Kenny Dalglish insists that he will not get too carried away with the development of £35million signing Andy Carroll.
The 22-year old is slowly regaining fitness after a long absence with a thigh injury he sustained when at Newcastle United and is warming to the task for both club and country.
Carroll has appeared in the past four Reds matches and has improved each time which prepared him for his debut England goal on Tuesday night.
But Dalglish knows too well that he will not push the towering centre forward and would rather take a softly, slowly approach.
"Andy has a bit to go to get himself up to match fitness but he came in here for five and a half years, not a few months," he said.
"As (England coach) Fabio Capello said, he's not going to get fit as quickly as an Aaron Lennon, but we'll be patient and when he's ready he's ready.
"We won't put any timescale on it and we'll take it as it comes.
"The 60 minutes he got for England was very helpful in his recuperation and his fight to try to get back to full fitness.
"We know what Andy Carroll is about and we know what his assets are," he added. "Sometimes when you're struggling a bit, it's a great asset to have but we've got to pick and choose our moments.
"It's up to us to get to know Andy, and Andy to get to know us.
"I don't think we've done too badly in the game and a bit he's played for us (in the Barclays Premier League). We were better the second time than we were the first.
