In defence of crouch !

ArnieArdiles wrote: Lew we cant allow sentiment to get in the way ...Yes he scored that goal at Eastlands and against the Young boys, also beauty too against Bremen .... But I do think when he comes off the pitch that the rest of the players seem to play a better passing game ..

Had Harry chosen to take Crouch off rather than Modric for Gomes' red card would we have fared any worse in that first half? What about had we even started with Kranjcar upfront would we have been any worse offensively , somehow I think not ?

ArnieArdiles wrote:[I'm not blaming him for last nights defeat but I cant help thinking he aint a Tottenham Hotspur player and I think if we are to progress we have to abandon thoughts of him in our starting line-up .

philip wrote:

ArnieArdiles wrote:[I'm not blaming him for last nights defeat but I cant help thinking he aint a Tottenham Hotspur player and I think if we are to progress we have to abandon thoughts of him in our starting line-up .

I agree with you Arnie Crouchy is a decent player but not a Spurs player, for all on this board thinking that we Spurs fans are not thankful for what he did in the past are wrong. Credit where credit is due, yes he scored against Manc to get us here, yes he scored against Young Boys etc. But what people forget is that he is paid to score that is what he is expected to do no less and we fans are extremely thankful for that

Well thats ok then ! one minute a hero for getting the goal that got us into the cl in the first place and then put the blame on him for not scoring in a difficult away game how about taking a look at the defnesive performance in such logical terms as you have put it here.

Now regarding last night his misses were indefensible absolutely awful, may be he is not suited to be a lone striker, yes he was against top defenders, yes it is ok to forgive him in hindsight now we know the score being 4-3 but can you imagine if the score had stayed 4-0 or worse would those fans who think we are being harsh against Crouchy feel the same I think not

Well thats another ok then, lets forgive crouch for a bad performance while deflecting the blame from the defence that conceded 4 goals in 20 minutes........

This was a game where chances were at a premium, Lennon and Hutton tried their best to whip some really good crosses but Crouchy could not hold to the ball, and could not head two clear headers. Sorry he is not a Spurs player he may do well else where but not with us

Loughtonlegend wrote:crouch is crap . 4 league goals in 2010 and i think 1 was a pen. pave got about 12 now in less starts. crouch had so many sitters aganst man c h portsmouth cup. hes had more starts then anyone he cant head he cant shoot and he cant hold the ball up and he cant run

all hes got is he works hard. how many balls does ball put in for him yet crouch never reads them and never on end of them..

i perfer keane to him . i know pav and brillant but he scores more plus hes link up play is better. remember him movin to the right to get the ball to put in a cross could u see the spaz doin that.

Im sorry but i hope the next spurs player to get injurid is crouch because i rather gio up there then that donkey.

4 league goals in leage in double the amount of starts pav has had and 4 goals. kewnein jones has more this season with less chances then crouch has since jan 1st. and we all kno that crouch in most games gets loads changes

philip wrote:

ArnieArdiles wrote:[I'm not blaming him for last nights defeat but I cant help thinking he aint a Tottenham Hotspur player and I think if we are to progress we have to abandon thoughts of him in our starting line-up .

I agree with you Arnie Crouchy is a decent player but not a Spurs player, for all on this board thinking that we Spurs fans are not thankful for what he did in the past are wrong. Credit where credit is due, yes he scored against Manc to get us here, yes he scored against Young Boys etc. But what people forget is that he is paid to score that is what he is expected to do no less and we fans are extremely thankful for that

Well thats ok then ! one minute a hero for getting the goal that got us into the cl in the first place and then put the blame on him for not scoring in a difficult away game how about taking a look at the defnesive performance in such logical terms as you have put it here.

Now regarding last night his misses were indefensible absolutely awful, may be he is not suited to be a lone striker, yes he was against top defenders, yes it is ok to forgive him in hindsight now we know the score being 4-3 but can you imagine if the score had stayed 4-0 or worse would those fans who think we are being harsh against Crouchy feel the same I think not

Well thats another ok then, lets forgive crouch for a bad performance while deflecting the blame from the defence that conceded 4 goals in 20 minutes........

This was a game where chances were at a premium, Lennon and Hutton tried their best to whip some really good crosses but Crouchy could not hold to the ball, and could not head two clear headers. Sorry he is not a Spurs player he may do well else where but not with us

And in this you are 100% correct. Too often we see this every time a player has a bad game or a bad run ............. Sell him, move him on, ship him out .............. Rawhide!!!

But all Crouch will ever be is a support striker, that is where his most effective displays come from.

Now I was talking with my Old Man about this, about the great strikers we've had at the Lane, and the conclusion that we came to was that every great striker we've had has been part of a great strike partnership. Greaves and Gilzean, Crooks and Archibald, Sheringham and Klinnsman, Keane and Berbatov et al. We've never really been a team that had to rely on just the one striker, apart from Clive Allen that is, and any strike parnership has been with 2 great strikers, not one with a little help from a friend. We've always had the 2 front men competing for top scorer.

We don't currently have that as Defoe, if we're honest, is out on his own and even Defoe can't really be considered in the same light as the aforementioned strikers.

Our midfield is now stepping up to the plate, particularly Bale & VDV, and scoring goals. Unfortunately, what that has done is highlight just how frail our frontline really is.

I'm now starting to think that we have 4 strikers, none of whom is really of the quality necessary for a true, sustained title challenge. That marquee striker signing that Harry is after? .............. I'm starting to think it's actually 2 required and, as much as I love his work rate and the alternative options he provides, Crouch is probably one of those that has to go, Keane being the other. I'm actually in 2 minds about Crouch and Pav. Pav doesn't score enough either so which one goes, I think, will really depend on who's in form at the time we are looking to sell.

But, in a nutshell, neither is good enough to provide us with the firepower to qualify us as a potential title winning side and we need to rectify that.

cynicsid wrote:Poor ol Crouchy, no matter how well teams do with him along side he's always been the 1st to get dropped. His impact whether he scores or not is big.

Look at England, lets keep playing Roony cos he's great? lets take Crouch off cos roony aint scoring. Lets do anything but let our best goal getter have a run in the team.

He's tall, he's lanky. He looks like he might snap in a tackle. but he also is good with the ball at his feet has pace on a long run and wins most balls coming in his direction. He never hides, he dont drag half the team overseas for a P*ss up and above all he's a team player.

And he's ours

Everything you've said is bang on mate, it doesn't detract from the fact that he is, at his best, a support striker, an impact player if you will, who provides 'an alternative option', rather than being the kind of striker you can rely on to get you that all important goal when either the team isn't firing, or the chances are few and far between.

Don't get me wrong, he has done it previously, but not often enough.

The same can be said for virtually all our strikers really, Defoe included.

It's no secret that I've been a staunch supporter of Crouch from day one. His attitude, work rate, never say die attitude and constant nuisance rating, for opposition defences, are second to none really. If his goal return matched all that then he'd constantly be warring with the likes of Drogba for the golden boot.

Unfortunately he doesn't and this, more than anything, has me thinking that we need to be looking to trade up.

It's a no brainer that Keane would be the first to go when, not if, we bring in a top flight striker. But I now believe we either need two or one that will, more or less, instantly hit it off with Defoe. The second striker, IMO, would form part of a 'triumvirate' of goalscorers that would propel us to the top of the tree. As I said in my earlier post, whether it's Crouch or Pav that then goes, I believe, will depend on form at the time.

If I'm honest, I think Pav will be the one to go. He doesn't really offer that 'alternative option' that Crouch does and he doesn't work anywhere near as hard. You can't really say he isn't a team player though, just not in the same bracket as Crouch.

The only thing missing from his game is a consistent finishing touch. Be honest mate, he is rather profligate in front of goal, however, there can't be many in the team that come as close for goal assists. VDV will back me up on that one!

It's the only criticism I have of a guy who I rate highly.


It's just that there are strikers out there I rate higher and, if the choice were put before me, I'd trade up, albeit with a heavy heart for a player who has been consistently undervalued and ridiculed by fans for every club he's tried his heart out for.