We Aren't Using Crouch Wisely

[andyw362]

Unlucky

Had silly 3d glasses on so excuse me if Im wrong but...

We were unlucky. Controlled the ball but didnt have the killer instinct to finish. Ot was one of those games were we needed a Torres or an E'to

 

[stevenurse]

Thats true, vdv was very poor today. was very greedy and his set pieces were awful. Its just the type of player is though, he will always look to score and is a bit arrogant but its what top players are like

 

[michaelden]

Whisper it but Crouch was considerably better than VDV today. Just saying...

I'm not too sure on that but he did run about a lot. Aimlessly but he put the effort in

 

[full-frontal-nudity]

I'd happily upgrade all our strikers given the chance.

 

[ginol@14]

crouch was utds best player today closely followed by the ref
but seriously crouch is incapable of playing as a lone striker as the only thing he offers us is height ! unfortunatly he is built like a 12 year old girl and offers no physical presence and has possibly the weakest shot i have ever seen from a spurs striker (and we have had some shite over the years)

we are on the cusp of having a title challenging team but the weakest part of our squad is the most important , you cant win games without scoring and it shows you how poor our strike force is when the main striker has only 1 league goal (and that was a slide tackle that he blocked and rebounded off him past robbo)

whether you like crouch or not we can all agree that he can be upgraded on
i think he would be more effective from the bench with 15 mins to go if were chasing a game , we would be up there challenging if we had a modern day klinsmann , lineker or even a berba to get us 25 goals a season , 2 weeks left to upgrade our forward line
id keep defoe and pav and try and offload the other 2

 

[roosh]

I would agree with the title of the thread, but not the sentiments of the OP.

Crouch is useful to have as a squad player, particularly in europe, but he isn't the kind of striker that we require to compete with a vastly improved City and the perennial top 3 of Utd. Arsenal and Chelsea.

But then, I would say the same for both Defoe and Pavlyuchenko. All three are very useful, but as a trio, they are not sufficient to compete at the top of this league. They may be enough for us to battle it out for 4th in a few seasons, but to really give ourselves a chance of consolidating a top 4 place, not to mind competing for the title, we need better quality up front.

 

[Son_Of]

cocks
he does a brilliant job for us, he has set up 6 of VDV's goals this season.

He laughs when he gives away fouls as 97.642% they arent fouls at all.

what he said. crouch is laughing at yet another crap decision against him.

 

[Krafty]

The problem with playing Crouch from the start is you cant bring him on from the bench. He wasnt effective today, so when we wanted to capitalise on Utd being down to ten men Vidic (especially) knew how to deal with his threat. If they had been running after JD all game, suddenly having to worry about high balls might have caused hesistation and opportunity.

I dont think Crouch is a particularly bad player to have, especially in Europe when defenders are not used to dealing with that style and type of player, but in the Prem he has been pretty poor. One goal in the PL all season tells its own story.

 

[Marty]

The problem with playing Crouch from the start is you cant bring him on from the bench. He wasnt effective today, so when we wanted to capitalise on Utd being down to ten men Vidic (especially) knew how to deal with his threat. If they had been running after JD all game, suddenly having to worry about high balls might have caused hesistation and opportunity.

I dont think Crouch is a particularly bad player to have, especially in Europe when defenders are not used to dealing with that style and type of player, but in the Prem he has been pretty poor. One goal in the PL all season tells its own story.

Pretty much this.

Against PL opposition Crouch is definitely best used as a different option from the bench.

 

[double0]

Disagree with the thread poster. I believe we use crouch for the benefit of the team ie his hold up play IMO thats the best part of his game, you can generally give Crouch the ball he'll hold it and lay it off.

It's no secret Crouch has no pace so we are a bit limited in terms of central play IE playing channel balls Crouch hasn't got the legs. When our wing play is firing as we saw at times against Utd, Crouch hasn't got the strength to attack ball flying crossing 6 yard box.

Don't get me wrong this isn't a Crouch bashing post he does have benefits in certain games but I personally saw his limitations against a we drilled Utd Defence.

 

[Rocksuperstar]

I feel sorry for him - he has oppo dangling off his shirt all day, not one decision will go in his favour, he's freakishly tall yet is more skilled with his feet than his head, so he chooses to provide for VDV and make him popular instead of continuing to nod them wide of the post, yet because he's a striker it's goals not assists that matter and he looks bad stat wise.

He's not a lucky guy but i've never seen him give up. I've not once seen his shoulders drop with despair or given up chasing a 50/50 ball over the top and, when he does have his shooting boots on, he doesn't have a bad finish at all.

Personally, i think it's a case of him fitting in with a style of play that doesn't favour his talents, so he adapts and does his best. If we'd include him in some of the rapid ground game rather than just using him as a target man all the time, perhaps we'd see more from 3mp.

 

[dontcallme]

I was surprised he started today. Top teams usually deal with him without too many problems.

Surely we should have started Defoe as we weren't playing to Crouch's strengths anyway.

 

[spursandbarca]

does he not practice shooting or hitting the target????? he is never on target and his shot has no pace

 

[spursandbarca]

then what is harry pissing about for??? waiting for keane to leave(he now apparently wants a wages increase to join birmingham. there are many number 9 type strikers(llorente, iaquinta, maxi lopez, bryan ruiz, elmander,) that will socre more goals than crouch.

id keep defoe and rid of all other 3

 

[brasil_spur]

cocks
he does a brilliant job for us, he has set up 6 of VDV's goals this season.

He laughs when he gives away fouls as 97.642% they arent fouls at all.

6 assists and a couple of goals does not a good striker make. :grin:

 

[Capocrimini]

Crouch has no pace a horrible touch when every so slightly under pressure no pace or strength and his heading is pretty pee poor considering his height. Also he kneels so low when he jumps and he can't jump so high any way he may as well stand still. His height and positioning make him usefull and dangerous in the last 10 mins or so. What annoys me about him is his frame, if he can get 30/40% stronger he'd be so more effective.

 

[There's always next year]

Crouch has no pace a horrible touch when every so slightly under pressure no pace or strength and his heading is pretty pee poor considering his height. Also he kneels so low when he jumps and he can't jump so high any way he may as well stand still. His height and positioning make him usefull and dangerous in the last 10 mins or so. What annoys me about him is his frame, if he can get 30/40% stronger he'd be so more effective.

He's earning £70k a week and Harry loves him. Enough said.

 

[haxman]

Disagree with the thread poster. I believe we use crouch for the benefit of the team ie his hold up play IMO thats the best part of his game, you can generally give Crouch the ball he'll hold it and lay it off.

It's no secret Crouch has no pace so we are a bit limited in terms of central play IE playing channel balls Crouch hasn't got the legs. When our wing play is firing as we saw at times against Utd, Crouch hasn't got the strength to attack ball flying crossing 6 yard box.

Don't get me wrong this isn't a Crouch bashing post he does have benefits in certain games but I personally saw his limitations against a we drilled Utd Defence.

I don't see it like that at all. I think he's terrible at hold up play, and is too easily muscled off the ball. Everyone is praising Rio and Vidic for a great defensive performance yesterday, and it was good, VDS hardly had a shot to save, but they hadn't much trouble from Crouch to be fair. I like the guy, but he's a hindrance to our side at the minute.

A striker should score goals, first and foremost, if he can hold the ball up well and good, but Crouch can't do either well imo.

 

[Paxtonite]

he's 10 times more effective than the Joke that is Roman Pavlychenko. Jeez this site is an absolute fucking joke when we dont win. We DREW with the likely premier league champions. One of the best teams in the world. We totally outplayed them. We just didnt get the little bit of luck that you need sometimes to finish a game off.

Mate you need to let go of that small team mentality you got. Whoopee we drew with the likely champions lets all have a major orgasm. We should have won and they were there for the taking. We were AT HOME. We didnt go to their place and battle for a draw.

I had this argument last week with Bus Conductor who threw some mind numbingly useless stats at me as to how more productive Crouch is than both pav and Defoe, and you have reverted with the usual "he set up 6 goals for VDV" argument.

The fact is Crouch is lightweight. He is an impact player at best. Does his best work against European defenders for whom heading the ball is alien to them. He doesn't have the movement or first touch of Pav and he certainly doesn't have the clinical finishing capability of defoe. If you compare him to Andy Caroll who is of similar stature, the latter wins balls consistently in the air at both ends of the pitch. he has a thunderous shot as opposed to Crouch's daisy cutters (the guy has no leg muscles after all).

I am not blaming yesterday's inability to score at Crouch. Like other's i blame Redknapp and his blind perserverence with a tactic that was yielding no reward.

I have said before and i will say again. if redknapp wasnt manager of spurs, crouch would be no where near wearing a spurs shirt. We have to insist on better and yesterday we had better on the bench. Crouch is a plan B. That is all.

 

[dynamoSpurs]

Ive noticed - he's a decent footballer - know what to do, but is just too slow at executing.

like you can see he wants to play a tricky pass or do a cool skill and you think "go on crouchy", and then 9 times out of 10, his sloth-like frame lets him down!