Thread: Crouchy- good or bad?

I like Crouchy but he is not a natural Tottenham player for the simple reason that he is lanky as f*ck and we don't play long ball effectively at all. We never have. We are Spurs. I think you lot need no further explaination on that matter.

Here is my break down of why Long Ball strategy is idiotic:
Furthermore, I would suggest that long ball is the dumbest possible way to play top flight football you can think of. Every time we play the long ball up to Crouchy there is not one, not two, but three gambles that you need to go your way in order to succeed.

Gamble 1: Dawson usually hoofs a long ball up to Crouch. We've seen it hundreds of times this season. The gamble is weather the pass is accurate or not.

Gamble 2: Crouchy inevitably has to make a beeline for it and a reasonably competent defender will be aware of this and be doing the same thing. The gamble is weather Crouchy can win the header.

Gamble 3: Depending on the first two gambles paying off, Crouchy manages to get his head onto the ball. The final gamble is weather or not he can direct it toward a team mate, which would usually be JD.

Three gambles in an already frenetically paced Premier League football match. Time and time again we have seen it and it quite clearly does not work. Imagine how many goals we could have scored this season if we simply played a more patient build up game.

I'll finish with one final question:
How many teams have you seen in the last twenty or so years win anything with a long ball game as their primary strategy?

Originally Posted by PunchInTheNutz

I like Crouchy but he is not a natural Tottenham player for the simple reason that he is lanky as f*ck and we don't play long ball effectively at all. We never have. We are Spurs. I think you lot need no further explaination on that matter.

Here is my break down of why Long Ball strategy is idiotic:
Furthermore, I would suggest that long ball is the dumbest possible way to play top flight football you can think of. Every time we play the long ball up to Crouchy there is not one, not two, but three gambles that you need to go your way in order to succeed.

Gamble 1: Dawson usually hoofs a long ball up to Crouch. We've seen it hundreds of times this season. The gamble is weather the pass is accurate or not.

Gamble 2: Crouchy inevitably has to make a beeline for it and a reasonably competent defender will be aware of this and be doing the same thing. The gamble is weather Crouchy can win the header.

Gamble 3: Depending on the first two gambles paying off, Crouchy manages to get his head onto the ball. The final gamble is weather or not he can direct it toward a team mate, which would usually be JD.

Three gambles in an already frenetically paced Premier League football match. Time and time again we have seen it and it quite clearly does not work. Imagine how many goals we could have scored this season if we simply played a more patient build up game.

I'll finish with one final question:
How many teams have you seen in the last twenty or so years win anything with a long ball game as their primary strategy?

Mate this is one of the most brilliantly written comments I have ever seen on here,well thought out and 100% right,the only thing really puzzling me is despite the fact that the useless lanky beanpole has started the last 7 or 8 games we are still 4th,not for much longer I know but we are still 4th and this gives Harry every right to keep the large and small partnership and now Keane has gone he has a free rein to play them for every game until the end of the season.Is anyone also puzzled like me how the hell the freak is never injured,Pav plays 20 mins and is out for a month,very strange.

Crouchy needs 50kg to be half a player Drogba...maybe within the years he can put that weight on and win more headers than Modric or Lennon...not just touch the fcking ball with head but send it to correct man on the field (which is impossible for his head to do it correctly)...and the second thing when the people say if the team would pass the ball to his feet he would be much better----my ASS---the man of his size just cant keep the ball...the man of his size just lacks skills either better heading or better ball control, he's screwed, he needs to have great heading or great ball control he have neither of those two, pretty much he is finished player, cant see him improve anymore than what he is now...yeah he have good ball control for his size but thats not enough caus i dont want to look a man in this team just because he is so fcking tall wow and its a miracle how solid he can control the ball for his size...and the way we play its not FOOTball its trytoaimCrouchy'shead100time in 90 minutes..its all i can see in last 450 minutes in our play (without extra time)...why do we play like that...oh its not the Crouchys fault we play like that, no no bla bla dont be like that gugug ga...fck it IS his fault he is the cause why our players look stupid when they dont pass the ball to the free player 5meters on left or right but kick it from our half to his head and that stupid ball needs the whole minute to get to his head so the time goes every opposition defender can get close to him and push him and clear the so called danger near the box (yes the more stupidest thing our players do is they are aiming Crouch who is outside the penalty box)..fcking stupid stupid stupid...im very very frustrated, just cant think of the stupidest idea to play football than this...maybe someone thinks i really hate this player but i dont hate him..i hate stupid players who kick that ball to him and a manager who cant see this is not working well...its so limited and there are much more idiotic teams who play this much more better than us who have half tall player than Crouch...im just frustrated and cant look at this thread anymore or i will bang my head on a computer screen...

bad, very bad

I'm not suggesting Crouchy is useless. I just think we could use him better than we do. On record, he's Englands most in form striker. On a domestic level he still scores a multitude of goals for us. Ten this season in all competitions. Not bad. But I honestly reckon Keane or Pav would have had more if given the same amount of minutes on the pitch as Crouchy has had. We would be playing more patiently and building up the gameplay in the traditional Spurs way. The long ball would not be used and we would not have so much wasted posession. And that is key. Every time we play the long ball we run the risk of loosing posession. More possession = more chances.

It just seems, at times, that the long ball system is our only option when Crouch is playing. Especially as Lennon is out. If Chelsea play long balls to Drogba it's just one option amongst many that they have. We don't seem to have that kind of variance. But in all honesty, Drogba is best when it's played to his feet and he spins off his man. He's brilliant at that. Crouch could do that too if he ever got the practice.

I've said before on these forums that if there is a set-piece or if someone has managed to get it down the flank then aim for Crouchy. Every single time. He's our best option. But long balls up the centre of the pitch? Just stupid.