Liverpool FC Forum

by **Rafa D** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 2:28 pm

cue peter to have the worst season in living memory.

He hardly ever gets praise.

by **ivor_the_injun** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 3:43 pm

The thing people get blinded against with Crouch is that he's a really good all-round footballer. If you took a foot off his height and got over the fact that he's no consistent threat in front of goal with his head, you'd have a great physical player with pretty exquisite touch and real vision about his passing.

The extra foot makes him look awkward, and I think many people struggle to get past that. He's an incredibly talented guy, and his skill levels put a lot of lads in the Prem to shame. His touch is excellent - actually pretty extraordinary at times - but some still look at him off the ball and can't shake the word "donkey" from their minds.

And personally, I wouldn't sell him for £25m. There's no comparable player in world football, and I think a lot of the top teams would kill to have him. We no longer need to sell to buy, and he's a really good asset to have.

And he'd still be in my first 11 incidentally. I think Rafa prefers Kuyt, but probably more based on what he thinks Dirk should be producing as opposed to what he actually has been for the club.

by **Igor Zidane** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 3:51 pm

ivor_the_injun wrote:The thing people get blinded against with Crouch is that he's a really good all-round footballer. If you took a foot off his height and got over the fact that he's no consistent threat in front of goal with his head, you'd have a great physical player with pretty exquisite touch and real vision about his passing.

The extra foot makes him look awkward, and I think many people struggle to get past that. He's an incredibly talented guy, and his skill levels put a lot of lads in the Prem to shame. His touch is excellent - actually pretty extraordinary at times - but some still look at him off the ball and can't shake the word "donkey" from their minds.

And personally, I wouldn't sell him for £25m. There's no comparable player in world football, and I think a lot of the top teams would kill to have him. We no longer need to sell to buy, and he's a really good asset to have.

And he'd still be in my first 11 incidentally. I think Rafa prefers Kuyt, but probably more based on what he thinks Dirk should be producing as opposed to what he actually has been for the club.

Totally agree with that ivor , spot on mate.

by **stmichael** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 3:55 pm

ivor_the_injun wrote:The thing people get blinded against with Crouch is that he's a really good all-round footballer. If you took a foot off his height and got over the fact that he's no consistent threat in front of goal with his head, you'd have a great physical player with pretty exquisite touch and real vision about his passing.

The extra foot makes him look awkward, and I think many people struggle to get past that. He's an incredibly talented guy, and his skill levels put a lot of lads in the Prem to shame. His touch is excellent - actually pretty extraordinary at times - but some still look at him off the ball and can't shake the word "donkey" from their minds.

And personally, I wouldn't sell him for £25m. There's no comparable player in world football, and I think a lot of the top teams would kill to have him. We no longer need to sell to buy, and he's a really good asset to have.

And he'd still be in my first 11 incidentally. I think Rafa prefers Kuyt, but probably more based on what he thinks Dirk should be producing as opposed to what he actually has been for the club.

Good post. Agree 100%.

Until somebody proves it to be otherwise, Crouch is still the best striker we have, and was last season.

Anybody who doesn't agree just needs to look at his performance against Arsenal at Anfield last season. It was awesome. If Ronaldo had scored that third goal, the media would have been raving about it for weeks.

Has he been offered a new contract yet?

by **ivor_the_injun** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 4:30 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EETsx4fvqtw

I think this YouTube vid sums him up quite well. He's not an out-and-out goalscorer, and some of the headed goals do look a bit sloppy and mistimed, but look at him when he has the ball at his feet. There's a goal in there where he goes round the keeper with a little jink in his run and it's just absolutely effortless. That's not a carthorse in a football shirt, that's a footballer, and a talented one at that. Some of his flicks and short passing as well - that's what he's all about. Every game he plays there's tons of that, the vast majority of it finding his man, and still people can't see it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByHt7zgLUvU

Some good goals in there, but in particular go to 2:30 and watch Crouch make Carvalho look like an absolute mug. Outstanding close control on the chest with a ball coming at him from distance, and then a quick touch to go past his man.

And we're not talking about muppet defenders in international friendlies against Jamaica or whatever - we're talking about a big time, seriously outstanding defender here.

by **god_bless_john_houlding** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 4:44 pm

Crouch should be Liverpool's main forward this season because he is the best forward we have. He'll score, create and cause absoloute havoc. If we sell Crouch and keep Kuyt then something seriously has to be explained.

by **metalhead** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 4:51 pm

very good player crouch is and very useful.

by **Smeg** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 5:12 pm

Not good enough, never win us the title so lets just hope Torres works out/stays clear of injury or we're back to seeing kuyt/crouch score 1 out of the 5 chances they get against the no marks, then we'll sing their praises but wonder why they didnt put the 1 chance away that a good defence allows.

by **weringo** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 5:48 pm

Unless Torres adapts straight away and plays how he has the last few seasons then Crouch is our best striker imo. He has great control and passing ability and can be good in the air provided that the ball is whipped in towards in rather than floated/chipped in as he can direct the ball well but struggles when he needs to attack it. His goals to game ratio over the last 18 months has been good as well.

by **Rockthekop** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 5:53 pm

I`ve got a feeling that Crouch is getting the credit he deserves finally and in my view should be above Kuyt in the pecking order based on their goal threat. Kuyt needs to hit the back of the net more often or at the very least look remotely like scoring. Ok so it`s good that he`s a strong, hard working player but he was signed to score goals, not play pretty. Last season was his freebie year, it`s from here he`ll be judged. There`s a lot of expectation from the fans for Kuyt to improve and the team as a whole with the addition of Torres and Babel and I`m confident that they will. Don`t expect any league titles just yet though, 2010 maybe!

by **ivor_the_injun** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 6:06 pm

I think part of the problem we've had is that Crouch and Kuyt have done the donkey work, but no-one else has been on hand to pick up the scraps they're pretty prolific in grinding out and supplying. I'm not sure that Torres is the man to change that, but one thing he can do is to bring Gerrard, Riise and Agger more into the equation from a goalscoring point of view. We've all too often had one attacker around the box with a swarm of defenders around him, and no red shirt within 20 yards. If we've got wingers, midfielders and defenders blazing forward, the opposing defenders will be struggling to pick everyone up, and suddenly teams we've been labouring to break down in recent seasons are there for the taking.

I wonder if we'll see a top scorer of 15-17 again, but with maybe half a dozen or so players hitting double figures (Torres, Crouch, Kuyt, Voronin, Gerrard, Kewell). I definitely think that Riise could be a huge benificiary from a new attacking mindset in the team, as he's such a threat from anywhere in the opposing half that he'll potentially be able to pull the trigger almost at will.

by **Rush Job** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 8:54 pm

Ive been a Crouch fan from the start even when he went all those games without scoring he was still getting and making chances was still lively still threatening he never hid, and all through that period its worth noting we were braking consecutive game records. In terms of what he gives he's almost ireplacable, when we were at our best last season he was at the centre (bolton, arsenal H) . I was looking at his stats for last season and Rafa dodds right our best player last season should have played more.

by **god_bless_john_houlding** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 12:40 am

One fact last year on sky sports news read had Crouch played the same amount of minutes as drogba throughout the year, then Crouch would of suppassed drogba in terms of goals judging on their minutes per goal ratio. Crouch has to be number 1 striker with the rest of lads fighting for a place beside him on the pitch.

by **The_Rock** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 8:55 am

I wasn't a big fan of crouch when we signed him...but he has since won me over. For me, crouch has to play most of our matches (be it home or away or champions league).

We always look a more dangerous side when he is in our team.

England look a better side when he is spear heading their attack too.

by **heimdall** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 9:52 am

The_Rock wrote:I wasn't a big fan of crouch when we signed him...but he has since won me over. For me, crouch has to play most of our matches (be it home or away or champions league).

We always look a more dangerous side when he is in our team.

England look a better side when he is spear heading their attack too.

I agree that he is getting better and better but please Rafa give the lad some intensive training on how to head the bloody ball!!
If Crouch was a good header how would anybody defend against him??? :buttrock

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