'Crouchy' stakes his claim!

[Swanny]

'Crouchy' stakes his claim!

03 March 2010
Peter Crouch came off the bench to strike twice as England defeated Egypt in an international friendly at Wembley on Wednesday night - putting one foot on this summer's plane to South Africa in the process.
The big striker made it an impressive 20 goals in 37 games for his country - a goalscoring record Head Coach Fabio Capello will struggle to overlook as he prepares to name his squad for the World Cup Finals.
But it was another Spurs striker, Jermain Defoe, who got the nod to start up-front alongside Wayne Rooney against the champions of Africa.
And things did not go to plan in the first half as the Three Lions fell behind to Mohamed Zidan's 23rd minute strike with JD left frustrated up the other end, especially when Egyptian goalkeeper Essam El Hadary denied him an equaliser five minutes from the break.
So it was left to 'Crouchy' to save the day for England as a half-time substitute for Jermain - and it didn't take long for the big man to make a difference.
After a few impressive touches, he got on the end of Gareth Barry's cross to sweep home the 56th minute leveller.
And after Shaun Wright-Phillips put England ahead 15 minutes from the end, 'Crouchy' put the game out of sight five minutes later with another smart finish from the Manchester City's man's centre.
Post-match, Peter said: "All I can do is that when I'm given my chance, try and take it. Hopefully I've given him [Capello] something to think about tonight.
"I think anyone who plays for England, especially in a World Cup year, is going to feel some pressure, especially at home. You just try and do your best, and thankfully I did tonight."
Elsewhere, it was also a memorable occasion for one of our future England hopefuls as Kyle Walker won a first cap for the country at Under-21 level.
The 19-year-old defender, recently recalled from a loan at former club Sheffield United, played a full game at Doncaster's Keepmoat Stadium as the Young Lions were defeated 2-1 by group leaders Greece in a European Championship qualifier.

Tottenhamhotspur.com - News Articles - 'Crouchy' stakes his claim!

[BigDub]

Crouch showed finesse and patience in this match. His second goal was very offside, but I was very pleased to see him on the score sheet. Wright-Phillips also played well off the bench....hope that doesn't damage Azza's chances to start. Though with Aarons injury and Shauns good form, it very well might.

[Swanny]

Crouch showed finesse and patience in this match. His second goal was very offside, but I was very pleased to see him on the score sheet. Wright-Phillips also played well off the bench....hope that doesn't damage Azza's chances to start. Though with Aarons injury and Shauns good form, it very well might.

Fully agree but did you notice though no long balls or long passes(whatever camp your in) to Crouchy and both goals taken with feet and not the head.
I have always admired Crouchy as an impact player and tonight is testiment to it, I just wish we could play that way when he is on the field for us.

[BigDub]

Verrrrryyyy intersting observation. Can only lead to one or two conclusions. Either Harry really is all about the long ball, or Dawson is hitting long passes more than the manager would like. I find myself leaning to the former...

[Swanny]

Verrrrryyyy intersting observation. Can only lead to one or two conclusions. Either Harry really is all about the long ball, or Dawson is hitting long passes more than the manager would like. I find myself leaning to the former...

I feel the same, at the lane on Sunday it was very noticable that as soon as Crouchy came on Daws started to hit the long ball, hard for me to swallow as I think Daws has been magnificant this season and love him to bits, on the other hand Arry takes Crouchy wherever he goes(signed him 3 times) and I love Arry to bits lol, up till now Arry has always been the relegation expert and he is also breaking new ground with THFC hopefully with the Pav situation sorted he will see that there are other options open to him.

[BigDub]

Also, hopefully Harry was watching and can take some notes from Capello in this game, mainly that Crouch can still be an asset to the side even if you aren't hoofing long balls in his direction. This performance does reaffirm the fact, though, that maybe he is better in a subs role.

[EliteKiller]

Shows what a good player Crouchy is, also shows that we can play the 'Spurs' way with Crouchy in the team. The 'long pass' should be used a lot less and Defoe should learn that 'assists' are as important as goals .... better to have two strikers scoring 20 each than one scoring 25 and one scoring 10. Will be interesting to see Pav and Crouchy playing together a bit more .....

[Swanny]

Shows what a good player Crouchy is, also shows that we can play the 'Spurs' way with Crouchy in the team. The 'long pass' should be used a lot less and Defoe should learn that 'assists' are as important as goals .... better to have two strikers scoring 20 each than one scoring 25 and one scoring 10. Will be interesting to see Pav and Crouchy playing together a bit more .....

Exactly my point, so why do we persist with the "Long Ball"? many times I have said on this forum that there is a lot more to Crouchy's game he has excellent ball control when given the chance to show it, his other great attribute is he will play to whatever system the manager wants without complaint, however I do believe his greatest attribute is as an impact substitute, when he plays a full game the opposition have 90 minutes to adapt to his style of play and deal with it normally within the first 45 mins as when he is brought on as a sub they have very little time and panic sets it on how to cope with him.

[The Cryptkeeper]

Defoe should learn that 'assists' are as important as goals ....

Yep, as talented as he is JD has always been far too selfish to be truly top drawer. He needs to fix this and quickly.

[P UNIT 1980]

He will 100% be on the plane as he is that option B or C that all great teams like to have.

I also think Carlton Cole should get a nudge or at least be available as he is a similar player and could deputise for that option B/C.

[BigDub]

So that means no Heskey then, Unit? Rooney seems to love partnering him...thats reason enough to include him in Capellos mind, surely.

[Dinamo ZG]

Fully agree but did you notice though no long balls or long passes(whatever camp your in) to Crouchy and both goals taken with feet and not the head.
I have always admired Crouchy as an impact player and tonight is testiment to it, I just wish we could play that way when he is on the field for us.

its Capello,he would never accept that primitive style of play...


England are now playing modern football with him...