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2nd December 2025
03:56pm GMT
Former Liverpool, Spurs and Stoke City striker, and all-round cult English football legend, Peter Crouch has weighed in on the daunting situation faced by Arne Slot's Liverpool side.
The club that Crouch represented from 2005-2008 —winning an FA Cup and playing in a Champions League final — currently find themselves 8th in the Premier League, a point below newly-promoted Sunderland and nine points behind league leaders Arsenal.
The most surprising part is that Liverpool's decline has come despite the Reds winning last season's Premier League title and then going on to spend more than £440 million on new signings over the summer.
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The Reds' woeful run hit a historic new low last Wednesday as they fell behind 4-1 to PSV in the Champions League.
Although a heavy loss to the Dutch outfit would've been bad enough on its own, it has become a symbol of Slot's inability to lead Liverpool out of crisis, against a team in the league where he made his name.
The loss was also Liverpool's ninth in a span of 12 matches, meaning Slot's side were on the worst run by any Liverpool side since 1953, when Winston Churchill was still Prime Minister, until this weekend's victory over West Ham.
Even in light of Liverpool's current position, Crouch made clear that Slot has earned the right to more time before any change in management should be made.
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In an exclusive interview with SportsJOE, the Premier League cult hero was balanced in his view of Slot's position, saying: "I think winning the Premier League gives you grace, right?" while also adding that fans must come to terms with the truth that "there [has been] a massive drop-off in performance."
Crouch added: “I do think there's enough about the squad and about the manager to turn it around.”
“He's under pressure, there's no denying that. You can't get away from that. You lose one game a club like Liverpool, you're under pressure," he said.
“You know, Arne Slot's been in the game long enough to understand that.
“The fan base, they're one of the most loyal, fan bases around.
Next Liverpool manager odds - 18+, BeGambleAware
“They get behind their players if you're one of their own, and they get behind the manager as well, but, that's not to dress up the fact that he's under massive pressure, and definitely needs a win at the weekend.”
Liverpool may have overcome West Ham on Saturday, but as they prepare to face newly-promoted sides Sunderland and Leeds within the next seven days, anything less than six points could see the massive pressure on Slot reach unprecedented levels.
Making clear his admiration for the work Slot achieved last season, Crouch added: "I think we're getting ahead of ourselves. He won the league last year, and yeah, it's been poor recently, but we still need to give him time to turn it around. I think he deserves that.”
Looking back on his near 20-year long career, the 44-year-old also provided some insight into what kind of conversations might be taking place in the dressing room.
“With football nowadays, I don't think it affects the players as much as you would think, because every other week, one manager's under pressure, you know, someone gets sacked, someone goes, comes and goes.
“At the end of the day, I think you know that you're there as a player, you need to turn it around no matter who the manager is.
“But I think players move on very quickly. I've been in situations where a manager's got sacked, and I think the first thing to do as a player is look at yourself in a mirror and kind of just wonder if you've done enough, you know, and have you have you given a good account of yourself?
“There's some top players there that have been there and seen it and done it, you know, and they're getting criticised, and they certainly won't like that.”
Perhaps the most surprising element of Liverpool’s decline has been the poor performance of their new signings.
The biggest surprise has been the case of Florian Wirtz.
The 22-year-old Germany star arrived on Merseyside with a huge reputation. He had established himself as the creative heart of Xabi Alonso’s Bayern Leverkusen side, the first Bundesliga team to deny Bayern a league title in more than a decade.
Few doubted that the man once described as "The German Messi from Cologne" would be able to replicate his form in the Premier League, while most expected Wirtz to push the Premier League champions on to new heights.
And yet now some four months later, it simply hasn’t quite happened for Wirtz, who is still waiting to score his first Premier League goal.
Surprisingly enough for the modern football fan, Peter Crouch too struggled to find his feet when he first arrived at Liverpool.
Back in 2005, when Crouch joined the Reds from Southampton, it took a full 19 games before the then 24-year-old hit the back of the net for the first time.
After enduring a difficult drought, the 6ft 7in centre-forward, then went on to establish himself as a mainstay with the Reds, scoring 40 goals in 132 games and making a real success of his time on Merseyside.
In light of his own career experiences, SportsJOE asked Crouch if he had any advice for the new Liverpool stars of today.
“Advice-wise, I don't think they [Wirtz and Alexander Isak] need advice from me. What I will say is that they are at a great club,” he told us, before adding: “As a difficult time I had, I think if I'd have been somewhere else, I would have been kind of ridiculed: ‘get him out, he's not good enough.’
“I think at Liverpool, as long as you're trying and you're working hard, and you're trying to do what you can for the team, and you're a good lad, they'll stick by you.
“They did it with me, and when things turn, and you're winning things, and you're playing well at that club, there's no better place to be
“I would say: just relax, bide your time, and take your chance when it arises.”
When discussing the changes we've seen in the Premier League so far this season, it wasn't long before the rise of the "proper centre-forward" came up in conversation.
Whether it's Viktor Gyokeres at Arsenal, Jean Phillippe Mateta at Crystal Palace, Nick Woltemade at Newcastle, or Benjamin Sesko at Man United, throughout the 2025/26 season, almost every top Premier League side has returned to bigger and more powerful strikers in search of goals.
The end result is a massive upturn in the number of goals scored both at corners and via set pieces, as well as from crosses.
Where over the last decade, in the style of Guardiola, "the false 9" and slow passing approach became the style of the day, now it is all about long balls and direct play.
As even the casual football fan knows, in his prime years Peter Crouch was the ultimate archetype for the "big number 9."
Like Newcastle's new striker Woltemade, the former Stoke City star was equally brilliant with his feet, holding up play and bringing others into the game, as he was at scoring headers.
SportsJOE had to ask what the retired forward thought of the change in Premier League.
Crouch responded: "I think it's amazing how football comes full circle.
“A few years back, it was ‘how many passes you can make in your own half?’ And now, obviously, [we’re seeing] much more direct football. We're seeing set pieces become a huge part of the game. You know, more direct football, more, high-energy football, [and] there’s big men playing.
“I think it's not long before we start going to 4-4-2 again!"
Crouch's knowledge of 'direct football' comes from the time he spent under legendary English coach Tony Pulis during his spell in the Premier League.
Pulis' sides were known for dominant direct play, were once accused of "rugby tactics" by Arsene Wenger, and scored more than 40% of their goals from set pieces.
Considering league leaders Arsenal's manager Mikel Arteta has earned comparisons to Pulis himself over the past few months, it's clear the 2011 FA Cup runner up still has a massive influence over the modern game.
Crouch explained some of what made those Pulis sides of the past so great: “You have to find different ways to beat teams [...] that's what certainly we did at Stoke.
“We had lots of success doing it. I don't think there's anything wrong with playing a little bit more direct, but yeah, it is nice to see kind of proper centre-forwards.
“It almost died out, and it feels like there's a little bit of a resurgence, so I'm all for it.”
When it was suggested to Crouch that the change in the Premier League we've seen this season is perfectly suited to his exact skill set, the 44-year-old responded with: “I’m ready to come back.
"I look at some of these set pieces and some of the crosses coming in [and] I’m ready to play.”
It remains to be seen whether any of the 20 Premier League managers make the call this January.
Peter Crouch was speaking ahead of his appearance on an eBay Live Auction for Black Friday, where viewers bidded for one-of-a-kind memorabilia and football shirts. Crouch told us that one of the best items on offer included a Cole Palmer shirt, with a starting price of just 99p!
The former Stoke City man spoke on why eBay is such a great platform for picking up the best football gifts, saying: "Some of the shirts I grew up wearing as a kid, you just can’t get them! There’s not enough stores and places to buy them.
“There’s no place for them other than going to eBay.”
The 44-year-old podcaster and TV pundit then shared a touching story about a recent eBay purchase that helped him share some of his football career highlights with his son.
Crouch said: "My son collects football trading cards, he’s got like Ronaldo, Mbappe, Vini Jr and I told him I had a card and he didn’t believe me.
"So I went straight on eBay and managed to get quite a few of me and his mind was blown.
“eBay's definitely helped my son think that his dad's a hero again, thankfully. So, it's changing lives.”
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