15m striker prepared to throw wrench into Liverpool’s tranfer plans
by offsidetrap on May 28th, 2008
| 207 words |
If you’re type of person that believes the words coming out of Liverpool gaffa Rafa Benitez’s mouth, you’d know be part of a fairly small minority that believes his 15 million pound valuation of strike Peter Crouch was A-OK! For those of us not living in a dreamland, you’d know that no team in all of Europe would pay that hefty sum — even if they knew they were getting a player twice the size of the average footballer!
Well apparently you can count Peter Crouch among those currently living in the non-Liverpool dreamland. The Daily Star is reporting a source close to Crouch as saying that he’s prepared to play out the the final year of his contract at Liverpool and leave in the summer for free! This would of course keep Rafa from peddling the striker off on another team and adding more to the transfer kitty.
“Peter’s been treated appallingly by Benitez,” said the source.
“First there’s been the lack of games, then Benitez claiming Peter had been offered a new contract.” (The Star)
So what’s your take Liverpools supporters: Will Rafa ever end up getting anything for Crouchigol this summer, or will he ride the pine for another season before leaving for free?
We're giving you £10 FREE so show some bollocks and BET NOW!
Tagged Under: crouch, Liverpool FC, rumors, transfers
Rafa The Gaffer - May 28th, 2008 at 5:55 pm
If he wants to play out the rest of his contract, then he can wave goodbye to any football for the next year, as Rafa will just not play him at all.
Take your teddies back Crouch and get on with being a footballer.
Waino - May 28th, 2008 at 6:06 pm
Parry should have got him on a longer contract sooner. He never learns. As for Crouch; decent player, but should count himself lucky that Liverpool’s lack of cash eneabled him to wear the red shirt. He should ship out to a club more his level. He loves his England shirt most, so he’ll go to keep in Capello’s plans.
Anon - May 28th, 2008 at 6:07 pm
I think Rafa has treated him very poorly. During the games I have watched this year, I think he has played OK.
If Rafa really wants to sell him, then surely he will wake up and price him around £5m max.
Anon - May 28th, 2008 at 6:26 pm
Benitez put this price on Crouch to prove a point as he has stated in the media if you can be bothered to look it up and state facts rather than post wank musings.
For example, Who’s the fool, the fool that buy’s Barren Dent for £18m or the manager that cheekily ups the price of a player because he’s English. No contest. For the record, Tottenham are extremely lucky to have got off scot free from the hoards of scoffing that would no doubt be lashed onto any other team this season past for that piece of business
We’ll be watching
Rushback - May 28th, 2008 at 6:29 pm
^
Joe - May 28th, 2008 at 7:07 pm
Anyone who thinks here worth less than 12m need to look at him stats
Crouch stats- Upto 4-4-08
Season 2006/07
Premership
a) 19 starts. 13 as sub. (Total = 32 games).
b) 9 goals and 8 assists in 32 games
c) Directly contributed to 17 goals in 19 starts = A goal every 1.1 games).
d) Directly contributed to 17 goals in 32 games overall = A goal every 1.8 games).
Overall, Crouch had a direct hand in a goal in 89% of the premiership games he STARTED and 50% of games overall (Starts and sub appearances combines).
Champions League
a) 8 CL starts. 6 as a sub (Total = 14 games).
b) 7 goals in 8 starts = A goal every 1.1 games.
c) 7 goals in 14 games overall = A goal every 2 games.
Overall, Crouch had a direct hand in a goal in 90% of the CL games he STARTED and 50% of games overall.
FA/Carling/Community Shield
a) 3 games started.
b) 2 goals scored.
Domestic Totals 2006/07
a) A total of 49 games played (30 starts. 19 sub appearances).
b) Contributed 18 goals and 9 assists.
c) Direct involvement in 27 goals.
d) 18 goals from 30 starts = A goal every 1.6 games.
Overall, Crouch had direct involvement in 27 goals from 49 games (start and sub). This means he directly contributed to a goal every 1.8 games in which he played a part.
If we take Crouch’s England form into account:
England
a) 8 games played (4 starts and 4 sub appearances)
b) 8 goals scored in 8 games (Averaging a goal a game).
Totals: Club and Country combined
a) A total of 57 games: played (34 starts. 23 sub appearances)
b) 26 goals and 9 assists in 57 games.
c) Direct involvement in 35 goals.
d) 26 goals in 34 total starts = A goal every 1. 3 games.
Overall, in all competitions, Crouch directly contributed to 35 goals in 57 games (start and sub), meaning he scored or created a goal every 1.6 games.
Averages
Premiership average:
STARTS: Scored/Assisted every 1.1 games.
START + SUB: Scored/assisted every 1.8 games.
CL average:
STARTS: Scored/Assisted every 1.1 games.
STARTS + SUB: Scored/Assisted every 2 games.
England average:
STARTS: Scored/Assisted every game.
The most compelling statistic is this:
Crouch’s 18 domestic goals and 7 of his assists came from starts.
Thus, if we disregard sub appearances, his DOMESTIC stats for Liverpool read like this:
Games started: 30
Goals scored: 18
Assists: 7
So, in 30 domestic starts, Crouch was directly responsible for 25 goals!!
Okay - let’s look at the current season:
Benitez has granted Crouch a pathetic total of 5 premiership starts this season. I repeat: 5 premiership starts. This is utterly indefensible. It gets worse – in all competitions, Crouch has been given a starting berth in a measly 15 games.
His other 10 appearances have been 5 or 10 minute cameos as a sub, with precious little time to make any impact. Such treatment would be enough to shatter anyone’s confidence, but despite this, Crouch’s statistics remain impressive:
Premiership 2007/08
5 starts
Goals: 2
Assists: 3
CL Games
4 starts
Goals: 3
FA Cup
2 starts
Goals: 2
Assists: 1
Carling Cup
3 starts
Goals: 0
England
3 starts
Goals: 2
Totals – All competitions
Starts – 17
Goals – 9
Assists: 3
Crouch’s goal record from STARTS this season is more than 1 in 2. Add his assists on and he scores or creates a goal every 1.5 games. This is in comparison to a mere 2 goals in 12 substitute appearances.
Combining Crouch’s DOMESTIC starting stats from last season and this season, we get the following results:
Starts – 44
Goals – 27
Assists – 11
So – Crouch has scored or created 38 goals from his last 44 starts!
Crouch has scored or created a goal in 83% of his starts in the last 2 seasons.
He scores or creates a goal every 1.2 games.
Leffe - May 28th, 2008 at 10:35 pm
Joe, you don’t need to convince me how good Crouch is. I’ve been saying on this board for a while he’s worth every penny of the £15m price tag.
Most Premiership teams would love to have him but they won’t admit it just to keep the price low. If he was playing for 75% of other Premiership teams he’d be their top goalscorer.
Compare him to Bent, rated even more expensively. At least Crouch has performed.
His England record is excellent too. I think it was 11 goals in 11 games at one point.
You do have to say though that if he hadn’t been in the Liverpool squad, would he have made it into the England team. I doubt it.
Eujen - May 29th, 2008 at 8:39 am
He’s one of the only few list of players at liverpool id love to have at United.
Such a good goal scorer.