Liverpool FC Forum

[ruskiy playmaker]

I don't know why Rafa keeps overlooking Crouch, it's obvious that he's our second best striker.  How does he expect him to stay if he is not getting any games?

[bunglemark2]

I like him. I think he's very underrated and he certainly knows where the goal is. You'd have to draw Voronin a map !! Offload the Ukrainian now

[bigmick]

I don't know why Rafa keeps overlooking Crouch, it's obvious that he's our second best striker.  How does he expect him to stay if he is not getting any games?

Well I don't think you can accuse the manager of overlooking Crouch right at this moment. Clearly if we are going to play 4-5-1 and Torres is fit, he isn't going to get a game and I'm sure even the long fella himself would accept that as a given. Equally, it's hard to imagine him barrelling up and down the right touchline a la Kuyt of these last few weeks, so his options to play are severely limited.

I suppose you could say it was odd that Rafa chose to bring Voronin on in the Champions league match (and I'd agree with you to be frank) but I wouldn't read too much into that to be totally honest. I think sometimes the manager likes to do something which will have everyone baffled, it even works sometimes (remember Lucas for Gerrard against Everton) and gives us all the chance to have a debate over whether or not he is a football guru.

Realistically though, Rafa is far too clever to believe Voronin is in Crouch's stratosphere when it comes to ability, and what's more I think he is even starting to come around to the idea that the big fella offers far more than Kuyt when played up front. Some posters on here still don't rate him which is entirely their privilage, but most people I would have thought can see that Crouch is a decent player in his own right. If he should choose to leave at the end of the season (which I think he will and in all honesty I can't really blame him) I think we will make a healthy profit on the 7 million quid we splashed out on him.

Considering both the start that crouch didn't make, and the hoots of derision which were heaped on the manager and player by all and sundry in the early days, both of them deserve credit for the way the player has developed. Unfortunately though for Crouch, he isn't a Torres, or an Annelka, nor a Tevez an Adebayor nor a Van Persie or a Drogba or Rooney. That's the standard we need to win the league, and just being a lot better than Kuyt as a striker isn't really enough.

[Bad Bob]

Well, it sounds like Crouch is off this summer.  There's a contract on the table, apparently, but he's not likely to sign it.  It's a shame, really, as he's a very useful player to have in the squad but, in reality, he needs to be a squad player at most if we're to take the step up.


-------------------
Peter Crouch ponders leaving Liverpool

Apr 7 2008

by Ian Doyle, Liverpool Daily Post


PETER CROUCH admits he is contemplating leaving Liverpool after revealing he will consider his future in the summer.

Crouch, whose contract runs out at the end of next season, has been offered a new deal by the Anfield outfit.

Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez is keen for the striker to commit his long-term future, having arrived from Southampton almost three years ago. Crouch made only his seventh league start of the season on Saturday, scoring for a much-changed Liverpool in the 1-1 draw at Arsenal.

The 27-year-old fears that a “disheartening” lack of first-team opportunities at Anfield could ultimately harm his international career.

And while insisting any decision over whether to sign the new deal will not be made until after the end of the season, Crouch has hinted his future lies elsewhere.

“I’d love to stay, it’s a fantastic club and I love everything about it,” said the forward. “But I’ve got to be realistic, and if I want to have any aspirations of playing for England, or furthering my career, then I have to be playing. And that doesn’t seem to be the case.

“But I’ll have to look at it at the end of the season. Now I’m concentrating on winning something for Liverpool and playing some part in the end of the season. We’ve got a Champions League run-in and it’s exciting for us, and all my efforts are focused on that.”

[maguskwt]

how much do you think we'll get for him if he does leave this summer? I think he's got 1 year left on his contract.

[murphy0151]

Ill give him a piggy back all the way to Pompey if I have to.  And as for Vorinon id give him a piggy back to no where as no would want him.

[Sabre]

I have personally rated Crouch and I don't say this after a goal, I wouldn't care to browse the threads of the past, when he had droughts. Crouch is vary useful for ANY squad, England or abroad, perfectly exportable player.

But as I've stated elsewhere (and after thinking) certain signs indicate he might well be off this summer:

1.- Not a good sign he's been used less this season compared to others (haven't looked google but I've got the feeling)

2.- He is not considered key, and the manager implies that with a single striker he won't play.

3.- If Rafa buys a  striker next season as I suspect (both because of partnership with torres and having proper replacement when torres is not available), that will mean a lot of competition for Crouch and few minutes.

If a non international player like Sissoko didn't have the patience to have those few minutes, I don't think a good international striker like Crouch will.

So as much as we'd like to keep him under these circunstances, I don't think we can.

[Feugo]

no Crouch no....
I hope hes bluffing

[god_bless_john_houlding]

when we signed Crouch, I've got to admit that I thought the 7 million was a tad to high. 17 games or whatever it was without a goal was beginning to grate on me (even if he was in the chances to miss them) but three years on and I don't think he's ever let Liverpool down. Yes he's missed chances and possibly even cost us the game but all players will have those sort of matches, it's the ones who don't do it oftenly we can forgive. Crouch doesn't do it oftenly and I'd certainly play him week in week out in a 4-4-2 system from the start of next year. I'd rather Benitez kept this new system for the remainer of the season but from next year start with Crouch and Torres with the likes of Nemeth on the bench. That way you can go long to Crouch to flick it on, or long to Torres over the top but still be equally capable of going short to either. The best thing about those two up front together is they both know how to score, so it occupies both central defenders. If you see Voronin's name on the teamsheet you'd be rubbing your hands with glee.

[maguskwt]

If you see Voronin's name on the teamsheet you'd be rubbing your hands with glee.

you mean us liverpool fans? no way... 

[poolboyuk]

Its beyond me why Benitez keeps overlooking him. I'd play him.Liverpool vs Arsenal is made for him. He destroyed them last season when we beat them 4-1, and they clearly couldnt cope with him on Sunday.

Overlooking him for Kuyt and Voronin has clearly cost us 15-20 goals and lots of points whatever Rafa says!

[Reg]

What happens if Torres is injured on teh first day of next season and we´ve let Crouchie go and no transfer window until december.

The lad´s getting a raw deal and I´ll be very sad to see him go if thats the case. No striker will come here if Rafa maintains a one striker policy !!

[maypaxvobiscum]

voronin should go. crouch should stay. kuyt could be sold too. nemeth seems interesting.

[heimdall]

I'm not the biggest fan of Crouch but he is far more of a goal threat than Voronin. I couldn't believe it when Rafa brought on Voronin, shear madness.
And now Rafa is banging on about rotation again so it looks like we'll get the same sh1t next season, how fecking stupid is rafa? does he never learn, is he really so bloody arrogant that he can't admit to any mistakes and learn from them!!
How can any manager with half a brain rate Voronin over Crouch???

[Bad Bob]

Whoah, who's saying Rafa rates Voronin ahead of Crouch?  Crouch has been offered a contract, suggesting that Rafa wants to keep him.  Whether he moves on or not is up to the big man himself.  Voronin should be shipped out but much will depend on whether anyone wants to buy him.

As for this Crouch has been hard done by talk, isn't this just football?  For going on seven weeks now we've been playing 4-2-3-1.  There's only one spot in that system that Crouch can play and, unfortunately for him, that spot is occupied by one of the best strikers in world football at the moment.  Moreover, the system is working for us so, while I feel a little sorry for Crouch, I'm not so sorry as to suggest that we should change a winning system in order to accommodate him.

No doubt some will point to earlier in the season when we were playing 4-4-2 and Crouch still wasn't getting much of a look in.  The theory at the time was that Crouch and Rafa had had a falling out and that not playing him was out of some sort of spite.  In hindsight, I don't think there's much in this idea of a falling out.  Instead, it seems that Rafa is hesitant to deploy Crouch and Torres together from a tactical point of view.  Whether they take up close to the same positions or whether Rafa really does rate Kuyt's running and harrying more than most of us do is a matter for debate but I don't think Crouch has been any more "hard done by" than Riise or Benayoun or Pennant or Arbeloa (at times) or Babel (at times) this season.  All have been left out of a lot of games for tactical reasons...such is life at a top club.

Now, I'm sure that Sabre's right: Rafa will be looking to buy another striker this summer to augment Torres.  This means that Crouch can look forward to more of the same if he stays next season.  From his remarks in today's paper it looks as though he's not prepared to play that bit part.  Fair play to him--I thank him for his service and wish him best of luck at his next club.  I don't feel he's been unfairly drummed out the door, though.