WHY CROUCH IS THE RIGHT MAN FOR RAFA

WHY CROUCH IS THE RIGHT MAN FOR RAFA
Paul Tomkins 31 August 2005

In his weekly column on Liverpoolfc.tv, Paul Tomkins reflects on Michael Owen's decision to sign for Newcastle and insists Peter Crouch remains a better bet in Rafa's preferred system.

While I'm disappointed that Michael Owen has opted to sign for Newcastle, and will find it extremely weird seeing him in black and white, I am not heartbroken, angry or indeed surprised. In fact, I'm just pleased he hasn't signed for any of our direct rivals or 'enemies'.
 
I find it hard to take Newcastle seriously, and this doesn't change that too much. As one journalist so brilliantly put it over the summer, Newcastle gather 'trophy players', not trophies. Here's another.
 
I'm a big Michael Owen fan. He's a class act. He went abroad to win trophies, and I supported his decision, given it was to Real Madrid, at a time when his career was at a crossroads, and while Liverpool were entering another transitional period. It was the logical time to give it a shot. 'Now or never'.
 
He ended up winning nothing but a smattering of praise, while the Reds won the biggest prize of them all. Who saw that coming?
 
Now Owen is at Newcastle, a club that thinks itself as important, despite winning next-to-nothing in fifty years. A big club in terms of support, but tiny in terms of achievement.
 
He will be a big success there, just as Milan Baros will prove a hit at Aston Villa. But in both cases I mean in terms of goals scored, not trophies won.
 
Owen may not have enjoyed life back at Anfield, while Baros might not have done what Rafa required in Red. Both will probably outscore all of our strikers this season, but in sides geared toward feeding them at the expense of others. If those two sides finish mid-table, their goals will be far less meaningful.

While Rafa clearly rates Owen, and would have liked to have him as an option (and still may, in the future), I was never convinced that he saw the player as crucial to his plans. Once Newcastle offered £17m, there was little chance of the Reds being successful in luring him back.
 
Liverpool's interest seemed very conditional, not least in terms of the asking price; Real Madrid might have accepted less from the Reds, just as they did for Morientes when French teams offered more - but not significantly less. Especially as Rafa needs money for other areas of the team.

Another of those conditions would have been rotation: I'm sure Owen, in a World Cup year (and his best chance of winning it, at that), just wanted to play. He has learned that being a sub in a great side isn't as much fun as being a regular in any other side if you exist purely and simply for the rush of scoring goals. I respect that. At Newcastle he is guaranteed to start every week.
 
It seems he's sacrificed trophies at club level (for the time being) in the hope of winning the biggest one of all with his country. He's also nearing the England goalscoring record, and that's a personal achievement that would mean as much to him as a league championship medal, I'm sure. Footballers want to be remembered, to become eternal, and that's as good a way as any.
 
Maybe he'll leave Newcastle for a reduced fee in a year's time, and this will turn out to be no more than a glorified 'loan' deal. I can't see him staying there for the long haul, that's for sure.
 
Formations
 
So why did none of the nation's best clubs feel the need to match Newcastle's valuation, seeing as Owen is a great individual talent who guarantees goals? Why didn't last season's top three even show the remotest interest, especially Chelsea who have only two out-and-out strikers and money to burn?
 
Given his physical stature, Owen requires a partner to take the physical buffeting and compete for anything in the air.
 
Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool - the four best teams in the land - all start most games with only one out-and-out striker: a central fulcrum who can bring the onrushing midfielders and wingers into play. (Arsenal do it slightly differently, with Henry and Bergkamp drifting all over the pitch, so that at times they don't appear to have any strikers.)
 
It's not a faddish fashion (like wingbacks in 1995): it's the template for success. Chelsea won the league deploying one front-man, and Rafa used Baros as a lone striker in Europe after Cisse broke his leg.
 
Meanwhile, Sven Goran Eriksson offers proof of how shoe-horning the best players into a 4-4-2 formation at the expense of a natural tactical balance results in mediocre football. Sometimes good players in the right system are better than great ones in the wrong system.
 
It was no coincidence that Rafa said he wanted a team with several players who score a good amount of goals, not one individual who scores loads (the problem Liverpool had latterly under Gerard Houllier's tenure: it was often Owen or bust). It's better to have six 15-goal players, than one who scores 25 while the rest get five.
 
Chelsea's Drogba - a tall (and derided) targetman - scored a very respectable 16 goals last season, but it was his presence that allowed Lampard, Duff, Robben, Gudjohnsen et al to get into the box from deeper positions, arriving late to score goals. When Chelsea played two out-and-out strikers, with Kezmen in the side, they were far less potent. Even now, Mourinho opts for either Drogba or Crespo - not both.
 
Playing Owen alongside another striker would cause problems to other areas of Rafa's team, most notably the centre of the park. The three man central midfield of Gerrard, Alonso and Sissoko (/Hamann) gives the Reds a strength in that area that only Chelsea can possibly match, and it's crucial to remain strong in the heart of the battle.
 
That appears to be the bedrock this side will be built upon. And midfield is also an area where more goals are coming from. Luis Garcia scored 13 from open play last season - far in excess of any midfielder when the Reds played 4-4-2 under Houllier (Murphy got 12 in 2002/03, but many were from free kicks and penalties).
 
To highlight the point, Steven Gerrard has 20 goals for Liverpool in the last 13 months, only one of which was a penalty. Take away Owen's penalties, and his stats were not so superior to those during his best 13 months at the club. Coming from deeper areas, players can be harder to pick up.
 
What Rafa needs are wide midfielders-cum-wingers who can compliment this arrangement by either supplying crosses for Crouch or Morientes, or arriving into the box to score goals. That's why getting Harry Kewell fit and in form - however unlikely it seems to some - remains a crucial aspect of the season. He can supply crosses, and already has 80 career goals.
 
Remaining strikers

Had I been told nine months ago that Peter Crouch would arrive at Anfield for £7m, I'd have struggled to contain my disbelief. But that was before a superb second half to last season. When his name was first mentioned in connection with a move to Anfield I, like many others, felt it was as a target man to throw on late in games, only sporadically starting matches.
 
But this was doing him a disservice. His touch in the early games proved how talented he is with the ball at his feet (which was also evident as I went back over Southampton's season), and he possesses great awareness and vision (perhaps because, like a giraffe, he can see above his habitat).

Crouch's height makes him a genuine threat in the air, but also a generally awkward customer for defenders. He is harder to tackle, and deceptively swift in his movements.
 
While Rafa will look to rotate his players, it's clear Crouch is not here to be called upon in last-ditch desperation. A five-man midfield, with great attacking talents, needs a striker who can hold the ball up, flick it on, and generally bring others into play. Crouch's career record of one-in-three suggests he can also score his fair share of goals.
 
So while Owen is a better finisher (not many are in his class), and a bigger star, Crouch will suit this system better, and help to bring out the best in others.
 
The complications surround Fernando Morientes and Djibril Cisse. Both will feature, but how heavily? And how will the fast-improving Sinama-Pongolle fare this season?
 
I still think Cisse is a powder keg of potential waiting to explode. His confidence hasn't been helped by transfer speculation, and like all goalscorers he craves to start every match in order to be at his best. Playing wide has also hampered his game, but he's helped his manager out of a tight spot.
 
Since the start of May against Aston Villa (his first start for seven months), the Frenchman has scored ten goals for Liverpool (only two of which were in friendlies) and one for France. Not bad seeing as most of that time was taken up by the summer break, and given he's been a sub or played at wide-right on many occasions.
 
For a player supposedly fighting for his future, he's in fine scoring fettle. But as with Owen, and indeed Milan Baros, it's more a case of him not perfectly suiting the role of lone striker.
 
Cisse proved against the Uefa Cup winners that when Rafa needs a fast front man, and is prepared to play two up front, he can cause problems for the opposition, and score goals. He may feature less than he likes, but once the transfer deadline has passed, he can cast all the speculation aside. At least Owen won't be a threat to his place.
 
To conclude, while I'll always be an Owen fan, it's worth remembering that since 2002 he's won just the League Cup; Rafa, meanwhile, has collected two Spanish titles, a Uefa Cup and a European Cup. Owen will always score goals, but Rafa knows how to win the trophies that matter.
 
Paul Tomkins is the author of 'Golden Past, Red Future'. For more information about the book or to place an order from the author himself (including free postage), click here>>
 
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of Liverpool Football Club or Liverpoolfc.tv.


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