Crouch storms out?

[Morph]

The rags trying to unsettle us!

it's not from a rag

[Dan]

He should be bloody thankful that hes not struggling at Villa or Spurs or playing regulary at QPR.

If this is true then Crouchie can storm out in January aswell

[Rashid]

Yeah. Remember the 26 game goalless streak when Rafa came out in support of him in literally every interview. He should be prepared to do Montse's dishes for the amount of support Rafa has given him in his career.

Rafa had to support him, his own reputation was on the line.

[Craig_H]

When he has played this season he's been our poorest performer up front IMO. Admittedly he hasn't been given as much playing time as the other three strikers but when he has played he hasn't claimed his stake for a place in the side at all - form has been poor but I think his effort on the pitch has been lacking also to some extent. To me he doesn't seem to be working as hard on the pitch as the other three do.

To be fair, we've not seen that lack of effort from Crouch before.

To me, it's a consequence of knowing that whatever he does, he'll no doubt be dropped anyway.

[Dhav]

Yeah. Remember the 26 game goalless streak when Rafa came out in support of him in literally every interview. He should be prepared to do Montse's dishes for the amount of support Rafa has given him in his career.

Yep. He certainly seems to have a short memory. Rafa showed faith in him, may be Crouch should reciprocate and show faith in Rafa and his methods and trust Rafa when he says Crouch will play a crucial role this season.

If rumours of him storming out are true then it smacks of prima donna behaviour and there's no excuse for that - model pros do not do things like that. If you're disappointed at not playing you channel it in the right way by focusing on proving the manager wrong by seizing your opportunity when you do play - you don't storm out.

[Joe King]

it's not from a rag

I was trying to add humour

Obviously it didn't work

[Craig_H]

Yeah. Remember the 26 game goalless streak when Rafa came out in support of him in literally every interview. He should be prepared to do Montse's dishes for the amount of support Rafa has given him in his career.

That's nonsense. Rafa wasnt doing him favours, he was being professional.

Only an idiot manager comes out in front of the press and calls his players ****e...

And from my recollection, Crouch returned the 'favour' 18 times last season. Should Rafa be offering to wash Crouch's car?

[Craig_H]

Rafa and the team stuck by him and he should be thankful for being in the England squad because of Rafa

And there i was thinking it was CROUCH who scored the goals that got him his england call ups...

Must've been (a very well disguised) Rafa all along...

[Morph]

I was trying to add humour

Obviously it didn't work

oh I see it now

[bigfooty]

Yeah. Remember the 26 game goalless streak when Rafa came out in support of him in literally every interview. He should be prepared to do Montse's dishes for the amount of support Rafa has given him in his career.

Yes, and do you remember how we finished with over 80 points that season? And then how Rafa spent in excess of 20M in the transfer market and decided to rejig his attack after only a few games, making Kuyt his #1 and Bellamy the #2?

And then how Crouch, despite no longer being first choice, was able to finish top scorer for the club, one of the top scorers in the Champions League and posted a very impressive 76% win record compared to 36% for the rest of the strikerforce?

Or how about when Rafa then went and spent over 40M without buying a single quality wide midfielder to pick out Crouch with crosses?

I'm not saying Crouch is a world class striker but a lot of people don't realise how effective he can be for a team. Rafa included.

[Craig_H]

If rumours of him storming out are true then it smacks of prima donna behaviour and there's no excuse for that

Let's try to regain some sense of reality and ask whether, given how Crouch has come across in his time at Anfield, this genuinely sounds like something he'd do...

[Joe King]

And there i was thinking it was CROUCH who scored the goals that got him his england call ups...

Must've been (a very well disguised) Rafa all along...

Had Rafa not stuck by him for god knows how long, would he have been in the England squad?

I think not, he owes a lot to Rafa.

[Craig_H]

Yes, and do you remember how we finished with over 80 points that season? And how Rafa spent in excess of 20M in the transfer market and decided to rejig his attack after only a few games, making Kuyt his #1 and Bellamy the #2?

And then how Crouch, despite no longer being first choice, was able to finish top scorer for the club, one of the top scorers in the Champions League and posted a very impressive 76% win record compared to 36% for the rest of the strikerforce?

Or how about when Rafa then went and spent over 40M without buying a single quality wide midfielder to pick out Crouch with crosses?

I'm not saying Crouch is a world class striker but a lot of people don't realise how effective he can be for a team. Rafa included.

[Craig_H]

Had Rafa not stuck by him for god knows how long, would he have been in the England squad?

I think not, he owes a lot to Rafa.

Yes, and Rafa was just being nice, wasnt he? He wasnt trying to cling to all hope that his £7m, hugely criticised signing, wasnt going to embarrass him?

People seem to think Rafa bought him and played him, as a favour

He believed in him and yes, Crouch should be (and i'm sure, is) grateful for this. But his 18 goals last season repaid that faith and having done that, he gets chucked onto the scrapheap.

[peekay]

Rafa had to support him, his own reputation was on the line.

Considering the fact that he had won the champions league a few months earlier, admitting that he got a seven million pound transfer wrong isn't exactly putting his reputation on the line.

Even though he was the object of ridicule by the media and england fans, Rafa identified some positive attributes in him and stuck by him. His goal scoring was abysmal but still Rafa stuck by him. It was only when he started doing well at Liverpool that other pundits and managers started crawling out of the rocks and tried to act like visionaries by stating he had a good touch for a big man. They always knew Crouch was a good player blah blah blah.

Personally I would have roasted him for his performance against Benfica but he still got chances after that.

Kuyt is getting playing time ahead of him because in Rafa's mind he is contributing to other aspects of the game. Maybe Crouch should ask Rafa what he should do to get into the squad and work towards that.