Liverpool FC Forum

[Espionage]

Crouch is never going to be a player who will be the first name mentioned when we talk about beautiful football, but when we need to grind out a result against a hard working, tough tackling team, he is a player that is sorely missed when he is not there. He is a better footballer than some credit him, and is always a handful for any defender to cope with.
       

I think that you are wrong, he does play beautiful football.  His link up play is great, his intelligence off the ball is great.  He has silky skills combined with a hardworking desire to try his best every game.  If this isnt beautiful football then i dont know what it. 

The point is, he is lanky and kinda ugly therefore people can never bring themselves to acknowledge that he is a beautiful football player.

[Bad Bob]

Crouch is never going to be a player who will be the first name mentioned when we talk about beautiful football, but when we need to grind out a result against a hard working, tough tackling team, he is a player that is sorely missed when he is not there. He is a better footballer than some credit him, and is always a handful for any defender to cope with.
       

I think that you are wrong, he does play beautiful football.  His link up play is great, his intelligence off the ball is great.  He has silky skills combined with a hardworking desire to try his best every game.  If this isnt beautiful football then i dont know what it. 

The point is, he is lanky and kinda ugly therefore people can never bring themselves to acknowledge that he is a beautiful football player.

Fair point.  Garcia's been given lots of credit around here for his role in the winning goal yesterday but very few have talked about Crouch's composure to skip round Carroll, get his head up and cooly nutmeg Ferdinand to slot home.  It was not an easy finish by any stretch and, were it not Crouch, I think a lot of folks would be on here gushing about the quality of the finish.  Wake up, people: Crouch makes us a better team, end of.

[PabloAimar]

people on here are quick to make assumptions when somebody's opinion differs to theirs. "Anyone who can’t see the positive difference that Crouch made to the team last year simply hasn’t been watching the games." - how can u say i've not been watching the games? do u know me? or like most other people, do you just fear what you can't understand?

i've not once sed that he's not a positive influence, or even that he's sh.it! - i am however disputing the original post which was "peter crouch un-droppable?" ...we have 5 other forwards in the squad who are much more useful than him - players who can shoot, header, run - basically play as forwards.

davo_LFC u sound like the kinda kid who was bullied at school, so go suck a di.ck

...and finally, no - it's got nothing to do with his appearance. look at ronaldinho's face (looks like trisha goddard the dog) but i still think he's the best footballer in the world at present.

[onizukaeikichi]

i remember the sports pundits during the west ham half time break, they were praising him " Can you believe a big man like him can have such skills and pace ( ) to actually skip past roy carroll with handful of defenders around him and still score? "

[Cool Hand Luke]

people on here are quick to make assumptions when somebody's opinion differs to theirs. "Anyone who can’t see the positive difference that Crouch made to the team last year simply hasn’t been watching the games." - how can u say i've not been watching the games? do u know me? or like most other people, do you just fear what you can't understand?

i've not once sed that he's not a positive influence, or even that he's sh.it! - i am however disputing the original post which was "peter crouch un-droppable?" ...we have 5 other forwards in the squad who are much more useful than him - players who can shoot, header, run - basically play as forwards.

davo_LFC u sound like the kinda kid who was bullied at school, so go suck a di.ck

...and finally, no - it's got nothing to do with his appearance. look at ronaldinho's face (looks like trisha goddard the dog) but i still think he's the best footballer in the world at present.

You have made a lot strange comments about Crouch.

in my eyes, he's not a good footballer - he's just an annoyance for the opposition. you could play elton john or michael jordan up front and get a similar return.

You said: "he's not a good footballer", that’s as good as saying he is sh1t.

if he was still at southampton, do you think he'd have an england cap yet?

That blunder shows you haven’t been following his career that long because he made his debut while at Southampton.

september 17th my ar.se - it wasnt the beginning of last season that cost us the title last season; it wasnt even chelsea - it was benitez's persistant with selecting a non-firing basketball player he'd bought up front

You said "i've not once sed that he's not a positive influence, or even that he's sh.it!". But clearly your saying that him being in the team last year cost us the title.

In conclusion, so far your comments on Crouch have either been completely wrong or contradictory.

I agree that he isn’t undropable in a sense, but before Kuyt arrived it was vital he be in the team because without him we have no focal point to our attack and no one holding the ball up and bringing others into the game.

[davo_LFC]

davo_LFC u sound like the kinda kid who was bullied at school, so go suck a di.ck

LMAO how did yer figure out that one you YMCA merchant  get back to your gay uk mags or sheep shaggin antics in the fields of inbreadsville.

you are either blind or dont even have two braincells to put into gear because everybody but you can see crouch is a good player so get off the england bandwagon you burberry wearing kunt

[Espionage]

Sorry Pablo, but you ahve no leg to stand on.  Crouch is a great player and I will put money on him starting the most of any of our strikers barring injury. 

Crouch bashing was not even warrented last season, and now that he is playing better you maintain your opinion. 
Do us a favour and just be quiet....

[stmichael]

I see no reason why Kuyt and Crouch couldn't play together occasionally. I don't see it as being one or the other. Kuyt can work the channels, and he can drop deep to collect the ball.

All of our strikers can form partnerships with any of the others, and that's what is so good about the blend we have. They're all different.

[PabloAimar]

yes ok, we'll see at the end of the season how many appearances he makes for liverpool/england and we'll also set aside a few seconds to count how many goals/assists he gets.

btw, it also took him 14 games to get an assist for liverpool - wat a legend

however, in light of everything that's been said i'd like to retract my statement about him not being a good footballer - in fact, i think he is rubbish. he belongs in a mid-table team playing wimbeldon style football. Now that we've got kuyt and bellamy in, u will all begin to see crouch for what he originally was bought as - a fringe player



let's weigh up the pros n cons of his game:

1. he cant shoot
2. he cant header
3. he has no balance (always falls over or gets his legs tangled up)
4. he does step-overs on the by-line ...what other idiot would fake that he's gna run the ball out of play?
5. he has NO pace
6. he has NO power
7. he is a very 'stationary' player - doesnt move much at all, on or off the ball
8. we have strikers such as fowler, bellamy and kuyt

PROS:

1. he's taller than andre the giant
2. he has a lovely soft touch
3. emmmm, according to you lot he brings others into play - i always thought that was called 'passing the ball' (anyway, i'll let u hav that one)

[Espionage]

Of course people can have their own opinions of players, and a player's worth is always subjective.  But it can only deviate around a certain level, and what you are saying is just too far away from his understood market value.  This means that either subconsciencely Crouch has offended you in some way, or maybe you just dont know very much about football. 

I think yes, what about you?   

[48-1119859832]

Crouch is certainly droppable, especially now we have four strikers with different strengths and weakness in their ability and styles of play.

Pablo, I think you're being very harsh on Crouch, fair enough you don't rate the guy but you don't really have a leg to stand on with what you're saying. I'll agree with Crouch isn't the greatest striker in the world, he won't get you 15 goals a season, but you can't just judge a player by the amount of goals they score.

Crouch has shown his can score goals with both his head and feet, granted the fact that Crouch isn't the greatest header of the ball, but he still scores with his head. He is very good in his build up play and link up play.

He's improving on certain aspects of game all the time and he's proving a bargain for what he does and what he brings to the team, he was definitely worth £7million.

[Bad Bob]

The anti-Crouch brigade really gets on my tits because it seems like such a pointless axe to grind.  I'll refrain from the name calling but your "evidence" is just silly...

1. he cant shoot

Right.  Who was it that scored the winning goal Saturday, then?  Who scored twice for England the other week?  What a ridiculous comment.

2. he cant header

Yeah, tell that to Maccabi Haifa.  Or Chelsea.  Or Trinidad and Tobago.  Or the Mancs last season.  Is there room for improvement in this part of his game?  Sure.  Is he as rubbish as you suggest?  Not by a long shot.

3. he has no balance (always falls over or gets his legs tangled up)

When was that, then?  Seemed to show nice balance to me in slotting home on Saturday and almost always stays on his feet when I'm watching so I really don't have a clue what incidents you are referring to.

4. he does step-overs on the by-line ...what other idiot would fake that he's gna run the ball out of play?

WTF are you on about?  When? 

5. he has NO pace

And, yet, he's strangely effective.  What does that say?  It says that he knows his strengths and plays to them.  Cisse illustrated how one-dimensional pace can be so don't carry on as if that's the key attribute that all strikers need because is certainly is not the be all and end all.

6. he has NO power

Yet defenders don't exactly muscle him out do they?  He's not built like the proverbial brick sh!thouse but he still holds his own in the rough and tumble of the 6 yard box so I don't buy this claim at all.

7. he is a very 'stationary' player - doesnt move much at all, on or off the ball

So that's not Crouch we see dropping deep a lot to feed balls to teammates in midfield.  He did this at least a half dozen times on Saturday: winning the first ball well away from the area, passing it to a teammate in midfield and then spinning to get into the box for any return that might come.  Looked pretty mobile to me.

8. we have strikers such as fowler, bellamy and kuyt

And all have their uses.  Unfortunately, none of them can offer the team all of the attributes Crouch can, which is why he's needed.

Look, I'm not saying you need to get Crouch's name on your kit are launch a website in his honour or anything but to suggest that he isn't good enough for Liverpool despite a Crouch-sized mountain of evidence to the contrary is just plain ridiculous.

[Rafa D]

Last season it took Peter Crouch near 18 games to get his first goal for Liverpool. He took a lot of stick, unfairly, outside of the club. He was branded a flop, a half rate player, a freak etc. Well Big Peter proved them all wrong.

    Peter has come full circle in the last 12 months, he is now a regular starter for England, a valuable player for both club and country  and a goal machine!
A goal machine I hear you say? Peter Crouch? Surely not?  Well it may be a bit early but may no mistake about it, Crouch will break the 20+ goal a season barrier this year. When we signed him for £7m from Southampton in the summer of 2005, he had scored 12 goals in 21 games from January onwards. He was banging them in the last half of the season. Then he came to Liverpool and it took him a while to get his first goal, but then he scored a few, not as much as I would liked but he scored enough. Since the turn of the year though, his goal to game ratio is just over 1 goal in every two goals. Peter Crouch  one goal every two games? Yes its true.

   This year Liverpool have strengthened the wings a lot, something we have struggled to do for the best part of a year, yes Kewell was a clever player but could he ever get to the byline, and beat a man? And Gerrard however great he is is not a winger. This year we brought in Speedy Mark and Pennant. These are two out and out wingers, both like to run with the ball, take a man on and deliver balls into the box ( i actually like to deliver my balls into boxes but thats another topic  :lol:  ) .  These two players will bring out the best in our Peter and I truly believe he will go on a fine run this year.

  Everytime I have seen him so far this year, he has looked dangerous, he now looks like he has got goals in him, his heading needs to improve, however this is going to be his greatest ever season. Mark my words.

This is the year of Peter Crouch!!

[Sabre]

When was that, then?  Seemed to show nice balance to me in slotting home on Saturday and almost always stays on his feet when I'm watching so I really don't have a clue what incidents you are referring to.

About balance, the goal you have to mention is the one IIRC, against Deportivo Saprissa, he positioned his body perfectly and shot on goal perfectly.

He's not world class, but he's a very good striker.

About playing with Kuyt, I can't see why not, the reason I have not to choose that option between my favourites, is that I'm a bloody continental guy and I'd sometimes stick to playing a single striker, but if I had to play two strikers, I can't see why not.

[onizukaeikichi]

pablo , i think you never watched a red game before right? Crouch isnt stationary, he comes back to defend, he's constantly pressuring defenders , his work rate is absolutely outstanding. If you dont think so, watch an interview from rafa himself and he says Crouch ran the most in the Liverpool squad in every game, covering quite a distance ( i cant remember so i might as well dont exxegerate it )