Newcastle United boss Chris Hughton is keen to keep the pressure off Andy Carroll's young shoulders.
Hughton knows he has thrown a player with only a handful of Premier League appearances under his belt in at the deep end, but having seen him score 19 goals in last season's triumphant Coca-Cola Championship campaign, he is confident there is more to come.
Hughton said: "When you look at what he was up against on Monday night in [Nemanja] Vidic and [Jonny] Evans, both of whom I rate as top quality players, that's the sort of quality he is going to be up against.
"I know Richard Dunne very well from my association with Ireland - that's what he is going to be up against and that will be the challenge for him.
"He showed how he had grown last season, but he also showed that there are areas of his game that he needs to improve.
"As a young man, he does have a great willingness to learn. He is not a player who plays with fear, but it's all about producing.
"What I would like to be able to say at the end of the season is he has improved even more, but that will take time.
"Over the season, he will have ups and downs, but I would like to feel he is a player who is very capable of improving."
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