Lescor
Liverpool approach Premiership outfitPortsmouth have rejected an initial transfer approach from Liverpool for their highly-rated England Under 21's skipper Gary O'Neil. Manager Rafael Benitez is believed to...
yes, everyone said all that the time and i agree, it didnt' stop owen beong given the ball when he had previosuly missed penalties or was on a goal drought and iirc more often than not he blew his chance as well.
however it was never going to be a 1-0 game. no way. if that was the only chance of the game then you'd have a real point to make as it stands they were thoroughly beaten AND the penalty actually yeilded a goal, therefore you have no real point to argue, these things happen in games, once in a while, i don't recall crouch being given the ball in other games for spot kicks and we've had several penalties this season already.
again, even the best players fluff penalties.
you might be right, even worse that had he scored it might not really have bolstered his confidence that much anyway but in fact the reverse. either he is a bad signing or unable to step up a level. ATM, for me, he is doing ok but seems unable to step up. if people think he can justify his place because he is "causing trouble" well, so would a f***ing kangaroo if you let it run amok on a football field. regarding the decision, maybe gerrard elected to give Crouch the ball, there was certainly something going on between Crouch and Cisse over the ball. My "calculated guess" is that Rafa knew(like the rest of us) we'd be more than capable of putting a few past Portsmouth, a bit like the exected 3 or 4 past Anderlecht. And if you want more speculation or opinion then it would not really help crouch much if rafa were screaming from the touchline or making a noise about fluffing penalties in interviews. (rememer the nonsense over the recent Arsenal henry-pires penalty?)
anyway i agree on the whole that it was a bad idea, who ever thought of it,(feel free tp speculate) to give crouch the ball for the penalty.
What do you think of him as a player? I was prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt and yes he has tried and yes he has laid off some good balls, held up the ball and created some play. it's very frustrating to see him (time and again) heading the ball straight at the keeper from 5 feet away or shooting straight into the keeper arms from one on ones like on saturday.
whatever peoples misgivings about morientes at least he is finding the net. --
