Crouch is great. Start him all the time.

[thesilverfoxlfc]

No sell him in the summer and bring in a great player

[Shanks]

Must be difficult for him to play well, get a bit of consistency going when's he watching most games at home with Abi

Sami Hyppia does it without much effort and he isn't playing consistently.

[Trippendicular]

I just like how when Crouch plays, it's him we should get rid of, and when Kuyt plays, he's the one who should be replaced, so essentially whoever of the two spends less time on the pitch had the better game.

I actually thought Crouch did an admirable job today, and I'm usually not a fan. The Torres apologists like to harp on about how whenever he plays badly or has no impact it was because he wasn't getting any good ball (like tonight), which is a fair point, except that it should extend to all our strikers. Crouch got as little good delivery as Torres tonight, perhaps less, yet he worked hard the entire match and was actively trying to make something when he had the ball or to get himself into a good position, whereas Torres just waited on the last man for balls that never came. I'm not attacking Torres, as is role is to do exactly that, but I think the other strikers should be extended the same courtesy. The problem was the midfield today.

Also, does anyone else think Aurelio is overrated? He provided very little going forward today and is extremely culpable defensively, and doesn't have a better cross or free kick than even Riise. I think Arbeloa gives us more in attack and defense than Aurelio ever will.

[Marky]

Sami Hyppia does it without much effort and he isn't playing consistently.

I love Sami as much as the next man but to be fair it isn't as hard to get into his rhythm when you're playing at centre back compared to striker

[MrMichael]

I just like how when Crouch plays, it's him we should get rid of, and when Kuyt plays, he's the one who should be replaced, so essentially whoever of the two spends less time on the pitch had the better game.

This site cracks me up sometimes with that kind of thing. Kuyt fails to score for like, 2 games, and looks a bit out of sorts, so we should drop him and play Crouch... who promptly fails to score and looks a bit out of sorts. If Torres had played against Pompey the other week we would definintely have won (posted by about 2 dozen people). Well he played last night and..... we didn't win.

Personally I prefer the shape of the team when Kuyt plays as opposed to Crouch. neither is in top form currrently, but Kuyt's movement and workrate does more for me than Crouch's height and holding up of the ball. Neither is especially clinical in front of goal; tempting though it is when Kuyt is playing for people to remember Crouch v Arsenal last year, I still remember all the point blank chances in other games which many strikers would have put away easily that he's missed. That's beside the point really, neither of them will ever be effective as strikers without some regular and quality service from midfield, and that doesn't just mean as many aimless crosses as possible hit vaguely in their direction. Before the last international break we were creating plenty and just missing quite a few, a relatively minor problem, now we ain't creating diddly squat, which is a major problem.

The shape of our midfield looks all wrong at the moment, and the lack of dynamism and genuine creativity is quite worrying. The sooner Alonso gets fit and can partner Mascher in the middle with Gerrard nominally on the right, the better.

[bigfooty]

Crouch and Kuyt would both benefit from skilled, attacking wide midfielders. Which we don't have. Despite having spent over 120M.

[AFII]

The sooner Alonso gets fit and can partner Mascher in the middle with Gerrard nominally on the right, the better.

That is what I have said for over a week now. Gerrard should play on the right with Mascherano and Alonso in the middle.

The reason. It's our best lineup.

[Joe Le Toff]

Crouch plays 1 game in 3 with the odd 20 minutes thrown in as sub.

How anybody can expect him to be anything other than off the pace and ****e is ****ing beyond me.

[AFII]

Crouch plays 1 game in 3 with the odd 20 minutes thrown in as sub.

How anybody can expect him to be anything other than off the pace and ****e is ****ing beyond me.