against Aston Villa and was widely tipped to get his first senior call-up for their forthcoming match against Montenegro at Wembley. Speculation grew when the 21-year-old was left out of the Under-21s squad for the European Championship playoffs later this month. With injuries to Jermaine Defore and Bobby Zamora it seemed likely Capello would draft Carroll into the squad. However, when the announcement was made on Monday, Carroll's name was not on the list with the Italian instead giving veteran Bolton Wanderers forward Kevin Davies his first international call-up. Hughton backs Carroll to continue to score in a black and white shirt, despite being left out of the Magpies starting line-up against Man City last Sunday. I don't think Andy will have been affected by the fact he wasn't selected by England, Hughton said. There was a lot of speculation in the media and I'm sure he was aware of that, but I don't think he is upset. He knows he is still a young player and is still learning. He won't worry about it. He will just get on with it. He has had a very good start to the season, but he is still developing. I left him out of the starting line up at Manchester City because he had been struggling with a virus and he was a little below par, but that is normal. He is going to have ups and downs, that is natural at this stage of his career. He isn't going to be at his best all the time because he is a young player and that happens. While Hughton is delighted with the way the 21-year-old has stepped up to Premier League football, he stressed Carroll is still relatively inexperienced at this level and believes he still has much to learn. Carroll will be hoping to be back in the Magpies' starting XI when Wigan travel to St James' Park a week on Saturday. Hughton put his faith in the Gateshead-born striker at the start of the season by awarding him the No 9 jersey and despite reports of interest from Stoke and Tottenham, the manager insists Carroll will be a massive part of what the club are trying to achieve. He is gaining experience all the time and that is the good thing, he said. He is going to get better and better, I am confident about that. All of the things that have happened to him over the last few weeks, the one thing I'm absolutely certain about is they will make him a better player. He is a huge part of what we are trying to achieve this season and he is a huge part of what this club is trying to achieve moving forward. Meanwhile, the Football Association have revealed they will consider Newcastle's request for action to be taken against Manchester City midfielder Nigel de Jong. Club officials sent a strongly worded' letter to the FA, asking them to punish de Jong for his tackle which left Hatem Ben Arfa will a broken leg. An FA spokesman said: We will consider the contents of the letter.