Which asks the question - is he ready for the World Cup - or would he be a liability?
Carroll moved permanently to Upton Park for a club record £15million before the start of the campaign, but the powerful centre-forward was ruled out until January with a foot problem.
Carroll has scored only twice in his 13 appearances and his form has faded of late.
The 25-year-old will be targeting a place in England's 23-man World Cup squad in June, but Allardyce admits Carroll is still catching up after his spell on the sidelines.
Sam Allardyce: "He's not 100 per cent.
"He's had no pre-season at all, he's worked very hard, but getting into games at this stage of the season after so long out is hard.
"It's hard to get that ultimate sharpness that you need. Hopefully he can find it.
"He looked sharp when he came back. His enthusiasm and the energy from being so pleased to be back with us carried him through, but that catches up with you when you've been out for so long.
"A little bit of fatigue kicks in. We've got to work through it and hopefully he can finish the season by scoring a few goals for us.
"If Andy had been with us all season, we'd be top half, I'm convinced about that.
"I'm convinced the front man is the key to how you do in a season, and if we had Andy out on the pitch, match-fit and scoring the goals we know he can with Kevin Nolan, I think we'd be a lot further up the table than we are now."