Hughes keen to keep Crouch at Stoke

Stoke City manager Mark Hughes is keen to keep Peter Crouch at the club and says he might tweak his tactics to get the striker more involved.

Crouch came off the bench to score a second-half header as Stoke held Leicester City to a 2-2 draw in the Premier League on Saturday and Hughes said he had made a major impact.
"He needs to stay here. He's unique in terms of what he gives us and he's still very adept at what he does," the manager told reporters.

"We will give him the games he needs here, without a shadow of doubt. He's playing well. I thought his general play was good, irrespective of his goal, a great goal he scored.
"He's very effective and I know a lot of clubs would love to have Peter Crouch on their roster as they say over in America."The 36-year-old Crouch, whose contract runs until the end of the season, has made seven league appearances from the bench and is yet to start a league game this season.

Hughes acknowledged Crouch has been frustrated with his limited time on the pitch but said he was pushing hard for a starting spot.

"He gets frustrated but you could say he's probably closer now than he has been for a while. It's only the (back) injury in the last 10 days or so that's stopped him in his tracks," Hughes added.

"(We may change) a little bit, just to get the best out of him. I think it's important to have two sides of a coin, plan A and plan B."