by bigmick » Fri Sep 21, 2007 12:19 pm
Some very interesting observations on Crouch, and clearly the fact that in his case it's very early as far as this season goes is no barrier to many deciding his time is up. I think the situation needs to be looked at carefully and with a clear head.
All this "he ain't good enough for Liverpool" stuff is patently nonsense if you consider that four or five months ago he was our most potent striker. If you cast your mind back into the dim and distant past of around a year ago, he was just about the hottest striker in Europe as evertime he swung his boot he scored a goal. Clearly however, all is not well with the big man right now and something needs to be done.
Selling at the right price is clearly an option, but only if you have a viable alternative in reserve. If we are belatedly going to secure the services of a Samuel Eto then obviously there wouldn't be a problem. More realistically, if we are going to buy a genuine International class striker who hopefully wouldn't do a "Morientes" to take his place then once again I'm all for it. My suspicion is however that those who advocate moving on Crouch are willing to do so without securing an alternative which would be a huge mistake IMHO. I'm not quite as prepared as many to accept at this stage that Voronin is going to have a significant impact on our season, whereas Crouch could be brought in for the biggest of fixtures and he'd have my full confidence that he would do the job. Kuyt continues also to flatter to decieve, while Babel hasn't even been tried up top yet so my feeling is that we still very much need Crouch, or at least a credible alternative.
The main problem for Crouch at the moment it seems to me is that he needs to find a way to play. It is true to say that we aren't playing in entirely the same way as last season, and I don't think the big man has managed to make the adjustment yet as he hasn't really figured out what he should be doing. He also was a touch unlucky in that his only League start came in the only game where we didn't really perform as a team and he was by no means alone in looking poor on the day. Whether it was down to selection or whatever else, very few people came out of the Portsmouth game with credit.
Just to explain myself a bit in terms of him needing to figure out a way to play. I actually think his form began to tail off a bit last season once Gerrard moved inside. Gerrard on the right was perfect for Crouch as it stretched the play, gave him some fantastic deliveries to score goals with, and provided him with a good foil to get involved with when Gerrard followed the play in. Once Gerrard plays inside and Pennant goes right , he misses out on two fronts. Firstly, Pennants delivery is nowhere near as good with the ball not being fizzed into the gap between the keeper and defence a la Gerrard, and secondly Pennant sticks to the touchline like glue. Allied to that, Gerrard moving centrally causes the play centrally to contract a touch with the opposition holding midfielder sitting in a bit more and Crouch is a little harder to hit. Even furthermore, since Torres has come in and really began to work the channels (as opposed to Bellamy who used to work much wider and Kuyt who works much deeper) my feeling is Crouch is searching for an area to operate in. Playing him with Voronin wouldn't appear to be a good match for me because in terms of where they go they are very similar, and neither will work off the other. At least when he played with Kuyt the Dutchman waould sweep in and around him and provide some interplay.
For me Crouch needs to back away from the play more. If the ball is with the left back he needs to back off into the outside right position, giving us an alternative outball to Torres in the channel. This would have the dual effect of stretching the centre-halves a bit and giving Torres the option of circling around in front of Crouch if the full-back goes diagonal. Previously his movement would have been towards the player in posession and he just needs to do the opposite a bit more, if you get my drift.
Last edited by
bigmick on Fri Sep 21, 2007 12:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"se e in una bottigla ed e bianco, e latte".
striker, and has a horrible attitude, this season Bellamy, lets get rid asap.
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