What is Peter Crouch doing?

[00snook]

22 goals in 42 games for England.

Seeing as scoring goals is the whole point of football I would put forward an argument that the strikers (who dont score goals, such as Carroll and Sturridge) are not 'better' players.

Just a counter argument.

Also, If someone dares throw the 'he only scores against weak teams' argument forward then I will cry.

He does only score against weaker teams tho!

*hides behind sofa*


In all seriousness I agree entirely with your statement. Football is all about scoring goals. Crouch scores goals for England yet is consistently not picked, or at least not as much as he should have been.

I don't blame him for not wanting to be on the reserve list. I have totally given up on English football, and sure he has too.

 

[leigull]

I fear this is more widespread in the game than we realise. I know of a player who was leaping around the room, shout and screaming in DELIGHT when the news came through that he was NOT in the England squad this summer!! Basically, he didn't want to cancel his holiday to Marbella / Porta Benus with his mates, just to be a squad player, and barely get a game.
.

Aaron Lennon

 

[Bognor Bystander]

Yes I have some sympathy ... Roy is 'sticking to his principles' with Crouchy but then erm selects the 'retired' Carrick - so maybe it doesn't apply if you play for Man Utd ? Others also didn't want to bench warm at the Euro's like Glen Johnson (who'd booked a £15,000 holiday - allegedly) but who but Roy really knows what's going on and imho we should ditch the 'old guard' anyway of Cole,Terry, Lampard and yes even Crouchy and get some younger players in now.

 

[Mellotron]

Treated terribly by successive England managers. Our most prolific goalscorer of the past ten years.

Yes I think he has a right to be a bit annoyed!

Not really. Scores for fun against Kazakhstan and Belarus but utter shit against any defender with a brain.

 

[Hillian1]

No sympathy from me in the slightest and I was hoping he was going to the Euro's, his International scoring record is pretty good to be fair.

But it's the attitude that he think's he's too good to be on the stand by list that pisses me off, it should be an honour to even make that list, I'm sure that if Roy had asked Beckham to be on the list he would have walked over hot coals all the way to Ukraine if there was even the smallest chance he would have got 5 minutes for his Country.

 

[Tooting Gull]

Quite interesting the difference in opinion when it is Hodgson and an English player, as opposed to Levein and Fletcher with Scotland.

Levein on a recent thread was totally slagged off, branded a crap manager, and told to go down on his hands and knees to get Fletcher back in the fold (who texted last year that he didn't want to be considered any more). Yet Crouch, whose actions were not as bad as that, is roundly condemned.

 

[mejonaNO12 aka riskit]

Not really. Scores for fun against Kazakhstan and Belarus but utter shit against any defender with a brain.

Those are the sort of teams you play in qualifying....

 

[Brovion]

He does only score against weaker teams tho!

*hides behind sofa*


In all seriousness I agree entirely with your statement. Football is all about scoring goals. Crouch scores goals for England yet is consistently not picked, or at least not as much as he should have been.

I don't blame him for not wanting to be on the reserve list. I have totally given up on English football, and sure he has too.

Actually I think your last sentence probably sums it up. People like yourself (and the others on this thread who sympathise with Crouch's attitude) no longer give a shit about England and therefore can understand it when the players don't give a shit either and would rather go on holiday.

It's a bit of a vicious circle though: players don't care, so fans don't care, so even more players don't care. Compare that with those of us who think you should do whatever you're asked to do for England - even if it means sitting on the bench whilst players you consider to be 'inferior' play instead of you. I can't think of any other sport (with the exception of Boycott in cricket) where people so consistently refuse to be picked for British/English national squads.

Oh, and he was never THAT good anyway!

 

[Acker79]

22 goals in 42 games for England.

Seeing as scoring goals is the whole point of football I would put forward an argument that the strikers (who dont score goals, such as Carroll and Sturridge) are not 'better' players.

Just a counter argument.

Also, If someone dares throw the 'he only scores against weak teams' argument forward then I will cry.

I remember discussing this on here a while back (June 2010), this is what I said then:

But it's catch 22. He has played against quality opposition 7 times. Three of them were less than ten minutes, with one being joining the game in the 89th minute. One of the other four was coming on v portugal when we were down to ten men, the other three were all less than a half.

He doesn't score against quality opposition (on an international level. On the domestic level he has scored against all of the big four), because he doesn't get a chance to play against them very much. He doesn't get to play against them because he doesn't score. It just goes round and round.

It was also noted he had never scored when coming on as a sub, so was best used from the start.

 

[Mellotron]

Those are the sort of teams you play in qualifying....

And what about against the top sides in the Prem? Generally pretty invisible.

How did you think he fared against Real Madrid? Sent off after about 30 minutes wasn't it? He looked woefully out of his depth that night.

He is exactly the sort of player who WILL look good time and time again against Eastern European minnows, as they have NO clue how to deal with him. Notice how every single time he plays against a good defence he is utterly ineffectual.

 

[CHAPPERS]

The Peter Crouch Myth

 

[Acker79]

The Peter Crouch Myth

So much more thorough than my reading through his appearances list.

 

[mejonaNO12 aka riskit]

And what about against the top sides in the Prem? Generally pretty invisible.

How did you think he fared against Real Madrid? Sent off after about 30 minutes wasn't it? He looked woefully out of his depth that night.

He is exactly the sort of player who WILL look good time and time again against Eastern European minnows, as they have NO clue how to deal with him. Notice how every single time he plays against a good defence he is utterly ineffectual.

But we dont play teams anywhere near Real Madrid standards in qualifying.

So you're whole angle of 'he only scores against minnows' is bascially EXACTLY what you need in qualifying.

 

[Mellotron]

But we dont play teams anywhere near Real Madrid standards in qualifying.

So you're whole angle of 'he only scores against minnows' is bascially EXACTLY what you need in qualifying.

No no no. STOP referring to him only playing for England. Let's talk about his performances at clubs.

True or False: He is largely shit and ineffectual against good defences?

(Hint: the answer's true.)

And we were quite clearly ok without him against Moldova, as we have players like Lampard who are professional enough to be able to "do it" against the minnows.

 

[Mellotron]

The Peter Crouch Myth

That backs up the fact that he mostly scores against minnows.

A MUCH better criteria to see whether it's a "myth" or not would be to look at him in big European games (i.e. Real Madrid where he was laughably shocking) and playing against Man City etc in the Prem.

He plays FAR more club games than internationals (like most) so it's a far more accurate set of data to use.

 

[Basil Fawlty]

I do have a bit of sympathy for Peter Crouch, I thought last season he played extremely well for Stoke. This Season he has begun where he left off, and with our Striking options limited at the moment. I'm still not sure why Roy didn't give him the call.

 

[CHAPPERS]

That backs up the fact that he mostly scores against minnows.

Yeah. To be fair it starts off well but then ends up all sounding like a joke. Which I'm pretty sure it is, in a tongue in cheek kinda way.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

The Peter Crouch Myth

Stat-tastic!


As an aside Crouch is getting a load of shit from Liverpool fans on twitter right now, because he has 'let his bird' write a column in The Sun.

 

[Mellotron]

Yeah. To be fair it starts off well but then ends up all sounding like a joke. Which I'm pretty sure it is, in a tongue in cheek kinda way.

The comments worth listening to the most on that site are comments from Spurs fans i.e. the ones who would see him week in, week out.

 

[Acker79]

No no no. STOP referring to him only playing for England. Let's talk about his performances at clubs.

True or False: He is largely shit and ineffectual against good defences?

(Hint: the answer's true.)

And we were quite clearly ok without him against Moldova, as we have players like Lampard who are professional enough to be able to "do it" against the minnows.

This Season
Scored v
Wigan (prem)
Swindon (league cup)

Last Season
Scored v
Arsenal (prem)
Wolves (prem)
Man City (prem)
Liverpool (FA Cup)
Swansea (prem)
Crawley (FA Cup)
Blackburn (2) (prem)
Wolves (prem)
Blackburn (prem)
Maccabi Tel (Europa)
Arsenal (prem)
Besiktas (Europa)
Man Utd (prem)

Managed to score against the three top teams in the Premier League last season (in two matches v Arsenal). Man United and Man City were the two best defences in he prem last season. Liverpool were joint 3rd best (with Everton). Arsenal were the 8th best.