I think you guys are being a bit unfair, to many, including myself, a flop means not living up their transfer fee. Carroll will have to become a great player just to live up to his fee. To exceed it, he'd pretty much have to be the best striker in the world. If he doesn't become one of these things, he will go down as a flop.
Also, I think it's ridiculous to say that no one can have an opinion on a player before he plays for the team...if you've watch both the team and particular player a lot, you should be allowed to at least say whether or not you think he will fit in. I actually sympathize with some of the "haters" on the thread, I personally don't think Carroll is a great fit for Liverpool. Liverpool IMO best utilizes Gerrard when they used the 4-5-1 that made them so successful. You had a destroyer DM (Mascherano), a distributing DM (Alonso), athletic hardworking wingers like Kuyt, the creative distributing AMC Gerrard, and a really fast, skilled, goal-scoring forward (Torres). Meireles and Lucas would be the DM's. Gerrard would be the AMC. And Suarez, a speedy skilled goal-scorer, would be the Torres replacement as striker. That doesn't leave room for Carroll.
Now people are saying that you just put Suarez on the wing, but I don't think this is a good idea. You lose out on his goal-scoring abilities, and Liverpool in that 4-5-1 got its goals from the AMC and striker. Also, Suarez fits that Torres striker mold much better than Carroll. Gerrard delivering through balls to the speedy, skilled, and clinical Torres was what generated Liverpool's goals. I could see the same thing happening with Suarez, who has some of those abilities. But not as much as Carroll. I don't think he's as fast or skilled as Suarez, and he doesn't have the proven goal-scoring record that Suarez does (maybe he will, I'm just saying he doesn't have that right now). Gerrard delivering through balls to Suarez is a lot scarier to me than him delivering through balls to Carroll.
People say that Carroll adds in the aerial ability. But that means you have to change the way Liverpool plays. Torres wasn't that good in the air but it didn't matter because they kept it more on the ground. Gerrard has always been the team's best player and you want him to be the focal point of the attack. I think Gerrard delivering through balls to Suarez is scarier than Kuyt delivering crosses to Carroll. If Liverpool goes to a more aerial game, then they will be moving the ball through Gerrard less. He will be a smaller part of that attack. I would want Gerrard to be the centerpiece of the offense, so whoever receiving through balls from Gerrard is more dangerous is who I want at striker. Also, if Carroll is the striker, where is the aerial service going to come from? Not from Suarez.
Some people want to move to a 4-4-2 with Suarez and Carroll up front, but what about Gerrard? I think the 4-5-1 is better for Gerrard since he gets to play higher up and has more freedom (two DM's are behind him instead of one).
Had Liverpool gone with Suarez at striker and waited until the summer to spend that 38 million quid on a really promising young left back and young left winger, they would be in much, much better shape. And then they would have more to spend on other players since that money is mostly covered by the Torres transfer. I strongly believe that. Do I know this is for certain? No, I haven't seen him play for Liverpool yet. Maybe he will prove me wrong, and I will have no qualms about admitting I was wrong. But it's my opinion that this was a bad piece of business, and I think I'm allowed to have that opinion before we see what the outcome is. Just as I think 50 million on an injury prone striker who is already at his peak (or even past it, since his pace is by far his best attribute and maybe he's slowed down since getting all these injuries) was also a bad bit of business, and many Liverpool fans seem to agree. But when anyone says the Carroll deal was a bad bit of business, immediately all of these people jump on the person and say "well you haven't seen how he'll fit in at Liverpool yet." At least Torres has played started in more than 15-20 games in the Prem.
Finally rival but he admits.. that is what I like