This thread has been going in circles for days, 'yes he is' 'no he isnt' 'yes he is' 'no he isnt'. ********, how many times can you write the same thing!
Okay, i've just read over this tread and its fair to say EVERYTHING has been covered. Nonetheless I must have my say :- 1. If Crouch wasn't 20 billion feet tall he would be in a league with 2 zeo's to its name. In terms of actually ability he is nigh on useless. 2. I know that is partailly irrelevant due to the fact that he is 20 billion feet tall. However, for a true perspective on his ability, look at Jan Koller. Similar height but a far superior player. Scores more, a far more efficient finisher and an essential team player (just look at how the Czechs coped without him at the WC). Crouch is none of the above. Sure, he's in good form by his standards but his limitations are ever present. 3. For a big man he can't header and is weak as an old woman. Totally negates the point of his size. 4. Yes, he scores, but you throw enough sh*t at the fan, some will stick. 5. And ask yourself this. Come 2010, or even 2008, can you see Crouch being one of the most feared and anticipated strikers in the respective tournument? I can't. 6. And even with the backing of this apparent breath - taking form, he still can't cement a place for his club. 7. Essentailly I admit my bias. I still haven't got over the spanners antics in a certain F.A cup tie. Peace out.
it doesnlt matter how you score them or how good you look doing it. His record is black and white- 11 goals in 14 games. The scores are on the board, go Crouchie!!! You are the man........ just dont do your robot dance again!!!
HaHa...at least he throwing enough, the others, except for Lampard, seem to be reluctant give it a go. Hence it was easiler for the other defenders to put the squeeze on Lampard when he was shooting. At the WC finals, it was only on the first two games that he had more shots at goal except for Lampard, in which he got a goal againest TNT. Expected againest lesser WC teams. Yet at the WC Matches, Crouch hasn't really shoot that much more per minutes than anyone else and along with the rest have suffered less shots per game as they progressed along the tournment and frankly they were losing more possession (for game control) and actual playing time as well. For the shots on goal record at the World Cup finals; vs Paraguay Eng had 5/13 shots on goal/shots; Crouch (90mins)had 0/0 SOG/S, his role was to be the main target man notably, Lampard 3/5, Gerrard 0/3, Beckham 0/2, Owen (55mins) 1/1, J.Cole (82 mins) 1/1, Downing (35 mins) 0/1.[53% possession, 28mins actual playing time] vs TNT 90 minutes. Eng 8/23; SOG/S, Crouch (90) 2/7 1 goal, Lampard (90)3/8, Gerrard (90) 1/2 1 goal, Beckham (90) 1/2, Owen (57) 0/2, J.Cole (74)0/1, Carragher (57)1/1. [Rooney (33) 0/0] [62% possession, 33 actual playing time] vs Sweden Eng 8/14; SOG/S Crouch (87) 2/3 , Lampard (90) 2/5, Beckham (90) 1/1, Rooney (68)1/2, J.Cole (90) 1/2 1 goal, Gerrard (22) 1/1 1 goal.[55% possession, 31 actual playing time] Vs Ecuador Eng 4/8; SOG/S, Crouch DNP,, Lampard 1/3 SOG/S [Rooney 2/2] Gerrard (89) 0/1, Beckham (86) 1/2 1 goal.[49% possession 27 actual playing time] vs Portgual Eng 4/9; Crouch (56) 0/1, Lennon (67) 1/1, J.Cole (64) 0/1, Rooney (61) 1/1, Lampard (120) 2/3, Terry (120) 0/1, Gerrard (120) 0/1. [43% possession, 33 minutes actual playing time] What really gets me is how Crouch and Lampard are able to get lots of shots far greater than anyone else. Crouch, I understand since as a forward he should be getting plenty of shots. Lampard is getting more shots than Crouch from the Midfield. Although they are getting only a couple of shots more than anyone else, I wonder why everyone else are not getting their chance at shooting by spread the shooting load about. It's not as though they can't shoot properly themselves. Lampard could easily set others up. I have seen Crouch set up others about but I don't recorded Lampard set up others. Are the others set Lampard up in the hope that he would eventually get a goal? Ouch, that F.A cup tie must have really hurt. Hang loose
Yes he did well considering that he only started scoring in the second half of the season. In some seasons that would just top the goalscorers list for the liverpool whole season. He went from 0 to 13 goals in half the season and got him placed 3rd on the liverpoool list behind Steven Gerrard with 23 goals and Djibril Cisse with 19 goals and before Luis Garcia with 11 goals. If he keeps going the way he's scoring, he should easily get 30 goals (the usual striker season objective) this season and at least better than .50 goals per game. At the moment this season in EPL and CL, he had 4 appearances and scored 3 goals so that is 10% done already. (he had only one pre-season game againest FSV MAINZ 05 away and lost 0-5 that had 8 substitutions, but he had a WC and internationals etc so some rest was ordered) I am going to keep an eye on him this season for sure. Hang loose
Liverpool sqaud stats http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/team/squad/stats/ Totally updated. Crouch = 13 goals, 3rd place goalscorer. Not bad after the goal dought of 19 games over four months, having played 24 hours for Liverpool before he scored his first goal for the Kop. BTW maybe the website you looking at was referring to the international goals (not Liverpool Goals) from his first international appearance at the WC qualifiers to the end of the WC finals than that would be 6 goals for England during that period. Or it was referring to his Liverpool total on the last day of 2005. His 19 games/4 months goal drought at Liverpool finally ended on 3 December 2005 and so he had at the end of Dec 2005 a total of 6 goals for the month. Hang loose
Maybe I was being confusing but I asked how many goals he scored between the EPL and Cl. What Im looking at says he scored a grand total of 6 league goals, and a goose eggin the Cl. Not very impressive
There is alway had to be one. So iffy iffy. That girly defender shouldn't be tossing his hair into Crouch's way and it's still a goal anyway. Plus it was very high up that only Crouch could reach it so do you think that defender is going to jump and contest that ball if Crouch didn't have a little competitive tug? I doubt that it would make much difference. At standing high between the two players there must have been 8 inches or 200 millmeters height advantage to Crouch. Thats a lot of inchs to cover for the defender and then some when Crouch jumps. All Crouch has to do is make sure he covers at least a couple of inches above the other player for a header and since he has a light frame for his height, he should cover very well. Sure Crouch claims to have poor heading skills but that is really referring more touch control. He certainly can power header at a higher height. Well the way people is complaining, it seems that he was cheating by growing up to 6'6'. HaHa...Go Go Gadget [referring to Crouch as Inspector Gadget] Hang loose
Christ, and to think I spent last season laughing at Liverpool's world-class (and yes, I had Liverpool fans telling me that leading into the season) strikeforce of Sniffer, Babypuncher, the Street-Light and Nnnnnnnnnaaaaaaaaa--------aaaaa---aaaaaaannnnnnnnnnndo!. Yeah, they got bucketloads. I spent this summer listening to the same people go on about the 'new, properly world-class' signings they had made, not only at striker, but around the whole pitch. Lads, how about letting them hatch first in the future, eh?
Yup you have to be world class to figure out that the only way to get the better of a defender who's 20 cm shorter than yourself and plays two leagues below you is to yank his hair to spin him around 270+ degrees when you both go up for the ball... Maradona couldn't have done better If he had the touch with his head that someone like a saha or even with his chest and feet like a koller, I could understand, but come on... He's a goat for goodness sake... I'm not saying that he doesn't get the job done (against average or mediocre opposition) but you don't have to be world class to do that. Then again its pretty symptomatic of England at this point in time
And there's always a wanker who blames it on Sancho's hairstyle Where were you guys when Beckham was sporting his Sir Ponytail? Baggio? Gullit? I like how the unknown third world players don't have the right to any sort of fashion statement, or religious beliefs for that matter. I put you right in the same place with Wynalda, and trust me, the sun don't shine there... The only 'girly' I saw on the pitch is the one that went around pulling his opponent's hair. Do you think that Crouch would have resorted to hair pulling if he was confident in his ability to get to the ball (or the defender's inability to get to the ball)? TNT left him with a least 3 open shots on goal where he didn't have to do anything to gain an unfair advantage. The way he willfully obliged and embarassed himself all three times makes it look like an intentional strategy from teh Soca Warriors (double team someone who can actually shoot on target and let the shithound free to aim at the big budweiser sign to the right of the goal). The fact that his only goal in that game came in that manner is a sad indictment of England's world cup. Psst: Your "saviours" a goat...And a cheating one at that.
Girls, Goats and Gadgets, the Goal still holds. I'm not really agreeing that Crouch should have a yuck or whether a player expects extra privileges on the pitch because he's got long hair. But to suggest that Crouch overly plans to cheat when he was really naturally clearing himself. It was not as though that Crouch intentionly raised his hand to pull the hair while looking at the ball but the guys head was near his hands as he was up for the ball so a hand naturally reacts to the closeness object. Such is the tempting nature of people. All I was really having, was a poke and fun that Crouch got a goal and thats what counted. Whether the header was fair game or not was really pedantic and nit picking to point out. What I point out was very much what you pointed out and that was Crouch would have got to the header way before the TNT player could have done much contest, and whether he is "World Class" or "Goat" for the goal is getting beside the point. Anyway, I predicting that Inspector Gadget will get more strange and controversial goals in the future that people just waiting to have a go at him and try and pull his pant down. World class or not, he is alway fun to watch and I am sure reckon that plenty defenders including perhaps a few world class players have awkward problems with his unorthodox nature. Simply because most defenders anticipate orthodox playing rather by unorthodox playing by either experience and/or talent. Go, go, go goat... I mean ...gadget. Hang loose