Prentice re Crouch

[sir roger]

Very provocative article in the Echo tonight headlined ' CROUCH HAS EVERY RIGHT TO BE MIFFED' , basically suggesting that Rafa , after being his biggest cheerleader when he was struggling , has basically lost faith in Crouch & has been pissing him around constantly.

 

Prentice muses why this could be & suggests the Abby / English hero / Beckham party robot dance period is where it all went wrong.

 

Those of us who read the Echo will be constantly annoyed with Prentice's fawning over any of Evertons players/staff while aiming only sarky comments at the Red half , but I feel he has a good point this time.

 

As the article points out , Crouch's goal stats are better than any of the other strikers but it almost seems that Rafa is deliberately trying to stop Crouchy developing any rhythm as he is always chopped as soon as he gets a run going.( I hadn't realised that after scoring 3 against Arsenal & in each of the PSV games , he only started in 3 of the last 9 games after that ).

 

I know Peter has been awful pre-season , but lets be honest , who of us works their best for a boss who gives every impression of favouring all of their workmates.

 

So , basically is Crouch getting a raw deal. I personally don't think he is suited to every game but should be starting more often than he does.

[bigguly]

I think, if Crouchy had some pace, he would be starting every game. Because his lack of pace, we rarely had a cutting edge upfront last season. There were times last season, if Kuyt and Crouch had the legs of a Michael Owen (pre injuries), we would not have finished 21 points behind those people on the other side of the East Lancs Road.

[Cardie]

Seem to remember an argument when Crouch wasn't scoring that goals weren't everything and you needed to perform well for the team.

 

On that basis Crouch, Voronin and Torres all deserve to be in the team ahead of him.

[Captain]

Very provocative article in the Echo tonight headlined ' CROUCH HAS EVERY RIGHT TO BE MIFFED' , basically suggesting that Rafa , after being his biggest cheerleader when he was struggling , has basically lost faith in Crouch & has been pissing him around constantly.

 

Prentice muses why this could be & suggests the Abby / English hero / Beckham party robot dance period is where it all went wrong.

 

Those of us who read the Echo will be constantly annoyed with Prentice's fawning over any of Evertons players/staff while aiming only sarky comments at the Red half , but I feel he has a good point this time.

 

As the article points out , Crouch's goal stats are better than any of the other strikers but it almost seems that Rafa is deliberately trying to stop Crouchy developing any rhythm as he is always chopped as soon as he gets a run going.( I hadn't realised that after scoring 3 against Arsenal & in each of the PSV games , he only started in 3 of the last 9 games after that ).

 

I know Peter has been awful pre-season , but lets be honest , who of us works their best for a boss who gives every impression of favouring all of their workmates.

 

So , basically is Crouch getting a raw deal. I personally don't think he is suited to every game but should be starting more often than he does.

 

 

Would this be the same Crouch that started our last game? And the same Crouch that has explicitly stated all rumours about unrest from his are bullshit?

[Kopite]

Prentice is a no-nothing mummy-bummer. FACT.

[sir roger]

Would this be the same Crouch that started our last game? And the same Crouch that has explicitly stated all rumours about unrest from his are bullshit?

 

He's hardly going to say that Rafa's a liar is he ?.

And you could argue that Crouch only played to give Dirk & Nando a rest for Chelsea , in a less prestigious game in extremely testing conditions.

[cochcaer]

Have to say I felt at some point last season Crouch slipped down Rafa's pecking order.

[sir roger]

Prentice is a no-nothing mummy-bummer. FACT.

 

Don't like Prentice at all & was amazed he was made sports editor , but this topic has cropped up with a lot of my mates & more than a few have similar views about the Crouch situation.

[coop]

So far this season we have played 2 games and Crouch has started in 1 of them.

 

All four of our strikers so far this season but i feel Rafa sees Torres has his number one striker with Kuyt his number two.

 

Ive said it before but if you have competition for your place you either knuckle down and fight or your place back or think fuck it. Hopefully Crouch will fight for his place back but he is going to have to do better then midweek.

[stringvest]

Well, he didn't look happy, but he got the assist.

[sir roger]

So far this season we have played 2 games and Crouch has started in 1 of them.

 

All four of our strikers so far this season but i feel Rafa sees Torres has his number one striker with Kuyt his number two.

 

Ive said it before but if you have competition for your place you either knuckle down and fight or your place back or think fuck it. Hopefully Crouch will fight for his place back but he is going to have to do better then midweek.

 

Agree with that ( Torres is the number 1 & the others will fight for the scraps ) , but my worry is that it isn't a fair fight if Rafa is desperate for Kuyt to succeed & seems very negative towards Crouch. The problem is that we will need all of the strikers this season through injuries & rotation & alienating a potentially key player is not a great idea

[stringvest]

I believe he's getting a raw deal if Kuyt starts ahead of him. Not so with Voronin, as he has delivered already. When he doesn't score, Kuyt brings nothing to the team apart from hard work. When Crouch doesn't score, he sets up the play, holds the ball up well, and provides attacking opportunities through flick-ons - and is a useful defending prescence at corners too. Rafa's the boss though, and it's obvious that Crouch has done or said something to upset him as he doesn't get played as much as his overall contribution warrants.

 

I'd be very happy for Voronin to get the nod ahead of Crouch and Kuyt if he keeps delivering the goods.

[Burka079]

I do feel Crouchy will play second fiddle to Torres and Kuyt this year and am sure by chrimbo he'll be linked to either Newcastle or Spurs or some other team that the papers like to put up there ? But let's be honest with Crouch in the side we do resort to the long ball up front ! Which is fine in some games but not ideal in all games. Don't get me wrong I like crouch but I do feel we play better as a team with Kuyt and torres up front ?

 

Sorry about the grammer I've been on the stella and a few glasses of wolf blass !

[The Party Boy]

I believe he's getting a raw deal if Kuyt starts ahead of him. Not so with Voronin, as he has delivered already. When he doesn't score, Kuyt brings nothing to the team apart from hard work. When Crouch doesn't score, he sets up the play, holds the ball up well, and provides attacking opportunities through flick-ons - and is a useful defending prescence at corners too. Rafa's the boss though, and it's obvious that Crouch has done or said something to upset him as he doesn't get played as much as his overall contribution warrants.

 

I'd be very happy for Voronin to get the nod ahead of Crouch and Kuyt if he keeps delivering the goods.

 

Mama said there'll be days like this

There'll be days like this, my mama said

(mama said, mama said)

 

Mama said there'll be days like this

There'll be days like this, my mama said

[sir roger]

I believe he's getting a raw deal if Kuyt starts ahead of him. Not so with Voronin, as he has delivered already. When he doesn't score, Kuyt brings nothing to the team apart from hard work. When Crouch doesn't score, he sets up the play, holds the ball up well, and provides attacking opportunities through flick-ons - and is a useful defending prescence at corners too. Rafa's the boss though, and it's obvious that Crouch has done or said something to upset him as he doesn't get played as much as his overall contribution warrants.

 

I'd be very happy for Voronin to get the nod ahead of Crouch and Kuyt if he keeps delivering the goods.

 

That sums up my thoughts roughly ( although there are games that suit Dirk more than Crouch ) but my worry is I agree with your point that there has obviously been something that has caused the cooling off in relations & this is not healthy. The season promises great things & I don't want personality things to get in the way of the required total solidarity. My take on it is that sometimes last season Rafa seemed to have been 'teaching Crouch a lesson ' rather than putting LFC at the top of the agenda & was a significant part of the dip in away form from the previous season.

[coop]

Rafa like his players to do hard work on and off the ball and its safe to say Crouch isnt known for his closing down of defenders who have the ball.

 

I thought Kuyt had a decent game against Villa and without a doubt there is no way Crouch would have retrieved the ball like Dirk did for the opening goal.

 

Crouch just has to look more lively has during the midweek game everything seemed laboured by him.

 

He has it in him to be a top striker and last seasons performance against Arsenal at Anfield proved that when he was unstoppable but he just seems to have given up the fight and accepted that he isnt going to be first choice.

 

Like ive said in another thread i would never sell Crouch as once he has got his form sorted he scares the shit out of defenders but at the moment he is suffering from the amount of options Rafa has.

[sir roger]

Rafa like his players to do hard work on and off the ball and its safe to say Crouch isnt known for his closing down of defenders who have the ball.

 

I thought Kuyt had a decent game against Villa and without a doubt there is no way Crouch would have retrieved the ball like Dirk did for the opening goal.

 

Crouch just has to look more lively has during the midweek game everything seemed laboured by him.

 

He has it in him to be a top striker and last seasons performance against Arsenal at Anfield proved that when he was unstoppable but he just seems to have given up the fight and accepted that he isnt going to be first choice.

 

Like ive said in another thread i would never sell Crouch as once he has got his form sorted he scares the shit out of defenders but at the moment he is suffering from the amount of options Rafa has.

 

 

Rafa used to make a point of Crouch's pro-zone stats on covering ground , pointing out that he ran more than Steven Gerrard in some games , so he isn't lazy by any means. Dirk certainly works hard ( but sometimes to the detriment of his attacking threat ) & maybe Rafa feels Crouch has lost that edge. I will watch events unfold with interest & as I say , I like all of our forwards ( although I do think Voronin has been deified much too easily ).

[Jonte]

It annoyed me, the number of long balls that Sami played towards Crouch, in the Toulouse game. Why? Whe didn't create anything else with it, than Mascherano had to win it back.

[BENIRL]

Crouch is on of these strikers that seems will always have to prove himself. If he has two good games and one mediocre people tend to focus on the mediocre game. He also will be looking at his status with in the England squad. With Johnson, Bent, Defoe and Owen all regular starters for their clubs he probably feels that he may fall down the pecking order if he does not feature more.

[RedBrian84]

I believe he's getting a raw deal if Kuyt starts ahead of him. Not so with Voronin, as he has delivered already. When he doesn't score, Kuyt brings nothing to the team apart from hard work. When Crouch doesn't score, he sets up the play, holds the ball up well, and provides attacking opportunities through flick-ons - and is a useful defending prescence at corners too. Rafa's the boss though, and it's obvious that Crouch has done or said something to upset him as he doesn't get played as much as his overall contribution warrants.

 

I'd be very happy for Voronin to get the nod ahead of Crouch and Kuyt if he keeps delivering the goods.

 

 

That's the ethos of Rafa Benitez- his players must work hard and Kuyt is outstanding at that. He drops deep and wins the ball, and whilst his passing may require some work his attitude and commitment to chasing lost causes (and he fact that he is quicker than Crouch) shows that he is a worthy number 2 to Torres.

 

I dont think that Crouch has said or done anything to "upset" Rafa- we all know how much he painstakingly plans for each game, for each type of defence, and then he plays his strikers accordingly.

 

He has always expressed his desire for four strikers and now he has that. Don't forget- we are only two games into the season and we have four competitions to compete in; every player will get a fair crack of the whip this season.

[ratcatcher]

Crouch didnt start in the cL final. That's when it became public Benitez had lost faith in him.

 

I can see crouch being away come the winter transfer window if things dont change.

[RedPower]

Ignore Prentice, he’s a total bitter cock. In the week our new stadium pictures were released, I had a quick look at his Friday column to see what the sage thought of them, and guess what he said? Absolutely fuck all! His entire column was devoted to the Tour de France, the fucking bitter tit. :lol: :lol: :lol:

[Ged B]

I believe he's getting a raw deal if Kuyt starts ahead of him. Not so with Voronin, as he has delivered already. When he doesn't score, Kuyt brings nothing to the team apart from hard work. When Crouch doesn't score, he sets up the play, holds the ball up well, and provides attacking opportunities through flick-ons - and is a useful defending prescence at corners too. Rafa's the boss though, and it's obvious that Crouch has done or said something to upset him as he doesn't get played as much as his overall contribution warrants.

 

I'd be very happy for Voronin to get the nod ahead of Crouch and Kuyt if he keeps delivering the goods.

 

 

 

What about his assist against Villa?

What about the promising link up play with Torres in the same game?

[RedBrian84]

What about his assist against Villa?

What about the promising link up play with Torres in the same game?

 

Exactly! Kuyt brings so much to the side just by being in it. I think Voronin and Crouch are fighting it out to be number 3, never mind number 2 striker.

[Kieran]

I would love to know who comes up with the idea that Rafa purposley goes out of his way to piss players off, He selects the players that he believes will do the job in certain games, if he believes that Crouch isn't playing well enough to start he wont start him. The thought of Rafa dropping Crouch to prevent him building up some momentum is just :wallbutt:.