Crouch storms out?

[Craig_H]

He's played with Torres against Reading and Marseille, now they both weren't the hardest opposition yet do you remember him doing anything?

Sell him, he offers not much now. This is evolutionary process by Rafa and Liverpool and Liverpool can attack in better patterns and try different things instead of the agricultural punt up field.

Do you have any concept of needing to play on a regular basis in order to be most effective?

Reading & Marseille indeed...!

[Craig_H]

Our lack of width has been a huge problem this season and one caused by the awful transfer spending in the Summer where the only recognised wide player we signed was Leto who clearly isn't ready for significant first team action. Pennant has still yet to create a goal since April and yet again we had Kuyt playing as right-winger today.

Crouch is a strong player when balls are coming in from the wings, not as great in the air as he can be but he has good movement, can finish with volleys and can make contact. This season nearly all our goals have come from central areas of the pitch because we just have no decent wide players at all. Crouch naturally struggles in this sort of system as he doesn't have pace.

Think of it like this. Crouch was top scorer last season despite only starting half our matches. Imagine if he started 75% of them AND had a truly exceptional partner like Torres instead of Kuyt or Bellamy.

That's something I'd like to see.

Spot on.

Crouch scored 18 from about 28 starts last season. Prolific.

And he gets dumped onto the scrapheap.

Stupid decision.

[thesilverfoxlfc]

Crouch outperformed Kuyt last season, so perhaps Dirk's agent too should be writing letters to some lower teams too?

Here's hoping

[peekay]

Rafa is giving Kuyt as many chances as he gave Crouch in his first year. The simple reason he backed Crouch in his first year is that his work rate for the team was top notch even if his finishing was bad.

I am not a big fan of Kuyt's current performances but you have to admit he did not do that badly in his first year coming from the Dutch league. He had 12-13 league goals and worked his ass off. He still works his ass off but the goals are not coming. I am pretty sure Rafa will have no issue dropping if his goalless streak extends to more than 15-20 games.

[Craig_H]

Rafa is giving Kuyt as many chances as he gave Crouch in his first year. The simple reason he backed Crouch in his first year is that his work rate for the team was top notch even if his finishing was bad.

I am not a big fan of Kuyt's current performances but you have to admit he did not do that badly in his first year coming from the Dutch league. He had 12-13 league goals and worked his ass off. He still works his ass off but the goals are not coming. I am pretty sure Rafa will have no issue dropping if his goalless streak extends to more than 15-20 games.

Kuyt is barely a threat.

And he wont be one if he continues to forget that he's not a winger.

And no, i'm not talking about today's stint on the wing, which was clearly Rafa's instructon.

[thesilverfoxlfc]

Id play Crouch over Kuyt though infact id have Crouch on the bench before Kuyt

While Torres play up front with a good striker

[Joe King]

Our lack of width has been a huge problem this season and one caused by the awful transfer spending in the Summer where the only recognised wide player we signed was Leto who clearly isn't ready for significant first team action. Pennant has still yet to create a goal since April and yet again we had Kuyt playing as right-winger today.

Crouch is a strong player when balls are coming in from the wings, not as great in the air as he can be but he has good movement, can finish with volleys and can make contact. This season nearly all our goals have come from central areas of the pitch because we just have no decent wide players at all. Crouch naturally struggles in this sort of system as he doesn't have pace.

Think of it like this. Crouch was top scorer last season despite only starting half our matches. Imagine if he started 75% of them AND had a truly exceptional partner like Torres instead of Kuyt or Bellamy.

That's something I'd like to see.

1) Good movement? The guy is slow as ****
2) Can finish volleys? He can't finish balls on the ground yet he is technically better to finish volleys? I can only think of those over head kicks
3) When we play with Crouch in the current system of more pace up front, he seems to slow the pace when he has the ball, dallying and wondering what to do with it because of the pace of some of the movement like Torres.

[thesilverfoxlfc]

1) Good movement? The guy is slow as ****
2) Can finish volleys? He can't finish balls on the ground yet he is technically better to finish volleys? I can only think of those over head kicks
3) When we play with Crouch in the current system of more pace up front, he seems to slow the pace when he has the ball, dallying and wondering what to do with it because of the pace of some of the movement like Torres.

Crap header of the ball
Slow as fook
...but is great at bringing players into the game i.e Stevie storming into the box

After that he doesnt offer much

[kurtangle01]

Anyone else thought that as Rafa sees the players every day in training and not just on match days, like us, he know's and is better equipped to make a decision on who should play up front based on effort on the training pitch etc...?

Just a thought, like.

[bigfooty]

1) Good movement? The guy is slow as ****

This is where you are confusing pace with movement. Movement means being in the right places at the right time, finding the gaps in the box, pulling off a defender. You don't need to be fast to do this.

[Joe King]

Kuyt offers much more than Crouch. If I had to choose one to sell it would be Crouch every single time. He's weak, poor in the air, slow and can only play well if he's got the ball played right to him. He also has a head shaped like a fifty pence piece, or at least he must have because he can't head the ball.

It's a matter of opinion I suppose but, imho, Kuyt is infinitely better and offers alot more to our team than Crouch.

He has decent work rate but he has no threat to defenders, he is slow, poor in the air, lacks composure in front of goal.

I would sell both of them.

[Matt]

If this is true then Crouch can **** off. He's a decent player but he needs to realise he's never going to be at a bigger club than Liverpool.

If Rafa picks the team each game based on fitness and what he sees in training then I'd advise Crouch to stop crying and apply himself a bit more at Melwood because temper tantrums will do nothing for his cause.

[kurtangle01]

1) Good movement? The guy is slow as ****
2) Can finish volleys? He can't finish balls on the ground yet he is technically better to finish volleys? I can only think of those over head kicks
3) When we play with Crouch in the current system of more pace up front, he seems to slow the pace when he has the ball, dallying and wondering what to do with it because of the pace of some of the movement like Torres.

Spot on, mate. He's more of a hinderance than a help these days.

[peekay]

Kuyt is barely a threat.

And he wont be one if he continues to forget that he's not a winger.

And no, i'm not talking about today's stint on the wing, which was clearly Rafa's instructon.

Even i am a bit frustrated with Kuyt randomly popping up in our half tackling when he should be further up the field. But I am sure he is playing deep on Rafa's instruction.

Do honestly think he would have lasted more than a couple of matches if he plays deep against Rafa's instructions!!!

[Joe King]

This is where you are confusing pace with movement. Movement means being in the right places at the right time, finding the gaps in the box, pulling off a defender. You don't need to be fast to do this.

Right place at the right time, you cant bloody miss him yet he misses hatful amount of chances.