With much attention being grabbed by the “did they didn’t they?” deadline day signing of Rafael Van Der Vaart, and then the Dutchman’s impressive debut at West Brom, minds at White Hart Lane have been pondering whether the arrival of their very own World Cup finalist will herald a bright new dawn. However, focus has been lost. Real ambition will only be demonstrated and sustained success achieved once Spurs rid themselves of Peter Crouch.
First things first: Crouch is an able Premier League striker. You do not achieve a goal-scoring ratio of better than one in two for your country by being a bad player. In fact, at times Crouch has stood out (insert predictable height-based joke here) as a genuinely proficient striker: finishing only second to Kaka in the 2006-07 Champions League goalscoring charts and of course scoring the goals that first sealed Spurs’ place in the top four and then got them into the competition proper. In the words of the lazy journalist he is your stereotypical “handful”.
But the question that Spurs fans and the Tottenham board should be asking themselves: is he the man to take them to the next level? And does he justify Harry Redknapp’s assertion over the summer, when responding to transfer speculation that he is not for sale: “not at any price”?
Crouch is not a prolific goal-getter. Throughout his Premiership career he has generally hovered around the one in three to one in four mark. Or worse. Hardly the stuff of world beaters and even less impressive when you consider that in many of those sides, managers (Redknapp at Southampton and then at Portsmouth and Benitez at Liverpool) either built teams around him or at the very least played the kind of direct football most suited to his game. His most profitable Premiership season in recent memory? 12 goals in Southampton’s 2004-05 campaign. The season they went down.
Crouch’s impressive European and International goal records actually support, not weaken the argument that he is not the type of striker to make Spurs genuine Champions League contenders. Of the 21 of Crouch’s England goals that were actually netted in competitive fixtures the bulk have come against vastly inferior opposition: for the 2010 World Cup Qualifiers read Belarus, Andorra and Ukraine; and for the 2008 European Qualifiers read Estonia, Macedonia and Andorra once again (a goal in the calamitous defeat to Croatia providing the only inconsequential exception). And what of that 2006-07 Champions League season? He netted 6 times. Only two of the goals came in the knockout stages and they were both against PSV when Liverpool were already 2-0 up and the tie near enough in the bag. Crouch is the type of striker to turn a victory into a rout or to punish sloppy marking against weak opponents in the preliminary stages of a competition. He is not a consistent big game player.
Goals aside, Crouch’s all round skills set is definitely not of the A* Grade either. As tempting as it is to apply the “great touch for a big man” label the fact is Crouch was not cast in the same mould as, say, Tore Andre Flo. His touch is fair at best and his movement is often limited to knocking it down and making a beeline for the box. Hardly the kind of approach-play to strike fear into the hearts of Europe. Most frustrating of all, Crouch is beaten to headers time and time again. For a man of his stature he is inexplicably poor in the air.
Whilst the above holds true it is actually Crouch’s debilitating affect upon the rest of his team that really makes his inclusion in the side counter-productive. With him on the pitch Spurs lack any form of guile: quite something when you have the likes of Luka Modric in your ranks. With the pace of Lennon, directness of Bale, and passing of Huddlestone (not to mention the addition of Van der Vaart) Spurs have one of the most varied set of tools to unlock even the securest of defences. Yet with Crouch in their midst players play to his, rather than their own, strengths. The result? More often than not: turgid football and a limited goal return.
Redknapp ruled out selling Crouch in the summer which was most definitely an opportunity missed. He should not compound that error by seeking to rely on him through the opening stages of the Premiership and Champions League campaigns. Instead, planning a well thought out way of easing the striker out the door and replacing him with a player of genuine pedigree in January is the only way Tottenham will truly signal their intent as a credible major force in English and European football. Rafael Van Der Vaart, or no Rafael Van Der Vaart.
Written By Alex Lincoln-Antoniou