anyone else think benitez is foolish for excluding crouch most of the season?i personaly think he is way better than voronin and kuyt.would love to see our main forwards be crouch and torres
Dunno about that one...Kuyt is a total work horse and runs his ass off and that leads to Torres getting space in the middle and in front of goal. Now dont get me wrong I love the robot dancing, 15 foot tall son of a gun, but I do think that Kuyt is the best man for the starting position. But I would say that Crouch has not been getting near the amount of game time he should be. Although I dont want to think about it, if Crouch does not start getting more game time I think he will be looking for a move before next season. Booooo
Benitez: Foolish??? You can't put them two words in the same sentence lad!! He knows what he's doing and it's working so far, so have faith. Personally I think Crouch has a lot of great qualities but it's clear at the moment the best partnership is Torres and Kuyt. Crouchy will get his chance he just has to be patient its a long season with lots of games to come.
No 1 Liverpool 4 3 1 0 9 10 2 Arsenal 4 3 1 0 4 10 3 Everton 5 3 1 1 3 10 4 Chelsea 5 3 1 1 1 10 5 Man City 5 3 0 2 2 9
Plenty goals, great striking partnerships, no complaints. Crouch will get his chance when Rafa see's fit, just as Torres, Kuyt and Voronin will. I expect to see him tomorrow seeing as he has had the least run out in the past week with internationals.
Crouch's time will come this season. I can see him coming in and making sensational impacts over periods of 4-5 games a couple of times this season. But I think that Rafa will continually freshen things up meaning tems cant second guess which way we are going to hit them this season.
My girlfriend is German (No piss taking now lads) and her brother told me that he can't believe Voronin was gone on free. He was easily the most consistant player in Germany over the last 3 seasons. Hopefully we'll see that as well.
If we know anything about Rafa he doesn't pick players because they are playing well. He looks at the faults of the opposing defence and the strengths of each forward. He then picks the strongest two and plays them against that defence. We have only played four premier league games. Crouchie will figure this season. Maybe more so in the cups but I would imagine he will play a lot of premiership games.
Sorry mate but on that performane from crouchy today he can spend more time on hells kitchen.He was pants along with a few more but if he is going to moan to ther press about not getting a chance the least he can do when he gets one is put the effort in-taking one point today is not good enough and before anyone jumps at me if we are to have realistic title ambitions these are the games that need 3 points coming home. YNWA
Rafa tells Crouch: It's time you repaid me By JOHN EDWARDS Rafa Benitez adopted a hardline stance yesterday over Peter Crouch's growing unrest at Anfield and insisted the disgruntled Liverpool striker owes him a debt of loyalty. Crouch has little intention of accepting the offer of a new five-year contract after becoming disillusioned with a lack of opportunities this season and is ready to explore the possibility of a move abroad in January. But there was little sympathy for his plight from Benitez as the Liverpool manager urged his £7million signing from Southampton to remember the early days of his Anfield career, when a marathon wait for his first goal brought growing criticism. Benitez stood by him throughout and clearly feels payback time has arrived as Crouch struggles to cope with being behind Fernando Torres and Dirk Kuyt. "People were always talking about him not scoring, but I always supported him," said Benitez. "Thanks to Liverpool, Peter is playing more games for his country and gaining more experience at that level. "He has worked hard, played well and scored goals over the past few seasons and I expect more of the same. "He is a better player now because he has been with a top side like Liverpool, but the other side of the coin is that the other strikers are also good. "I think he understands that he must fight for his position. There is no need to explain anything. He knows we should play about 60 games this season and that he will have his chances." Portsmouth, today's opponents, had a £9m bid for Crouch, 26, turned down in the final week of last January's transfer window and are bound to monitor any change of policy at Anfield.
give the lad a chance look at the team that started around crouchie yesterday from the midfielders up pennant beniyoum how many chance did they set up crouchie the same can be said 4 olonso and sissoko. i bet if gerrard started crouchie would have got 3 or 4 good chances 2 score cause gerrard links up good with crouch
Crouch was terrible yesterday, no pace at all, poor heading ability for such a tall man, good squad player though and good option coming off the bench to do something differently if we are struggling.
Torres and Kuyt would my first choices. Crouch has done well for us and is a handy player to have in the squad. Im sure he'll get more matches in cup games and the first group stages of the champions league.