Real lesson learned for two-goal Crouch

THEY say you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, but they also say it is never too late to learn.

Peter Crouch, at 29, is no spring chicken, but he has learned a lesson in the harshest possible way. Midway through the first half of this thoroughly entertaining game, and having scored the opening goal, Crouch saw an opportunity to win the ball from Marc Wilson. It was no more than a 50/50 ball, and would involve a sliding challenge like those that saw him get not one, but two yellow cards in the Bernabeu on Tuesday night.

Mindful of the dismissal that cost him and Tottenham so dearly that night, Crouch looked, hesitated and held back, with his arms wide apart, signalling that he was going to let it go.

He stayed on his feet and on the pitch, scored a second goal and gained some measure of redemption for himself after Tottenham’s 4-0 thrashing by Real Madrid.

Crouch admitted pulling out of the tackle was a turning point for him: “I think it was a lesson learned. If I hadn’t done what I did in midweek then I would have gone in there. I pulled out. I heard a few of the fans laugh, I could have dived in again and thankfully I’d said to myself before the game, ‘don’t do anything stupid’.”

Having been told shortly before kick-off he would be playing, he was not concerned about the reaction of those fans who made him a scapegoat for Madrid. “I wasn’t worried about the crowd. Since I’ve been here the fans have been great with me so I didn’t think there was going to be a problem.”

But he knows he let them and his team down in Madrid. “I was really disappointed with myself and if I’d have had a chance to play the next day I would have taken it.

“But I had to wait to the weekend, I was dying to play and I even thought about saying to Harry, ‘please play me’ because I was desperate to make amends, play well and get three points.

“I took it really hard. I was gutted and felt like I’d cost the team. I said that to the players and the manager, but it’s gone now and we can’t dwell on it.”

Crouch is suspended for Wednesday’s return, when their Champions League adventure is likely to end. But Crouch can help Spurs qualify for next season’s competition if he keeps scoring in the final seven games of the season. His two headers, either side of Luka Modric’s 18th-minute goal, gave Spurs a 3-2 half-time lead that they never relinquished, despite a late surge from Stoke, who had scored through Matt Etherington and Kenwyne Jones.

A first win in seven for Spurs means they are now three points behind fourth-placed Manchester City.

“Even before what happened in Madrid, this was a massive game for us because we want to be back in the Champions League next season,” said Crouch. “It’s been exciting, we’ve proved ourselves, shown we can play at that level and now we need to start putting pressure on teams like City and making sure we get in again.

“We can definitely do it, without doubt. There’s enough ability, enough belief and we’ve got enough games. We’ve got City again at their place so it could be another pivotal game.”

Crouch scored the winner in last season’s decisive game, and Harry Redknapp believes Spurs can come back from adversity to end strongly again. “I had a meeting on Thursday where I said, ‘lads, everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong, it’s done, we’ve got another game to look forward to’.

“Last year we got knocked out the FA Cup semi-final by Portsmouth and everyone said that’s the end of our season. We came back from that to beat Arsenal, Chelsea and then went to Manchester City and won.”

He was concerned how the crowd — and Crouch — would react after Tuesday. “I was worried about the fans but they were fantastic. I was worried about Peter, because he’s a lovely boy, a great guy and I don’t like to see him down because he doesn’t deserve it.”

Now he can prepare for the return against Madrid, knowing that Spurs have nothing to lose. “The fans know we will give it a hell of a go.”

Stoke meanwhile, return to London next week for an FA Cup semi-final against Bolton, though Jones said that game was not in their thinking at Tottenham. “It was not on our minds, because we still need a few more points to be safe. But we can now start thinking about Wembley.”