Liverpool FC Forum

by **stmichael** » Thu May 04, 2006 3:10 pm

as one of the few on here who championed the signing of this guy in the first place, i just wandered how you reflect on peter crouch's first year at lfc? as far as i'm concerned he was never brought in to be our first choice striker but the way things have worked out, he's found himself playing on a more regular basis than most would have predicted.

so it's quite simple.

1. looking back, do you still think we over-paid for him in the first place?

2. did you have every faith that he would come through his initial goal drought at the start of the season?

3. what areas of his game do you still think he can improve?

4. how many goals can he realistically expect to score next season, assuming we are bringing in gonzalez and a right winger?

5. crouch for england now. starter or plan b?

having not been utilised correctly in the beginning (he's never a lone striker) i think we should be pleased. anybody can see that he's now an important part of our team and we struggle to hold onto possession in the final third when he's not playing. with a quick lethal striker alongside him next season i think we'll see the best of the lad.

Thoughts?

by **Kukilon** » Thu May 04, 2006 3:36 pm

1. I think we paid a little bit to much for him.

2. If a striker gets himself in position it's just a matter of time. So yes I had faith in him.

3. His headers are horrible. If he improved in that department it would easily add another 8-10 goals to his tab for next season if he is a starter. I have never seen a striker miss so many great chances with his head as he has done. He just jumps up and puts his head infront of the ball instead of swinging his head against the ball.

4. 15-20 if he improves his headers.

5. Starter now that Rooney is injured and he will work brilliantly with Owen.

by **dawson99** » Thu May 04, 2006 3:36 pm

i dont think we over paid for him, but im still sticking with my opinion that hes not right for us. i dunno why as hes done great but hes just not my sort of player. everyone knows i like players who score and he just reminds me of carlton palmer, all legs. i admit hes done great for us and considering hes english it was a good price but i wouldnt bank on him winning us games.

i think i answered number 2 lol, altho i did win money on him scoring. he was always gonna score, but he hasnt done it enough (and yes, i know he does so much more)

he needs confidence and more strentgh, hes too lightweight. and his first touch isnt the best either

id like to seee at least 15 in all competition

he has to be plan b. he cant be englands answer to winning the world cup.

sorry, he is good but hes not a first choicer for us or he shouldnt be and once gonzales is in and we have 2 quality strikers we'll score the goals which can win us the premiership.

by **stmichael** » Thu May 04, 2006 3:40 pm

dawson99 wrote:i dont think we over paid for him, but im still sticking with my opinion that hes not right for us. i dunno why as hes done great but hes just not my sort of player.

I think this point sums it up Dawson. He's one of those players you can't really appreciate if he's not in your team. It's hard to look at him in opposition or on TV and see exactly what he brings to the table. Plenty of us now have. He'll never be everyone's cup of tea due to his style and still to some his physical make-up. But to say that he's not improved us is just daft, even if he hasn't had as good a season (as a whole) as most of us would have liked.

by **Gareth G** » Thu May 04, 2006 3:51 pm

1: I was a bit iffy about his price tag at the start, but I still thought he'd be worth it. Now, in hindsight, I think he's worth every penny.

2: Yes, I always believe he would. I think it was purely down to luck that he had such a long drought at the start. I still think he's a bit unlucky!

3: I think he need's to get physically stronger, he's the right height for plenty of heading chances, but he often lack's power.

4: I trully believe he can bag around 15 league goals a seaspn, give or take one or two.

5: As good as I think he is, theres other English players who offer a bigger threat than him - mainly due to strength and pace. But I think he'd be a stealthy ( I use that word lightly ) weapon for England, most players don't know how to play against him. I certainly think he'll feature a lot, mainly as a sub, or plan B as you put it.

by **Cool Hand Luke** » Thu May 04, 2006 4:05 pm

stmichael wrote:as one of the few on here who championed the signing of this guy in the first place, i just wandered how you reflect on peter crouch's first year at lfc? as far as i'm concerned he was never brought in to be our first choice striker but the way things have worked out, he's found himself playing on a more regular basis than most would have predicted.

so it's quite simple.

1. looking back, do you still think we over-paid for him in the first place?

2. did you have every faith that he would come through his initial goal drought at the start of the season?

3. what areas of his game do you still think he can improve?

4. how many goals can he realistically expect to score next season, assuming we are bringing in gonzalez and a right winger?

5. crouch for england now. starter or plan b?

having not been utilised correctly in the beginning (he's never a lone striker) i think we should be pleased. anybody can see that he's now an important part of our team and we struggle to hold onto possession in the final third when he's not playing. with a quick lethal striker alongside him next season i think we'll see the best of the lad.

Thoughts?

1. looking back, do you still think we over-paid for him in the first place?

I said at the time we over paid at £7Mil, his true value is close to 4 MIL, I don’t think we should have paid anymore than £5MIL maybe £5.5MIL. When you consider better players such as Yakubu and Ashton have gone for the same price it doesn’t represent true value for money, but that doesn’t mean his signing has been a failure, he has done well and improved the team.

did you have every faith that he would come through his initial goal drought at the start of the season?

Bit of strange question as he was always going to score, he hasn’t exactly set the world alight since the end of his goal drought. I always maintained that he was a decent player that provided other things outside of goals.

what areas of his game do you still think he can improve?

Unfortunately the parts of his game that he needs to improve are more natural than earned, he lacks strength, pace and genuine aggression, its hard for him to gain these and I don’t see him improvement much beyond his current level unless he addressees this issues, which wont happen most likely. But the other parts of his game are good.

how many goals can he realistically expect to score next season, assuming we are bringing in gonzalez and a right winger?

He is not a premiere striker and someone else will come in to try and get 20 league goals a season, I would expect Crouch to target 15 league goals but would be happy if he achieved 12-15 league goals. This season he has only got 7 league goals, which is poor return considering he plays so often.

crouch for england now. starter or plan b?

Don’t think Rooney will go, and purely for the fact that Crouch is a better partner for Owen than Defoe or Bent I think he will start. He is well suited to play international football with his natural head up approach, players like Lampard and Gerrard could feed well of him.

by **Mark 23** » Thu May 04, 2006 6:12 pm

I think Morientes is the one who most benefit from 2 decent wingers, Crouch doesn't head the ball but rather he let's it bounce off his head. He needs to just practice heading the ball against a wall. Remeber when you were kids and you were bored, you would just start doing keepy-ups with your head aginst a wall. It works

by **RichardLFC1** » Thu May 04, 2006 6:20 pm

1- No 7 million was good for crouch
2- I thought he would score but not as many as he has
3- i Think if he had more strength than he would be a better player
4- Depends if he starts with a quality winger then maybe so more thatr he has popped in
5- With rooney out then a starting position

by **RAFABENITEZ** » Thu May 04, 2006 7:03 pm

1. looking back, do you still think we over-paid for him in the first place?
No, think hes about worth that, if not a few million more, brings alot to the way we play but against the top sides I think they get tighter on him and it tells - Chelsea away and Arsenal away, shudda put a header away in the latter.

2. did you have every faith that he would come through his initial goal drought at the start of the season?
Of course, hes not a bad player

3. what areas of his game do you still think he can improve?
Shot and header power, not as powerful as I would like, cant improve pace, his link pla is good enough and he seems willing to take a few kicks unlike Djibby

4. how many goals can he realistically expect to score next season, assuming we are bringing in gonzalez and a right winger?
If he starts and we play 4 3 3 with two wingers either side, Gerrard off him, id say maybe 5 more than this year, but who can tell? depends on the system.

5. crouch for england now. starter or plan b?
Couldnt give a :censored:

about England, they can play Deidrie Barlow up front for all I care

by **The Ace1983** » Thu May 04, 2006 7:08 pm

1. £7m still seems a bit on the high side, but not by much. He's definatley premiership class, but he isn't the answer to our scoring problems and he is crying out for a top draw partner.

2. I knew he would score eventually, but he's done a lot better than I expected. I really didn't hold much hope for him, though he showed good skills and hold up play. But needless to say I been pleasantly proved wrong.

3. Strike power and accuracy. He'll get that with time and experience.

4. I can't see past 15, maybe more if a top quality partner is brought in for him.

5. I think plan B. He's a brilliant sub to bring on, and though I'm sure he would work very wel with Owen over 90 minutes, I'd rather see him come on and change the game like he has done against Argentina and Uraguay.

Excellent thread StMike.

by **stmichael** » Thu May 04, 2006 7:35 pm

The Ace1983 wrote:4. I can't see past 15, maybe more if a top quality partner is brought in for him.

Yeah I think if his confidence improves and we find the right partner for him, don't bet against him finding a run of form like he did at Saints last season.

I think the best and the worst that can be said about Crouch is that he has improved our performances whilst having an average season himself at times. Apart from that hot streak around december time he's been pretty much hit and miss.

by **bigmick** » Thu May 04, 2006 7:47 pm

1. If we sold him tomorrow we'd easily get our money back with a couple of million profit, so therefore he was a good buy at the price.
2.Clearly he was going to score a goal eventually, even Morientes scored a goal eventually. The test was going to be how he went after that and he has done very well in my opinion. My suspicion is that he will finish the season with one more goal than he has now because I think he will score in the Cup Final.
3.He needs to wait before he goes into his scoring areas for a fraction of a second longer. His lack of goals earlier in the season led to an anxiety which led him to fill his areas too early. The result of this was that he lacked power bioth in his headers and in his attack of the ball. He just needs to wait for his moment more often.
4. Realistically I think he will score a lot of goals. He didn't start till December this season so I would expect him to score at least half as many again as he has managed this term. Almost everyone on here underestimates his goalscoring potential in my opinion.
5. Now Rooney is injured Crouch must start. Owen isn't fit so I would start with Crouch uptop with Gerrard and Lampard in and around him with Carrick holding. I would play almost a Chelsea style and pray that Rooney is fit by the semis. Luke mentioned Ashton but having watched the West Ham man I think Crouch is much the better player.

He has really struggled at times this season in my view but has emerged a much better player. Definately a good buy.

by **Fowler_E7** » Thu May 04, 2006 7:55 pm

Personally i think crouch has been a great addition to the squad, anyone who cant see that is just plain blind. He's no goalscorer but the job he does for the team is excellent. He holds the ball well, bringing the midfielders into the attack, Gerrard has especailly thrived with Crouch in the team. He has a great touch and control and can link well with the players around him. Thats his good points, but he does have some areas where he must improve.

His anticipation is poor. He is often a couple seconds behind a good goal scoring opportuinty, he lacks that goalscorers instinct. For example if a ball is whipped in to the box how often is Crouch the first to react to the situation? not often i would say. Great goalscorers no when to make the run and gamble to decide where the ball will go, Crouch always reacts to late. I doubt he will ever learn that scoring style to be honest though, as he is not a natural predator style goalscorer ala Owen, Crespo, Van nistelrooy.

He must improve on his heading as this is his most likley source of goals. He is decent in the air, but not good enough for a man of his size, this should be his main goalscoring weapon. But overall i think he has been good this season, and he has deffo been a part of our huge improvement as a team this season.

by **Bad Bob** » Thu May 04, 2006 8:31 pm

stmichael wrote:as one of the few on here who championed the signing of this guy in the first place, i just wandered how you reflect on peter crouch's first year at lfc? as far as i'm concerned he was never brought in to be our first choice striker but the way things have worked out, he's found himself playing on a more regular basis than most would have predicted.

so it's quite simple.

1. looking back, do you still think we over-paid for him in the first place?

2. did you have every faith that he would come through his initial goal drought at the start of the season?

3. what areas of his game do you still think he can improve?

4. how many goals can he realistically expect to score next season, assuming we are bringing in gonzalez and a right winger?

5. crouch for england now. starter or plan b?

having not been utilised correctly in the beginning (he's never a lone striker) i think we should be pleased. anybody can see that he's now an important part of our team and we struggle to hold onto possession in the final third when he's not playing. with a quick lethal striker alongside him next season i think we'll see the best of the lad.

Thoughts?

1. I thought the price was a little high at the time but have no trouble with it any more...he's made us a better team so the transfer fee's justified in my eyes.

2. I did have every faith that he'd score eventually and I was feeling for the lad during the barren spell. All credit to him, though, he continued to work hard and got his reward eventually.

3. I think he needs to be more aggressive when facing goal and really attack balls flying into the box. His poor heading has already been highlighted but there have been a few occasions--including against Villa last week--where he's been too tentative in running onto balls along the deck and having a lash at goal.

4. I still don't see him scoring more than 15 next season, primarily because, if Rafa does bring in a class striker or two, Crouchy'll spend more time on the bench than he has this season. As with England this summer, we've had to turn Plan B into Plan A this season given Nando's poor form and the mixed results of the 'Cisse Experiment'. I think Crouch has done a very good job for us up front but I'd like to see him return to being Plan B next season.

5. I'd start him up front alongside Owen for the group stage and see if the partnership gels. If it's not working, switch tactics and move Stevie or Cole in behind Owen.

by **inglis5** » Thu May 04, 2006 8:36 pm

stmichael wrote:1. looking back, do you still think we over-paid for him in the first place?

2. did you have every faith that he would come through his initial goal drought at the start of the season?

3. what areas of his game do you still think he can improve?

4. how many goals can he realistically expect to score next season, assuming we are bringing in gonzalez and a right winger?

5. crouch for england now. starter or plan b?

1. No, £7 million is about right.

2. I did have faith as he was getting into the postions to score. If he wasn't even in the game then it would have been worrying.

3. Like most people I agree, his heading needs work. He needs to work on the power. This is will mainly be achieved through learning to time his jumps properly. A lot of the time when he heads the ball he is already on his way down, this makes it much hearder to get any power.

4. Realistically I think he's a 15 goal a season striker at best (which is certainly not to be sniffed at!!). You only have to look at the improvement in our away record to see what a difference he has made. Also, apart from Owen and Fowler - how many prolific strikers have we had over the past 10-15 years. It doesn't matter who scores the goals if the team is scoring. I don't give a :censored:

if he doesn't score 5 next season as long as the time is winning.

5. Crouch as an England starter. No. Bring carrick into midfield and play Gerrard in a more advanced role behind Owen. At international level Crouch is better scaring the :censored:

out of tired defenders.

Great thread St Michael

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