As a Newcastle United player, the only question marks over Andy Carroll revolved around his off-the-pitch antics. But five games into his first full season at Liverpool, the striker finds his performances on the pitch under scrutiny too. With Kenny Dalglish’s side stuttering, that £35M transfer fee looks even more head-scratching than it did in January.

In a Newcastle shirt, Carroll’s goalscoring record – 11 goals in 18 Premier League starts during the first part of last season and 17 Championship goals in 2009/10 – was eye-catching enough that concerns over his lifestyle slipped into the background. He was instantly billed as the new Alan Shearer, a future saviour for England and a target for the biggest clubs in the country.

But while he was hogging the back pages, the striker also stumbled onto the front pages too. Carroll’s love of the Tyneside nightlife was no secret and it led to a fine from a crown court judge for assault.

Back then, Carroll was repentant, vowing to clean up his act. “I just have to put everything that has happened behind me now,” he admitted. “I will learn from my mistakes. And I just now want to concentrate on football. I just need to keep my head down and I think there’s a great group of lads here to help settle me down a bit.”

Then, in January, Carroll landed at Anfield. Injury denied the Liverpool fans a real chance to pass judgement on their new striker last season, though one of his five appearances was an impressive two-goal show against Manchester City. Expectations on Merseyside shifted dramatically over the summer. By taking their spending for the 2011 calendar year to more than £100M, the club had signalled their intent to move from an also-ran to a title contender.

Fans appreciated that this transition would not happen overnight, but this season was billed as the first big stepping stone. At this rate though, progress might be slower than anticipated. Liverpool have collected seven points from five games, losing their last two at Stoke City and at Tottenham Hotspur and failing to score in either fixture.

Through all of this, Carroll has been little more than a bystander. He is yet to open his account for the season, was left on the bench against Stoke and has failed to show even glimpses of the player who won the hearts of Newcastle supporters. His team-mates have fared little better, but that has not stopped Luis Suarez from notching two goals or Charlie Adam and Jose Enrique from making encouraging starts.

And the pressure on the 22-year-old has intensified since England manager Fabio Capello’s comments earlier in the month. “His style of life is a problem if it is not good because he needs to be careful,” the England boss explained. “He is an important player. He understands what he needs to do. If he wants to be a good player and a good sportsman, he needs to drink less than the others.”

Dalglish sprung to his player’s defence, saying “Andy is wiser than a lot of the people who write about him and I don’t think his lifestyle is anything like they’d like it to be to get stories.” But it is a reputation that Carroll will struggle to shed in the near future.

In the 2-0 victory over Arsenal back in August, Liverpool only made their breakthrough once Suarez had replaced an out of sorts Carroll as the spearhead of the attack. A week earlier, Sunderland’s Wes Brown – deemed surplus to requirements at Manchester United – had expertly shackled Carroll at Anfield. His shaky display against Tottenham at White Hart Lane simply confirmed that confidence is low and he has yet to gel with his new team-mates.

For Liverpool fans, this is an obvious concern. And the big games keep coming with upcoming clashes against Everton and Manchester United where the atmosphere will call for cool heads – hardly the ideal fixtures for Carroll to play his way back into form.

The striker’s lightning rise to stardom, complete with all the trappings of fame, should be a cautionary tale for emerging young players. Carroll’s career is still in its infancy but Liverpool need him to show his full commitment on and off the pitch if they are to achieve their goal of finishing in the top four.