Opinion: Rush says Crouch should start v Everton

Rushie speaking in today's Echo

Your thoughts?

IF I was in Peter Crouch's shoes, I'd be absolutely gutted if I didn't start the derby this weekend.

Strikers thrive on confidence, and when youget into the kind of scoring run Crouch is on at the moment, you feel you'll score every time you go onto the pitch.

As the man in form, Crouch can't do any more than he is to delay Dirk Kuyt's first start for his new club.

But what a fantastic dilemma Rafa Benitez has when he considers the strikeforce to use at Goodison Park.


Benitez will probably hear all the arguments for Crouch, Robbie Fowler, Dirk Kuyt and Craig Bellamy to start and it will sound like music to his ears.


He'll remember all too painfully his first derby experience, when the only fit striker he had was Neil Mellor.


That was the last time Liverpool lost to Everton, so given the choice between having two disappointed top class strikers wanting to know why they weren't selected, or thousands of Reds fans in despair because they don't have enough players to scorea goal, I knowwhich option Benitez would prefer.


The argument for using Kuyt is also persuasive because he made a fantastic impression on his first appearance.


I can't remember the last time so manyLiverpool players were in line for a derby debut.


This has its own dangers, of course, because there is an atmo-sphere and intensity in a derby which may be unlike anything they've been used to before.


Craig Bellamy and Jermaine Pennant will be well used to such occasions, but there may be a culture shock forthe likes of Mark Gonzalez and Fabio Aurelio.


Whole careers can be defined on derby day. Some footballers are remembered for nothing else other than a derby goal, and there could be no better wayfor the newsignings to cement their relationship with the fans.


That applies to Everton too, of course, with Andy Johnson hoping to get his name written into derby folklore.

It's a long time since both teams went into a derby so full of confidence.

Everton have had agood start and listening to one or two of their players in the media, they obviously fancy their chances.

From a Liverpool point of view, I'm always more wary when Everton are the underdogs. It worries me when I hear Liverpool players saying they're going to do this or that and I prefer it when it's the other side who are making those kind of noises.

It will suit Benitez to discover Everton have high expectations because that takes the pressure off his players just a little.

Benitez's recordin the derby has been exceptional since that first defeat. Tactically, he'shad the upper hand, particularly in the last meeting when Steven Gerrard's sending off made the final outcome of 3-1 one of the most amazing in derby history.

If Liverpool replicate thatsortof form, it will need an incredible performance to beat them. But making any kind of prediction on derby day is a dangerous business.