Tuesday, February 05, 2008

Rush Backs Torres And Crouch Partnership

Liverpool legend Ian Rush has backed the partnership of Fernando Torres and Peter Crouch to come up with the goals needed to fire the Reds to glory.

The club’s all-time record goalscorer believes that the pair are the two on-form strikers at the Merseyside club as should be allowed the time to gel and develop a real partnership.

The duo both scored in Liverpool’s 3-0 in over Sunderland at the weekend, which was the club’s first league win of 2008.

"There's no doubt that they're the most in-form pairing at present, so I think now is the time to see if they can develop into a decent strike force" Rush said.

"Saturday's match against Sunderland was only the third time they've started a match together in the Premier League, and there were one or two signs that they could flourish.

"But the fact is we will never know unless we give them a chance to gel."

The former Welsh international forward is also of the opinion that Crouch is the ideal foil for Torres, who is well suited to playing off a taller target man.

"I've said before that Peter Crouch has done nothing wrong this season, and with three goals in his last three appearances he's flying, Rush added.

"But his presence can also help Fernando Torres.

"By virtue of his height alone, he occupies one or two defenders, giving Torres more room to operate in, and he showed with the flick-on that created Torres' goal that he can be very much a traditional target man.

"In situations like that it's important that one player is able to anticipate the flick-ons of the other, but Torres is a very intelligent striker and that will never be a problem to a player of his class."

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