It has been reported recently that wantaway striker Peter Crouch is a likely exit candidate for Liverpool’s summer purge. After a – and I think I’m justified in saying – disappointing season, the pre-season re-jigging may leave little space for a man of such size. Hopefully the England man’s performance in the meaty Premiership fixture of the Arsenal-Liverpool fixture sandwich will be the slap around the face that Benitez needs when it comes to the England striker.
In only Crouch’s seventh Premiership start of the season, he was Liverpool’s shining light. And against Arsenal’s first-choice centre pairing at that. Neither Gallas nor Toure could handle the strikers work on the deck: in the first-half two Crouch long range efforts saw Almunia tip one-handed around the post and only moments later pick the ball out of the back of the net. It was a performance of a striker that any Premiership side would be proud to have. For a man who was only playing because Fernando Torres was being rested, Crouch could be justified in crunching up Friday’s issue of the Daily Mail and clouting his Spanish manager around the head to beat some sense into him.
Crouch’s future, it appears, is highly dependent on the formation that Benitez is prepared to play. By an ever-increasing reliance on Steven Gerrard in the centre of midfield, and playing the ball down the flanks a thing of the past, Crouch’s obvious asset in his height does not appear to have a place in the Benitez approach. Indeed, long gone has the purpose for which Jermaine Pennant was signed for gone out of the window; at the start of last season his £6.7 million move was constantly justified by his Premiership crossing statistics, and the prophetic link up with his 6 ft 7 team-mate.
Even more bizarrely, Benitez has stunningly revealed that Dirk Kuyt is still in front of Crouch in the Liverpool pecking order: “He is the kind of player any manager would want in his team. He is amazing. He has a high work-rate, can score goals and does a fantastic job for the team.” I think I cannot be alone in the size of my gaping mouth on reading that comment. Kuyt is a very different player to Crouch, but his awful form and goal-to-game ratio must scream to Benitez that it is time to give Crouch a run in the team. (Crouch: 3 goals in 7 starts; Kuyt: 3 goals in 21 starts)
It is the age old question: should a manager pick a formation first and then fit players into it, or pick his best XI and leave tactics as a secondary matter? I think Liverpool fans need to worry about a more pressing matter: does Rafa Benitez need a cataract operation? If Crouch’s performance against Arsenal doesn’t warrant him a consistent in the team, the St. Paul’s Eye Hospital is on Prescot Street, Liverpool, L7 8XP. Can a Scouse doctor give him a referral please.
2 comments:
Personally I think you need your best players on the pitch, so you pick your XI and then work out the formation - but then you have your best players playing out of position where they're no use. All you can then do is play your best players in their prime position and slot everyone else in around them. The problem that leaves Liverpool is their strength in the middle of the park (Gerrard, Alonso, Mascherano, Lucas) leaving no wide options - though you do, of course, have the mouthwatering prospect of Finnan, Riise and Fabio Aurelio charging up the ranks from defence.
Liverpool's reliance upon Gerrard in the centre hasn't stopped them playing wide surprisingly often, which has actually limited them a bit because Babel, quality player that he is, hasn't really hit his stride and Kuyt, quality player that he isn't, is neither a winger nor a footballer. Oh sure, he'll run all day, but so will a horse and a horse is better-looking.
Liverpool either need to make their 4-5-1 work, which it can if Gerrard continues to threaten by dropping in behind the striker and if they sort their wingers out, or they need to get a top-quality striker to partner Torres. Is Crouch that striker? I'm not convinced. When he's good he's very good, but when he's bad he's Division 1.
I'd be interested to see how he'd get on alongside Torres in a 4-4-2, actually, because he plays almost invariably as a lone striker. 4-5-1 probably suits Liverpool better though. They just need to drop Kuyt for a decent right-sided midfielder.
You make a valid point Rasputin. It's just a shame that Crouch, despite having such 'great feet for a big man' (how many times have you heard that said), he is decidedly unversatile.
But one thing tuesday's result showed us was that when it came to the crunch, Benitez got it right. And you've got to take your hat off to him there.
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