Comments on: Liverpool must sell Crouch

By: Ryan

Ryan — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 17:23:38 +0000

I am a big fan of Crouch, but yesterday was a bad game for him. Considering he has had so few opportunities to play this season, I forgive him. The game yesterday was just bad in general. No creativity. All long-balls. We gave away so much posession.

Lets see what he does in some of the other games coming up and make a decision about him near Christmas. We have him for another 3 1/2 months anyways, so its no use talking about dumping him. For Crouch’s sake, he needs to leave to get first team action. The Russia game proved this urgency for him.

By: Brian B

Brian B — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 16:53:27 +0000

I thinks its way to early in the season to start saying Liverpool should ditch Crouch, he’s had one bad game but every player has off days at least give him a chance to show whats he’s capable of.

By: Brian Strand

Brian Strand — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 13:32:22 +0000

Crouch should of cource stay, it will be a long season and we will get injuries at some point. 4 strikers is a minimum some strikers can also loose form. He has proved that he is good enough to play for us, he was bad against Portsmouth, but he was not the only one.

By: ridder8

ridder8 — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 11:32:03 +0000

Crouch is a great player, modest at times and I like the lad. However, i have to agree that it is time for him to leave. Yes he had done his part in helping Liverpool to 3rd place for 2 years in the League and helped in last season’s Champions League run to the final..But now..Benitez is bringing in more technical player, players who are creative and with speed, which unfortunately Crouch does not really have them (except for the robo-dance and bicycle kicks)

Time to let him go, buy in some young strikers, like Pazzini or Huntelaar. German League has some great forwards too.

By: Haider (Pakistan)

Haider (Pakistan) — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 05:25:40 +0000

This is exactly what I mentioned somewhere else. Crouch is undoubtedly a wonderful player. He, nonetheless, a surplus to this side. He must realize that this will be good for him too to wave Liverpool goodbye. Maybe it is good for the club to have him in their bag. But it is certainly not favorable for Crouch to play a substitute-only role. After all, when the last year’s leading scorer isn’t getting enough first team chances, what should he expect? Kuyt-Toress partnership is so good that Rafa is unlikely to consider him (Crouch) unless one of the two is out.

By: LFC4EVR

LFC4EVR — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 00:33:18 +0000

Ok, so when Crouch wass our leading scorer last year, was scoring overhead goals (galatasaray nd bolton) or hatricks against assenal, evry1 defended him. now he lacks in form 4 1 match nd suddenly hes public enemy number one. ironic isnt it…..

but evn though it might be, i cant help but agree..i myself defended crouch once but only cuz he scored goals. no matter how many goals he scores, crouch has never quite fitted in with rafa’s style of play, i cant see him linking up with anyone, not kuyt, not voronin, not torres. he makes a good lone striker and is brilliant at crosses and corners when playing alone up front, BUT THAT IS NOT HOW LIVERPOOL PLAY!!! fine he comes on with half an hour left, puts in a match-winner but in the process, we sacrifice the beauty of our game.
therefore i say we give crouch till december. if he proves himself worthy of the red shirt, he stays with my best wishes. if not, we sell him off, save the money 4 summer and bring in lindfield

By: Sam Adriance

Sam Adriance — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 19:15:09 +0000

I think this one’s obvious at this point. Crouh isn’t good enough to start, and he has a terrible record as a sub. Sell him for 10m, move Babel up front, where he has more potential anyway as a support striker (and Steel Scouser, he may not be able to play as a lone striker, but who said he was going to play on his own? and the other three can play as centre forwards) and sign a quality young defender that can cover RB and CB (I’m thinking Vincent Kompany) with the money plus a little extra. Then let Riise be the assumed starter on the left, with Benayoun and Aurelio (and maybe Kewell–we can always hope!) backing him up, with Arbeloa, who no longer has to cover RB, at LB with Aurelio his primary back up. Sounds good to me, no?

By: Sean O'Neil

Sean O'Neil — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 18:43:20 +0000

SteelScouser, as much as I loved to watch him knock in corners, and score a hat-trick against Arsenal, he makes it harder for us to player our style of play. For every game we play well with him we play two terrible games. So yes, a starter he is not, but he defiantly isn’t a super-sub either. He isn’t a counter-attack striker due to his lack of pace, and isn’t a very good poacher because he can’t sneak into position. The goals he scores come from crosses, and if we are playing in a situation were we would need a super-sub, we would most likely be playing counter-attacking football, so his strengths wouldn’t be useful.

By: Post-Pompey Reaction - Post Match Reaction - The Offside - Liverpool Football Club Blog

Sun, 16 Sep 2007 17:57:17 +0000

[...] looks as if he has one eye on the door, and there are murmours about whether or not we should sell him in the January [...]

By: SteelScouser

SteelScouser — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 14:24:50 +0000

I have to disagree with this logic. Yes, Crouch is obviously fourth choice behind Voronin, Torres, and Kuyt. However, the man was our leading scorer last year! If you can have your former leading scorer as a back up option, why not?

The real problem is the Liverpool game plan when Crouchie comes in. For some reason, despite the fact that pretty much everyone acknowledges that the kid is better with his feet than his head, we try to treat him like Jan Koller. Stop it with the long balls!! All that creates is Crouch surrounded by several defenders with little to no support. Rafa needs to inject some more creative thinking into his players (not his strong suit, I know) to take advantage of Crouch’s abilities.

No, he is not going to press for inclusion in the Reds’ top XI, but he is a viable option off the bench and with the fixture list crowded as usual this season, Rafa will need someone to spell Torres and Kuyt. Babel cannot play as a lone striker, so don’t try and bring him into this conversation. Crouch is the depth that Rafa craves at every position. Also, he is a positive, hard-working bloke who has struggled before and come out of it looking better. Give it some time, the formula still looks good to me.