A look at our strikers : Why is Crouch on the bench all the time?
Submitted by tony on Sun, 2006-11-19 17:23.
Why when we are struggling for goals/wins do we put our top scorer on the bench?
There have been six games this season that we have failed to score in, and away from home we have not won all season. We have drawn once and lost 5 out of the last games away, where are we going wrong?
At Anfield, in our last 6 we have won 5 and drawn once, why is there such a difference? it cannot be all down to the crowd? Is it the chopping and changing of the team too much? Peter Crouch has been firing goals in and still remains on the bench, yet Bellamy has been getting a game and not scoring?
Craig Bellamy has scored 2 goals in 16 appearances for the reds this season, once in the Champions League qualifying game against Maccabi Haifa and once against former club Blackburn. Of the sixteen appearances, only four have been as a substitute.
Peter Crouch is our top scorer this season, with 8 goals in 18 games, yet still finds himself on the bench. He has made six substitute appearances, but has been scoring when playing, helping us through the group stage of the Champions League and has scored against the likes of Chelsea (community shield), West Ham, Spurs, Galatasary and Maccabi Haifa. What has he got to do to get a start? When he came on against Middlesbrough he nearly scored only for his header to be cleared by Woodgate. Rafa was quick to defend the big man last season when he was not scoring, but now he seems happy to drop him to the bench.
Robbie Fowler has scored twice in seven appearances this season, making 3 sub appearances. Last season he had a great record when he returned to the club, scoring six in 9 games for the reds. Fowler has only been a bit part player, playing in the carling cup, and getting the odd league game. God must be wondering what he has to do to get a game, he scored on the opening day of the season, and a great finish against Reading in the cup, but has since found himself not even in the squad half the time. He has played 9 games less than Bellamy but has still scored the same amount of goals? Time to get Fowler back in the team, we are missing his goals and clever play at the moment. Anyone who says he is past it only has to watch his goal against Reading.
Dirk Kuyt has been a good signing for the reds, he never stops running or working for the team. However, 5 goals in 17 games does not reflect the effort he puts in each game. Kuyt has been a substitute 5 times, and is obviously seen as Rafa's favourite striker, keeping Crouch out the team despite his goals for club and country. Kuyt will turn out to be a quality signing for the reds, but like the rest of the team needs more goals/wins to get confidence going.
Luis Garcia has been mentioned as he sometimes plays as a second striker. He has scored 4 goals in 14 games this season, making four substitute appearances. Luis Garcia tends to be more suited to European games, but , whilst most Liverpool fans will probably describe him as the most frustrating player , no one can deny we have missed his contribution this season when he has been out through injury or has simply been dropped. 3 of his 4 goals have been in Europe, two against Bordeaux and one against Galatasary. In the league, he has only scored once against Aston Villa.
Something has to change, we are not scoring as often as we should be, much has been said about Gerrard not scoring, but, at the end of the day he is not a striker, goals are not his job. Goals should come from everywhere in the team, but most should come from the strikers, but it seems at Anfield the more you score, the less you play? Crouch has been in great form for England, scoring 11 in 13 at one point, and for us he is our top scorer?
Fowler should be playing
I think Fowler should be getting a game. He has a better record than Craig Bellamy, but it is hard to say who he should play alongside? Fowler and Kuyt would be good, but Crouchie has been on fire for us, why he has not been playing i dont know
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You'll never walk alone
I'm disappointed in Fowler;
I'm disappointed in Fowler; he seems content to be on the bench. Whenever you see him play he doesn't seem to have the fire in his eyes to win a 1st team spot. He just trots around trying to poach a goal instead of working his arse off to impress the manager.
Fowler's the best striker at the club; but his slow pace and reasonably poor work effort means he won't get too many games under a man like Benitez who demands work work work.
Crouch
He is not first choice because he's too slow. Rafa has a history of creating fast moving sides. He bought Crouch because we needed a big guy up front and at £7 he was all we could afford. Now that we've got Bellamy and Dirk, Crouch has become, what a player of his standard should be at Liverpool, a benchwarmer. He is an alternative as second half sub if we need something different. Personally, I would flog him next season and us the money to help purchase a quality goalscorer like Danid Villa.
Agree with that; I said all
Agree with that; I said all last season Crouch is perfect as a 'plan B' when your tactics haven't worked so you bring on the beanpole after an hour or more and hope for the best.
Yo don't begin a match with Crouch unless Kuyt and Bellamy are injured. Bellamy has been disappointing so far but if he reaches his level he is far more effective week in week out than Crouch. Also, he encourages the team to pay nice passing moves and not the long ball to Crouch.
Everyone loved Crouch last
Everyone loved Crouch last season, when he was scoring no one had a bad word to say, and now that Bellamy and Kuyt have signed its like lets all slate him again?
Not everyone
Crouch was supported by the fans last season as we closed ranks to protect our own. His lack of goals and style of play made him a laughing stock outside Anfield. However there were plenty of fans, including me, who thought he wasn't a Liverpool player and shouldn't be a first team regular. The home game against Benfica was a turning point when he showed eveyone how average he was. I support Pete when he plays, but I'm not blind to his limitations.
Im not either, i will be the
Im not either, i will be the first to say i thought he was crap when we first got him. But, he put in some good performances, and won alot of people over. He has a good touch, wins headers, scores goals.
If hes scoring i dont see what the problem is. No one stood out against Benfica, we were made to look crap by an average team.
advice
hiii its me and i live pakistan hopefully im curious football and especially support of liverpool but we have a ridiciluous things about our coach benitez also i can,t see any struggle with my team every excitng his money but no care about the trophy plz help me i can play liverpool im 12 yearz old and so thrist to play liverpool
Just Imagine...
We could have had both Damian Duff (left) and Simao (Right) if Liverpool hadn't been so tight with the purse strings !!!
But what do we have Gonzalez (very poor) and Pennant (get up off the floor for christ sake) !!
We need to splash some serious cash to fill these wide positions, because Pennant and Gonzalez are just not good enough yet !!!
Rafa needs to be backed up more if we are going to win anything !!
A Red for life.
What reason would Duff have
What reason would Duff have to pick Newcastle over us other than money? There's no way he could have thought Newcastle have a better chance of winning things than us, why else would he have gone there. We were in for him, but Newcastle probably just offered him a massive contract like they did with Owen.
I reckon the Simao move was halted by Benfica, they wanted more money than what we were prepared to pay. They asked for more on the day of the transfer , thats why it was cancelled.
I'm an Ireland fan and Duff
I'm an Ireland fan and Duff has been rubbish for us for a long time. He chose Newcastle to be a big fish in a little pond guaranteed a 1st team spot no matter how poor he is. He proved at Chelsea that in a top class team he hasn't got the application or determination to perform week in week out. He'd be better than Gonzales or Zenden but still not the enthusiastic player he was at Blackburn. 70 grand a week at Chelsea dampened his desire to become world class.
At Newcastle he can have 4 bad games and one great game and the Geordies will sing about the great game he had for months ignoring his many shite games.
Any player that turns down Anfield AND Champions League footie isn't very bright or ambitious. Everyone says it about Duff, even in Ireland.
Believe it or not
Gonzalez is actually a good winger and while he was at real sociadad last season almost single handedly kept them in the top flight with his mazy runs, great delivery and vital goals. Why he looks so average now is anyones guess. Pennant is a quality winger who had the best cross rate last prem campaign. He's old skool in that he loves to run at defenders with silky skills and deliver whipped crosses. Again he ain't playing to well but it's a symptom of the team. To say right now Rafa is your ideal Liverpool manager is blind support mate and it's that type that'll land the club in trouble. he is not inspiring the squad, personally because I think he has no character and dosen't tear into the lads like say ... a fergie ... paul jewel ... big sam. He doesn't come off particularly charasmatic, and u can get away with that if your a wizard in the transfer market and consistenly by and get the best out of your players. but when u aren't... what next?
Its not blind support
Just because he doesnt do it in public does not mean he does not tear into the team? I bet he is just as pissed off as the rest of us. Its not blind support, its getting behind the team, you cant just sack the manager who brought in the CL and FA Cup just because we are not doing as good as we would like to be.
If by the end of the season we won the FA Cup or got to the CL final, everyone would be saying how good Rafa is again. No one can say he has not done great things for us already. We won the biggest competition in Europe, that cannot be put down to luck, you dont get lucky through the group stages, all the way to the final and then to win
Rafa
That night in istanbul has given rafa at least 3-4 years to bring the prem title to anfield,we are through to the next stage of Champs League with games to spare and the FA cup campaign has not started yet,so full support from all Liverpool fans should be high on the agenda,the team unable to perform away from home is not all about rafa shouting at them,if we finished 4th but won a cup would fans still be having a go at him, there is more than one prem manager unhappy with thier clubs performance and position,only get at your manager when there is nothing left to win before the season is over,rafa probably does have a go at them,he just does'nt break the teacups and kick things at thier faces, so we are not going to hear about it
Martin O'Neill
Rafa is one of the top managers in Europe no doubt; but so is Marcello Lippi and he was sacked at Inter Milan! Results and not reputations get managers the sack or not.
His past achievements doesn't mean he has the divine right to win the Premiership with Liverpool or that he will. This is his 3rd season in the league and he hasn't really learned how to get points away to our big rivals. We always lose at OT, Arse and Stamford B and you can't win the league that way. If next year he is out of the title race by April then his job will be on the line.
Perhaps, and I say perhaps, Martin O'Neill is more suited to winning football matches in the English league because he knows it so well like Ferguson. He knows that spirit and fight are more important than tactics in the ordinary games against Bolton and co... O'Neill is not a 'better' manager than Benitez; but I believe if he was in charge of Liverpool FC in the Premiership he would get better results with the same players and have a better relationship with the local players. He knows British football inside out and the mentality of the opposition. Perhaps Benitez looks down on the typical British game and doesn't motivate his players sufficiently for the physical battles. O'Neill probably couldn;t go to Spain and Italy and be successful; but in the Premiership I believe he could with Liverpool. But I doubt he'd get near winning a Champions League!
That was spot on
Tony mate mr anonmous jus stated what I was tryin to get across. Now I'm a fan and I get behind the team each and every time we play.. believ that! but I'm honest enough to say yes we won the champions league under but where we playing the best football in europe??? ask yourself that. Thats what I'm tryin to get accross when I talk about blind support. I feel frustrated that we are in this position because we are better than this, but giving rafa a get out of jail free sticker for winning the champions league is nieve at the very least. So i'm to take it that his job is based around getting us into the champions league each yr and winning a cup?? bollacks to that mate, this is Liverpool FC we have to be genuine tittle challengers in europe and at home as well as picking up the odd mickey mouse cup. That is the balance Rafa needs to worry about.
Do we really have Good Strikers???
Yes, we do have. Crouch is not good for rapid games, but can be used as substitutes. Dirk kuyt is more like a second stiker, i mean like a playmaker, he can provide very good passes and inteligent play, BUT the problem is that he does not know how to put the ball in the net yet!!
SO THE ONLY POSSIBILITY, is to play somebody intelligent the one and only Robbie Fowler, he is the only player who knows how to score in liverpool right now, so why is he not being given the chance???!!
He is the only player who has scored an away goal yet, so why is he not being given that chance again!!
Gonzalez and pennant are very good options, they just need to be regular with the team, the rotation policy is simply affecting them, if they are played without rotation and improve their crossing capacity, soon liverpool will be producing a play similar to Arsenal or even better!
So, damn with the rotation policy, lets play this same rapid team with some good strikers upfront.
AND of course, players like Bellamy should be given chance to improve in small League cup games or reserve team games, if he scores there, ONLY then he should be given chance to play in the important premiership games.
Are u listening Rafa???
This is why I'm on Rafa's case because it isn't rocket science, yet he pesists with his Ludacris approach to british football. Lets get our attacking flair playing well by giving them some continuity in the team... or the reserves what ever the case may be , but let em play!
my 2 cents
I see mention of Duff but as mentioned he's not exactly performing this season. Whilst Gonzaled hasn't excellent he hasn't been complete sh*t..average maybe.
What I've thought about the reds for the last few seasons as we haven't had a 'reliable' goalscorer. By that I mean no disrepect to the others but I mean the likes of Henri or even Rooney recently. Whenever these guys get the ball and get through on goal you are pretty sure they are going to put it away whereas when I see Kuyt I tend to assume theres a good chance he will miss .. I'm not sure why as he workrate is faultless but at the end of the day works does not equal goals.
I know our away form is shocking and enough to write off the Premiership already but it's not just away form, we don't have a regular partnership up front and without being too negative I doubt any of our strikers will bag 20 league goals this season.
Looking through the team quickly I believe the defence are up to the task especially with Agger now popping up more frequently, the midfield is unquestionable with Gerrard, Alonso and Sissoko (Kewell & Zenden will do for benchwarming) but I'm not as convinced about Gonzaled and Pennant. As I said previously the two have proved themselves previously for other clubs but not in a red shirt as yet in my opinion.
For that reason I think the blame lies not just with the strikers but the underperforming wingers too.
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It's glory round the fields of Anfield Road
cant blame the wingers yet!!
Its gonna take Speedy a year to get the hang of the PL, he looked fantastic in spain last year but its a completely different league, remember what Henry was like when he first arrived in the PL? It takes all foreign players time to get the hang of playing in England. Speedy will come good, just give him the time to develop. As for Pennant, he showed last year what he can do but to see the best out of him he needs to be playing consistantly over a few months. Lets look at this from Rafa's eyes, Pennant is never going to play week in week out for the next 2/3 months so i wouldn't think he's the answer. In saying that, the guy deserves a chance. He is one of our players and we have to back them no matter wha
strikers
Stop kidding yourselves, Robbie is well past it and the glimses of him in the cup comp, struggling to hold the ball up or even control it against reserve players further qualifies this. Crouch has scored but seems to have very little impact when he starts. Hes a last 20/30 min player. The ones who need to get on top of their game are Bellamy, Kuyt and Garcia and then we'l be alright. Its gonna take time but we dont have much patience.
Average Strikers
At the moment away from home LFC strikers are so average they should be playing for watford,old fowler is not the answer,bellamy loses the ball way too easily,crouch never gets his long legs on the end of anything, they seem unable to create opportunities for each other, saying all that though it's a team game and against arsenal it was defenders that got thier goals, you would think we could at least score from a free kick , corner or lampard type deflection, if we had scored some away goals barring the man u and gunners game,it could well have seen a different outcome,i have not given up hope of glory the team can still come good, it's just that it's torture to watch us suffering on travels.
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