Crouch shows his worth as Berahino goes missing
SITTING on the bench and cursing the latest traumatic episode of his young career, Saido Berahino must have afforded himself a rueful smile.
He watched on as Peter Crouch, the 36-year-old who replaced him 70 minutes into this game, turned a tapin into an empty goal with just five minutes to spare.
‘Crouchy is invaluable,’ Stoke boss Mark Hughes said. ‘It wasn’t a big decision to renew his deal this summer. If he continues like this, we will have a similar discussion sometimes next year. I played until I was 38. He trains every single day with the other lads and competes.’
Crouch’s goal was a gift from point-blank range and what Berahino, still only 24, would give for a chance so straightforward.
Sadly, we are now entering that desperate stage of a goal-scoring crisis where figures are broken down and historical landmarks recalled: 582 days, 13,969 hours and more than 50million seconds have passed since Berahino last scored a goal in a competitive game.
That goal, in the colours of West Brom in February 2016, arrived in those heady days when Brexit remained a mystical far-away land, Donald Trump was a TV personality rather than the US President and Roy Hogdson carried the hopes of a nation as England manager.
Here, at last, Berahino thought his moment had come. Stoke were 1-0 up through Mame Biram Diouf’s simple header when Berahino was brought down in the penalty area by Virgil van Dijk, making his first start since January after serious injury and an extended transfer saga.
So Berahino stepped up for the penalty, the goal opening up like the arms of a lover; and then closing with the snap of a venus flytrap as goalkeeper Fraser Forster sprawled across his line. Remarkably, Berahino’s penalty miss was his fourth from the spot since he last scored a goal.
From the player who cannot score to the team who cannot score: Southampton were inhibited once more. They had scored only two goals in seven fixtures so far this season.
Nathan Redmond spurned a clear opening in the firsthalf and in the second, Shane Long headed over twice in quick succession.
They did find parity as Maya Yoshida acrobatically turned home a neat move, but the joy did not last long, as a Stoke breakaway led to Eric Pieters raiding down the left flank and after Maxim Choupo-Moting’s effort was saved by Forster, Crouch was ready and waiting.