Rafa and Crouch

[desertscouser]

Same here mate.

We simply have to sell Kuyt before his stock sinks and people start to realise that he's an average striker at best. We will never ever get anywhere near the money we signed him for but I reckon we may be able to get 7-8 million for him if we sell asap.

Imagine what we'd be like if we signed another top class forward like Torres?

[Diego]

I don't know 1 reds fan who wants Crouch sold or that rates him behind Kuyt or Voronin.

The recent comments by both Crouch & Rafa are very hopeful. Crouch wants to stay & Rafa wants him to stay. However a part of me also thinks he's on his way and both parties are playing the PR game of who'll get the blame when it happens.

i actually wouldn't mind loosing him, i like him as a guy but i don't think he's good enough to warrant a stay much longer. most of the times i would start voronin ahead of the two for the simple reason that he knows where the goal is and tends to run towards it...

crouch is not very good at what he's supposed to be doing. he can't use his height to his advantage as a matter of fact it is a hindrance, he too slow and is a bad header of the ball. but he has a good technique and likes to fondle the ball...

so here is my problem with him, if he is being played upfront to give us possibilities in his height we can do much better, with a quicker, stronger and a better heading striker. if however he is being used in his preferred role fondling the ball out side the area creating chances then there are much better options for that as well...

we need to replace two of those 3 striker before next season, and granted once new arrivals get in the one remaining will never be more than 3rd 4th choice...

i also think we play better football when he's not on the pitch, we are much more capable of passing around with out him, and once he's on we often play more direct, or carra hoofs the ball in the air hoping it will find him. i think this is one good reason rafa has kept him off the pitch...

[AFII]

It's all down to if he signs a new deal or not.

If he don't then we more or less don't have any other option than to sell him.

I believe City made a bid for him but we turned it down. That's why Rafa said that Crouch isn't for sale. Rafa also said that Bellamy isn't for sale.....

Everything is for sale at the right price, well, almost anything. If we get the right offer then he is off IMO.

[lfcruleus]

I think at the moment Crouch and Torres have to be our front two, they're definately the best two strikers and probably the best partnership

Impossible to say they are the best partnership as they have never started a game together to my knowledge. I still stick to the fact he keeps Crouch and Torres as up top strikers and Dirk and Voronin as support strikers and very rarely mixes them (once i think against Brum).

[sonsofthedesert]

I think and this is just my opinion, that Kuyt will be the one to go in the summer.

[Morph]

I think and this is just my opinion, that Kuyt will be the one to go in the summer.

of all 4 strikers i'd like to see him go and replaced with a genuine top class second striker

[sonsofthedesert]

of all 4 strikers i'd like to see him go and replaced with a genuine top class second striker

Yeah, I also suspect there will not be many changes next summer and any that we do make will be mostly self financing. I def think we wont be big spenders until our new stadium opens.

[dww]

I think he links exceptionally with Torres and I would like to see Voronin go if anyone. I really like both as players but I have come to the conclusion that they are too similar. In which case the judgement is who will be the most useful playing with the other strikers we have and I would go with Kuyt.

I could be persuaded to keep them all if Babel developed more of a consistent goal threat and we bought in a pacy left sided player who chipped in with a good number too.

[Morph]

I think he links exceptionally with Torres and I would like to see Voronin go if anyone. I really like both as players but I have come to the conclusion that they are too similar. In which case the judgement is who will be the most useful playing with the other strikers we have and I would go with Kuyt.

I could be persuaded to keep them all if Babel developed more of a consistent goal threat and we bought in a pacy left sided player who chipped in with a good number too.

i've explained my thoughts on this before tho

Kuyt is not good enough to be a second striker imo, and i don't think he'd be happy with only being a bit part player

Voronin however is decent, and if you look at the goals scored and assists stats you'll see that for minutes on the pitch Voronin is the better of the two. For me there's not between the two of them but the key is Voronin seems happy to be third or fourth choice and want's to show us what he can do to try and improve, and you can't often find this in a player.

So for me assuming we can keep crouch, in order our stirkers would be

Torres
a.n.other
Crouch
Voronin

[dww]

I think it depends on what you want in your second striker. Kuyts movement is very good and when playing in concert with Torres the latter seems to have more space and more of the ball. I think he lacks the passing to be dropping deep and playing second striker which happens a lot when we don't have anyone with pace pushing back the opposition defence.

I would be interested to see the PL minutes per goal/assist for each and to see it broken down by partnership as well.

[Morph]

I think it depends on what you want in your second striker. Kuyts movement is very good and when playing in concert with Torres the latter seems to have more space and more of the ball. I think he lacks the passing to be dropping deep and playing second striker which happens a lot when we don't have anyone with pace pushing back the opposition defence.

I would be interested to see the PL minutes per goal/assist for each and to see it broken down by partnership as well.

voronin wins in goals and assists easily, in the pl if you take away the 2 pennos kuyt scored v the blue ****e he's only managed 1 goal this season that aint good enough, voronin also has 1 more assists in all comps, and is equal with kuyt in the league with less minutes on the pitch

[carrsim]

from the offal

Peter Crouch has once again reiterated his commitment to Liverpool and backed the gaffer's rotation policy.
The tall striker joked that only one player in the squad was capable of playing 70 times a season – Steven Gerrard.

He said: "I don't want to go anywhere and unless I am told otherwise I will certainly be at Liverpool in February.

"I haven't started the last two games but did start the two before that. I think I'll be involved and get the right amount of games to be happy. If I perform in those games I'm sure the manager will want to keep me.

"I'd like to play in every game but the manager likes to rest players and select players for each individual match.

"I don't think any player apart from Steven Gerrard can play 70 games a season!"

[friedk]

Crouch and Kuyt both average around a goal every 3 games; Crouch has maintained that this season (4 in 13), while Kuyt has slightly improved on it (6 in 13). Both of them are clearly not our first choice so we need to look at their combination with Torres (10 in 16). At their average goals per game together with Torres, I think both combinations are worth keeping. Although not an exact science, if you combine Crouch and Torres you average 15 goals every 16 games; if you combine Kuyt and Torres you average 17 goals every 16 games.

[Kenneth]

For info, Rafa called him peter in the pre bolton press conference.

[CharlieMansonsSquint]

Same here mate.

We simply have to sell Kuyt before his stock sinks and people start to realise that he's an average striker at best. We will never ever get anywhere near the money we signed him for but I reckon we may be able to get 7-8 million for him if we sell asap.

Imagine what we'd be like if we signed another top class forward like Torres?

£7-8m? Laughable mate, and we both know it. It's another Cisse scenario. We bought him when his stock was at his highest, for double his actual worth and we'll get about a third of it back.

Still cannot fathom why Rafa bought him.