Carroll may miss out for U21s

Published May. 23, 2011 9:15 a.m. ET

foxsports

Carroll was left behind on Merseyside for the final-day defeat at Aston Villa because of a niggling knee injury. There had been plenty of conjecture over whether the 22-year-old, already a full international, would be named in Stuart Pearce's squad on Monday to go to Denmark any way. And with Jay Spearing limping off after just 10 minutes with an ankle problem at Villa Park, it is possible both players will get a summer off. "Andy's not been able to sustain any reasonable time in training and it would have been irresponsible of us to bring him," said Dalglish. "We played him last week (against Tottenham) but it was unfair on him that we did ask him to play. "I didn't think we should risk the boy's fitness by bringing him. "Although we've not got any games, it's important they're all back fit in July." Defeat cost Liverpool a chance of qualifying for Europe, although it was effectively the previous week's defeat to Tottenham that did the damage. The transformation since Dalglish took over from Roy Hodgson in early January things has been great, but the Scot admitted they had left themselves too much to do. "We did not qualify for Europe because we lost a game today, it was because we had a bad start to the season," said Dalglish. "If you start as badly as that you are lucky to be sixth come the end of it. "To get so close is a great complement to the players. I'm disappointed we didn't finish on a high as they've (the players) done fantastic to get as far as they have done."