Forward Thinking
Monday, August 16, 2010 at 12:00PM by Chrisman
A '20 goals a season man' is a bit of a red herring. These days 15 league goals are more than enough. We get goals from all over the pitch. We do however need another striker. Crouch should be 3rd choice. Harry doesn't seem to fully trust Pav....or, reading between the lines, maybe he views Pav as essential, and was saving him for the arguably bigger game on Tuesday.
Crouch's problem - he can't beat a man. He is not a threat at all receiving it with his back to goal and beating his man on the turn. Like Pav, Defoe, or any number of top strikers can. The problem this creates is that defenders know they can get ultra tight on him, because they know he's not going to go past them. Other top strikers will automatically have 2 yards of space because defenders know they have to drop off, or risk getting put on their asses with a sharp turn and sprint. This means they can receive the ball in a bit of space, and turn and go towards goal. It opens the pitch up. Crouch always has a man hanging off him, and he can only go one way - away from goal. This makes life difficult for him and us.
He often has to receive the ball to his head, because he can't properly run the channels and be in enough space to receive it to feet. Pav is so much better at this, and adds a different angle of attack when he does it, an angle Crouch rarely provides. We end up playing the long ball to Crouch far too much. You could say that this isn’t his fault, but you could also be a bit more astute. You could see that the reason we play this ball so much is because Crouch doesn’t have the speed of movement to offer any other option.
Yes Crouchie has a good touch, and when he has chances he can take them. But he is just too slow and immobile. Even the likes of Berbatov, Saha, Anelka etc can all hold the ball up, and also offer that ability to turn and go. Crouch is one dimensional. Admittedly, that one dimension is a dimension he is pretty good at. But it’s not quite enough.
I also believe that Crouch knows he is a bit out of his depth. His confidence is suffering slightly as a result. I think if he was used as a 'plan B' 3rd striker, he would be much more comfortable. He'd know that's the role that suits him best, and it's a role in which he can really offer something. It’s just I don’t feel he offers anything that Pav doesn’t, and Pav has a lot more in his locker than Crouch. I’m not saying Pav is the second coming of Klinsmann, but right now Crouch is making him look really good. At the very least Pav deserves a good run of 6-8 games where he is a guaranteed starter. It’s no more than Crouch has had after all.
Having 5 good forwards on our books might be a good thing if they were all emotionless automatons. But they ain’t, and there are only so many games in a season, and not nearly enough to keep all 5 happy. So we end up getting some silly situations like Saturday when you have to bring on 2 strikers at once. What about letting Defoe have 10 minutes with Pav? Did anyone really expect Keane to do anything positive? Why not bring on Dos Santos up front for the last 10 minutes? It’s easy to look at things in hindsight from my armchair, but logic seems to go out of the window when so many different parties have to be appeased. Having so many good strikers will do us more harm than good.
Strikers play on confidence. They have to know their role, and know the hierarchy. What kind of situation is it when 2 strikers start, and they know that if they don’t produce anything after an hour there are 2 replacements the manager is dying to throw on? It’s not a good look. I’m pretty certain Harry knows this, and it wouldn’t greatly surprise anyone to see 2 of the 5 leave in the next week. I’d be delighted to see Keane leave, and if Crouch left I certainly wouldn’t be too worried. As long as one comes in. That still leaves us with 4.
Any number of players would do. Forlan is obviously the dream choice. Fabiano is interesting, but I think he’s too much of a finisher. In the PL you need to be able to do a lot more than just finish to be a good striker. Berbatov is an interesting proposition. I would definitely like to see what him and Pav up front could do. The move is probably there for him if he really wants it. Loic Remy looks extremely raw. Gyan looked good in the World Cup. Milevsky of Kiev looks to be a good prospect. There are plenty of options, all offering great potential but also a fair degree of risk.
I don’t think any other area of the team needs major improvements. We saw last season that it was only a pretty small improvement needed to change us from a best of the rest team into a really serious contender. We have the cake. It just needs to be iced. Give me some sweet, creamy frosting please Mr Levy.
Reader Comments (49)
1st
I stopped reading when "Forlan is obviously the dream choice" was mentioned.
All good points up until that one. Obviously? really? Just makes a mockery of the other Crouch related points you raised.
what's with all the 1st comments?
pathetic losers. Jog on back to facebook.
Have to be honest here, I'm panicking with what we might end up with striker wise. Is this Remy bloke any good?
Good article. Forlan maybe not the obvious choice but I can't agree that that opinion "makes a mockery" of your excellent analysis of Crouch's limitations.
I'd take Berbatov back if we could afford him. He didn't celebrate when he scored against us in the Howard Webb game at Old Trafford a couple of seasons ago and we could look bloody amazing with the pace of Bale and Lennon allied to the creative majesty of Modric and Berbs, with Hudd behind them worth mentioning too.
great article. forlan wouldn't be my first choice though. id like to see kalanic.. great young player.. like a young berbatov. but up front i think get rid of keane keep crouch for games against stoke and what not. i'd like to see gujohnson back if we are struggling to find any1, bellemy would be a great choice if that is at all possible. fabiano is good but unsure about his character but its a hard call. but after saturday it was evident we need a top class striker.. huntelaar is good but i have this feeling ibrahimovic could work. he'd probably never come to us and hes happy to sit on a barca bench.. but the idea of him linking up with modric playing bale and lennon in on the wings is a really nice thought :D
Obviously crouch should be in the NBA, his mobility is like shaquille o’neal and yao ming (if you have ever seen them play). When PAV came on the tempo raised; however, keane dosent have the pace either so poor pav got frustrated. Crouch has also cheated on his wife like terry and should be dropped. We would have beaten city if we had a world class striker.
When watching Crouch play, I half expect someone to run onto the pitch with a tranquilliser gun to put him out of his misery.
Toilet.
Crouch had a very good game on Saturday. If we want that world class striker we have to pay world class wages which Spurs don't do. Bent is a guy who scores over 20 goals in a season but it didn't work for us. So maybe we need more goals from other areas of the pitch as well. I think Hud, Modric, Lennon are fantastic players but we need more goals from them this season....
Remy, I've never seen him play. Is he better then what we have got? If it's only a maybe it's not worth the risk of changing one of four settled strikers.
Apparently Harry said after the City game we had a bid turned down for a big name player, somebody who would have been huge for Spurs...
Just hope we don't chuck 12m at Parker when we only need a defender at this moment in time and possibly a replacement striker.
I agree with most you say. Personally I would trade Keane or/andDefoe with someone who can operate inside the box with more efficiency. Pav has a better scoring ability than Crouch. I think we also (desperate) need a scoring midfielder to ease the pressure on the strikers and to force the opponents to spread their attention to more players than our strikers. I would sale Modric for a scoring midfielder. All big club have a regularly scoring midfielder (Lampard, Gerrard, Scholes, Fabregas, Messi, Kaka, Sneijder, Miller, Totti etc).
We do need more goals in midfield but sell Modric!!! LOL.
Not the worst guest blog post...but then that isnt exactly hard.
People have short memories, this is the strikeforce which got us into the CL. Yes it would be good to get in a top striker but there isnt any out there who can genuinely improve us... Forlan is a joke...and at 30 million is just stupid, Levy would never pay that kind of money even if it was a potential.
It sticks in my throat to say it but Berbatov on Saturday would have scored a number of those chances and with the quality of the rest of the team it would be total football,why did he have to treat us so badly i wonder if he looked at Saturdays game and wondered about him and us.
This is true Toppsy, although Keane was at Celtic for half of the season and the Iceman was with us. But we are in a position where we have four good strikers who will score goals and they are not moaning. I'm hoping Keane can find he is scoring touch again. His time at Celtic scoring goals must have done him good. So unless we can get someone who is going to do a much better job you have to play with what we've got.
no other area needs improving ? how about defence ? . . . the sooner the milner transfer to city goes ahead the better then there will be some movements, keane and bentleys bags are packed to go up the m40 to villa, they may well be waving to ashley young coming down the other side of the motorway to WHL. as for a hitman, another johnny foreigner who hasnt got premiership experience would be a big mistake and even though city are scared to sell him to us the bellamy saga has been going all summer and wont go away. personally l hope levy really upsets the S-hammers board and goes all in for scott parker, not necessarily cos we need him but just to put david gold and and that brummy tart brady in their place ; )
I too think Forlan would be perfect! (bye bye PSB)
And in all honesty, I would swap Crouch for Gudjohnson
I have a hunch that we will 'go big' in the transfer market on a top forward once we nail down Champions League football...then we know what money is coming our way and the player knows he will see some serious CL action!
I believe we are a top class forward from being as good as anyone!
And maybe another TOP centre back....Devonshirespur.
Drogba is going for 10m apparently. ;-)
Remember Forlan has already failed in the prem playing for the best team the prem has seen. Although no doubt he's improved. We've seen that.
We need to look for a striker who is going to take JD's place.
For me Jermain is not a world class striker. He's better off the bench when defenders get tired.
He's not a great finisher, can not take penalties and if he doesnt score then he gives you nothing else. He cant hold the ball up, doesnt actually take people on with any purpose and his setup play is not all that.
One name comes to mind: Michael Owen.
;)
We need to look for a striker who is going to take JD's place.
For me Jermain is not a world class striker. He's better off the bench when defenders get tired.
He's not a great finisher, can not take penalties and if he doesnt score then he gives you nothing else. He cant hold the ball up, doesnt actually take people on with any purpose and his setup play is not all that.
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What rubbish. He is a poacher and thrives on chances. He doesn't often waste good chances. When played to his feet, he holds the ball up well. He is very sharp in and around the box and his movement and pace cause problems for all defences......what he is not is a no.9, which is what we lack.
Darren Bent, universally recognised by Spurs fans as being pretty poor, yet he scored plenty last season and missed 3 penalties vs Spurs alone! Now he really did (does) offer nothing but goals, but he also missed some realy sitters (another at the weekend). JD is a much better all round player!
RELEASE THE PAV!
Darren Bent is decent if played in a system that allows him to run onto balls and make the most of rebounds. I rarely saw him craft out chances of his own making or play other players into the game with clever movement. Yes he scored a few for us, you can't deny it, but if you take away the stats and anaylse the games his involvement in those games was minimal. And don't dare say Greaves did nothing but score, because I'll find out where you live and hit you.
One of our biggest games for 48 years tomorrow night!!!! Worth 20-40m! COYS!!!!!!!!!! It's pressure time.
I don't think we learned anything new from Saturday. We all knew we can outplay and create chances against any team. We also knew that our forwards need 10 chances each to hit the back of the net. Hopefully after Saturday all the clueless Spurs fans will get off BAE's back as he was outstanding again, forcing Mancini to swap Silva & WP in the first half then replace WP with johnson in the 2nd. Also, the game again proved the Thudd is not good enough, he might as well not have come out for the 2nd half and was the main reason we were under pressure for the first 10 mins.
P.S. We need Keane out of our club asap!!!!
What rubbish. He is a poacher and thrives on chances. He doesn't often waste good chances. When played to his feet, he holds the ball up well. He is very sharp in and around the box and his movement and pace cause problems for all defences......what he is not is a no.9, which is what we lack.
Darren Bent, universally recognised by Spurs fans as being pretty poor, yet he scored plenty last season and missed 3 penalties vs Spurs alone! Now he really did (does) offer nothing but goals, but he also missed some realy sitters (another at the weekend). JD is a much better all round player!
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Sorry but i disagree.
He's a poor mans Andy Cole. Why are other teams not sniffing about JD? In your eyes he's a poacher who thrives on chances so he should be getting over 20 prem goals in this team which creates loads.
Pav is the best finisher at the club.
We need a true world class striker.
Keane needs to go. He doesn't offer anything that Moddle/Dos Santos couldn't do if they were pushed up front. He hasn't got the burst of pace to take him past players anymore and we have more than enough attacking midfielders. Crouch should always be plan-B on the Bench. His height will always be a weapon from crosses and set pieces but his game is too limited to use him from the start.
I think ideally we need another Defoe type forward - lightening fast (to keep up with Bale & Lennon) and an instinctive goal-hungry finisher. We don't need someone to create chances, just someone to finish a move.
Drogba basically.....
I agree with Daniel and Nayim.
Berba FTW
Can't help but feel that the Forlan thing might be awaiting the final condition of CL group stage qualification...
Forlan would be also be my number 1 choice striker , the guy has evolved since being at Man U , i do not see why thfc1882 sees your analysis off Crouch and choosing Forlan as a mockery
I have seen him play on multiple occasions and he has the pace , the power , the trickery and above all the goalscoring ability to be a world class striker without a doubt.
And the sulky Bulgarian ... leaves me with a "Keane coming back from the cesspool a broken striker" taste in the mouth but still , i loved seeing him move across the pitch , those silky touches , the finishing and the vision all combined in one player. There is only one player i have ever forgiven for not putting the work in his game and that player was Dimitar the bizarre ...
Keane should have started against Citeh Harry got that call wrong Im not slating him or the team because it was a fine performance and he is doing a great job all in all. When Defoe was put through one on one with Hart he missed because his head was down and he wasnt aware of Hart's body position. That is my major issue with Defoe, that and he never scores against the "big" teams.
Keane on the other hand would have had one eye on Hart who seemed to go down early and in turn he would of lifted it over him and scored as we seen him do many times before. If we could just find that striker that clinical bad ass finisher to bury all these chancess we make we really would be the complete side. I have full trust in Harry to find this player before the window shuts i really do. I also think Keane should start tomorrow give him 65 mins like Defoe on saturday and see what he can do.
COYS
I have full confidence in Harry Houdini and his bag of tricks, which is still zipped up. Wouldn’t surprise me to see Lassana Diarra and/or Suley Muntari jumping out of his hat, because Harry knows that games are won or lost in the midfield. He also highly rates Gyon, for who I think is better than any of our strikers.
Young boys lost 1-0 at home to the mighty Neuchatel Xamax on Sat. Apparently not playing very well.
@Topyid - Keane would never have got into the position to miss Defoe's chance, so it's a moot point. I'd score half of the chances that Bent misses but my legs would never get me near the ball in the first instance ;)
The Young Boy's away kit is the same as our home kit (with one added piss streak).
Here's a link to it:
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.bscyb.ch/cgi-bin/dynamisch/homeaway2010.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.kumb.com/forum/viewtopic.php%3Ff%3D2%26t%3D121021%26start%3D1900%26st%3D0%26sk%3Dt%26sd%3Da&usg=__1UrllUxhFwjYLYeTW5nK1jTHOIE=&h=315&w=550&sz=114&hl=en&start=18&tbnid=l_R6DE0N6JJJZM:&tbnh=131&tbnw=183&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dyoung%2Bboys%2Bberne%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26rlz%3D1T4GGLL_enUS351US351%26biw%3D1319%26bih%3D592%26tbs%3Disch:10%2C467&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=846&vpy=268&dur=74&hovh=170&hovw=297&tx=165&ty=103&ei=sVdpTM6QC8Oclgf4yPCfBQ&oei=rldpTMWWKMP98Abiir2tBA&esq=2&page=2&ndsp=19&ved=1t:429,r:10,s:18&biw=1319&bih=592
We will not, repeat, will NOT get a 20 goals a season striker. JD got 18 for fucks sake last season, that's pretty bloody good in my book! Due to wage restrictions and the fact that no-one under 30 (for the long term) is really available it just ain't gonna happen. Levy tends to go for more youthful players unless they're in Defence (Woody) and players he can make a profit on if need be, not ageing unproven in the PL players such as Forlan and Fabiano.
Give Remy a punt or maybe Gervinho or perhaps Gyan as they're all pretty strong and young still, can probably knock in 15 or so and wouldn't break the bank. I would still start Defoe and Pav most games. Crouch is better as a sub and Keane can do what he likes stay or go, either is fine by me. If he goes then I'd like Eidur back though, probably.
Don't understand why we haven't signed Eidur. His experience and ability to hold the ball and distribute play will be invaluable in the CL.
As I see it, we have four good strikers. All of them are lacking a few elements to make them top class, and consistency is a common theme for all four.
Personally, i'd happily sacrifice Keane for Gudjohnsen, and a top striker (if we could get one) who can a) comfortably play up to alone and b) is a top finisher for Pav. He's a good finisher Super Pav, but he doesn't like putting a shift in and has little pace. Good in spells, but way short of being top drawer.
Ironically, i'd start him with Defoe at present in the league - I just want an upgraded version!
'Tottenham blow as Jermaine Jenas ruled out of Champions League clash with Young Boys'
We're doomed.
Swanky new sponsor on the Cup-kit, Investec, and not a spot of Red in sight!! Can anyone tell me why this is 10 fucking quid more expensive than the league kit thought? Not exactly fair is it!
http://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/news/articles/tottenham-hotspur-announces-new-shirt-sponsorship-with-investec-160810.html?
all this talk about 20 goal a year strikers etc etc has meant we all missed 1 massive element from saturdays game.......did everyone notice what the club has done to poor old Gomes? What was that kit all about?
"Swanky new sponsor on the Cup-kit, Investec, and not a spot of Red in sight!! Can anyone tell me why this is 10 fucking quid more expensive than the league kit thought? Not exactly fair is it!"
It comes with a name and number on the back, and it looks like that's the only option you get if you pre-order. They'll probably sell it for the same price as the other one if you don't want a name on the back, but you'll have to wait til it's out properly.
As for the forwards - I have a feeling we're gonna miss Gudjohnsen, and if nothing else Eidur swapped him for Keane (eh? eh?) . We do need a top quality striker who can play up top on their own if we want to challenge at the highest level but if there isn't one around in our price range there's not much we can do.
Finally someone agrees with me about Crouch! I like him, he seems like a nice guy, he works hard, gives his best, and scored that goal. But he's not a very good player. Pav offers a lot more, is more positive, and will score more goals. However, I do like the Idea of having two sets of partnerships up front. Allows the strikers to know who they are playing with, and how they play. Remember in the early days of Jol, when we would start with Defoe and Kanoute, and if they didn't work, we didn't just change one, we took them both off and brought on Keane and Mido. It worked well, and I can see it working again.
Great article though, nice one.
Excellent article. I had been looking at Crouch's play and wondered what it was and it is indeed the turn that is his weakness. He is a great second option, and I'd rather see Defoe and Pav start things off.
Think about the whole "marquee" striker concept though. Look at teams that have the 20 plus scorer on their squad. That guy gets pounded, and the team starts to shape their whole game around them. Then when they are hurt, the team tends to not have an alternate plan or at least they seem to play an inferior game. Man U sometimes seems lost without Rooney.
There is something to be said to have a group of strikers that offer different options. Crouch, Defoe, Pav, Keane all bring different things to the table. Variety has it's advantages. Clearly the disadvantage is consistency though.
Cej
apparently the colour a goalie wears has a massive psychological effect on the opposition. No shit.
Does not apply in harts case as he just full stop played a blinder
Maybe the whole team needs to dress in bright orange. Good lord.
Some beautiful crosses by Bale, right to the feet of Defoe and Pav, who - shocker - couldn't finish.
Back to the Lane, tails between legs but with an iota of dignity salvaged. Gonna be a long week....
Did we expect anything else????
COYS
For the good of the team and the transfer market I hope to god defoe is out for a month and keane gets lost somewhere.
Anyway don't worry about the cl we will go through and end up in a group with rosenborg and Steffen iversen.
.....reminded me of some of those dark days under Mr Ramos when we looked like we did not even know what a football was.
In all fairness, it could have been a hell of a lot worse. Hudd settled our sinking ship tonight, and I thought Niko was useful for a while during the 2nd half. As much as I have gone off him, Keanes work rate was very good when he game on, and a lovely pass to Pav, who apart from scoring a beauty, was useless.
Back to the lane, under the lights, can't wait to witness the champions league music.
I hope the nation was not watching tonight.
COYS.
"I don’t think any other area of the team needs major improvements".....did you watch the match tonight? Apart from RB, CB, CB, RM, CM, LM, Strikers 1&2 I would agree with you.