I’ve never been the biggest fan of Tottenham striker Peter Crouch, but he’s starting to win me over. I don’t know what it is about the big striker that got under my skin, maybe it’s because he used to play for Liverpool or maybe it’s his gangly appearance that annoyed me. I just couldn’t take to him.
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My dad, who’s not exactly the biggest football fan, once made an observation on the former Portsmouth striker while watching an England match. He remarked “Peter Crouch looks just like Bambi on ice”.
I believe that was a cruel observation at the time. However his appearance sometimes hides his actual ability to play football. To use a cliché, Peter Crouch has very good touch for a big man. He not only scores goals with his head as expected for a tall striker, he’s also very good with the ball at his feet. He’s a good target man and can bring others into play. His technical ability sometimes belies his size.
Impact
A lot of the games I’ve seen him play for England the big striker has had a big impact on the game. Most of those games he’s came off the bench to impress. That’s the problem for Crouch; he’s regarded as just an impact player.
It’s very rare that he gets a place in the starting line-up for the Three Lions. Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney is the obvious number one striker but there’s room for a second striker in Fabio Capello’s thinking, as the Italian proved by selecting Jermain Defoe in the last game against Egypt. His Tottenham colleague had an ineffective half against Egypt and was replaced by Crouch.
Scoring
The beanpole striker has a superb scoring record for his country. He now has 20 goals in 37 appearances for his country. That’s a strike rate that any international striker would be proud of, let alone a striker who spends most of his time on the substitute bench. He is a goal scorer and shouldn’t he be ahead of the non-scoring Emile Heskey as the target man in the England side?
Personality
Much like Heskey, Crouch seems like an easy going guy. From his time at Liverpool, I know that nobody had a bad word to say about him. He also didn’t have a bad word to say about anybody else. Unlike some of his England colleagues he lives his life mostly out of the media spotlight, despite dating a model.
His fiancée is apparently a catwalk and lingerie model, who he started dating while at Liverpool. This would make his personal life hard to keep out of the media gaze but Crouch to his credit has kept himself to himself and just got on with doing what he does best and thats playing football.
Chances
Crouch needs to get back into the Tottenham first team if he is going to book a place on the plane for South Africa. He’s currently being kept out of the Tottenham starting line-up by fellow England striker Jermain Defoe and in-form Russian hot shot Roman Pavlyuchenko.
England boss Fabio Capello only picks players who are playing for their club side and who are in form. Peter Crouch has done his chances a world of good with his goals and performance against Egypt.
He now just has to hope that he does get back into the Tottenham team and he scores the goals to catch the Italian coaches’ eye. Although I have criticised Crouch in the past I’m really starting to hope that he makes that 23 man squad for the World Cup, as it couldn’t happen to a more deserving guy.
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