Is Kuyt above criticism?

[Kopite_Colin]

They do. But their number one function in the team is to be the main focus of the attack and the role of the attack is score goals and create goals for eachother and the rest of the team. So (in my book anyway) strikers are PRIMARILY judged ont their goals output. Whatever else they bring to / create for the team is a close second, and both should be used when judging a player overall. Which is why I rate Beardsley much, much higher than Bellamy.

If we weren't buying Bellamy as a goalscorer what were we buying him for? Kuyt has a prolific record in Holland, but there was no guarantee that would translate into the Premiership, and Crouch's record at the top level in the league is poor. Bellamy does't have a great record as creating chances for other players (although the Barcodes fans acknowledge he took a lot of running work off Shearer's sholuders)

[AFII]

So what does Bellamy offers the team?

Pace and hard work.

What does he not offers the team?

A good last touch and that is the most important thing. It doesn't matter how hard you work or how fast you are if your last touch isn't good enough.

He isn't good enough if we want to win the title.

Rooney or Saha for example has a better last touch and that makes them more usefull for them.

Bellamy doesn't have a better last touch than Cisse IMO but he is a lot better team player and works harder for the team.

Right now I would take Cisse back instead of Bellamy, at least he scored goals for us.

[tomasjj]

Right now I would take Cisse back instead of Bellamy, at least he scored goals for us.

[DeeGame]

I realy don't think he was awful yesterday. I was at the game and the lad covered so much ground and never stopped running. His first touch, work rate and ability to hold up the ball in an attempt to bring our static midfield into the game was great but...

he didn't have one goalscoring chance, again. That's the problem with Kuyt, he's a support striker and needs a goalscorer alongside him.

Spot on

[AFII]

You don't win any games if you don't score any goals. Bellamy isn't a good enough goalscorer and probably never will be.

His goalscoring record isn't any good. Cisse have scored a lot of goals his whole career.

Bellamy works harder for the team and is a better team player but Cisse is the more clinical striker and that is what we need right now.

I don't want Cisse back but we would need him more now than Bellamy IMO.

[Red Chilli]

I think Kuyt is suffering from not having a grerat player alongside him.

I'm going to go against the popular opinion of him and say I think he IS a goalscorer and not a provider. He is simply having to do too much himslef and a lot of that is because we don't have good wingers and we don't have players (like Stevie G) making enough forward runs from midfield.

I think Kuyt is very much an Aldridge type player in the right team, someone who can get on the end of things. The problem I have is that he's not played in that role.
Give him the service and he'll stick it in the net I think.

[DeeGame]

Right now I would take Cisse back instead of Bellamy, at least he scored goals for us.

Cant believe i agree with you

[nbryan1764]

So what does Bellamy offers the team?

Pace and hard work.

What does he not offers the team?

A good last touch and that is the most important thing. It doesn't matter how hard you work or how fast you are if your last touch isn't good enough.

He isn't good enough if we want to win the title.

Rooney or Saha for example has a better last touch and that makes them more usefull for them.

Bellamy doesn't have a better last touch than Cisse IMO but he is a lot better team player and works harder for the team.

Right now I would take Cisse back instead of Bellamy, at least he scored goals for us.

in the league he scored 13 goals in 49 games for us, and some of those were penalties. He needed a better last touch as well as his first touch was shocking

[Kopite_Colin]

You don't win any games if you don't score any goals. Bellamy isn't a good enough goalscorer and probably never will be.

His goalscoring record isn't any good. Cisse have scored a lot of goals his whole career.

Bellamy works harder for the team and is a better team player but Cisse is the more clinical striker and that is what we need right now.

I don't want Cisse back but we would need him more now than Bellamy IMO.

Wow, even I think that's controversial!

[AFII]

in the league he scored 13 goals in 49 games for us, and some of those were penalties

and he played as a winger most of the times. Bellamy has played as a striker in almost every game for us.

[nbryan1764]

and he played as a winger most of the times. Bellamy has played as a striker in almost every game for us.

he did not play as a winger in most of them

[DeeGame]

he did not play as a winger in most of them

yes he did

[nbryan1764]

no he did not

[Kopite_Colin]

Cisse and Bellamy may finish up on a par with eachother in terms of goals output for LFC. Cisse scored 9 league goals last season, and Bellamy is on 7 so far, so it's liely he'll finish with 9 or 10 league goals. Bellamy works harder, but Cisse scored goals despite being continually played out of position, especially in the big games. I liked Cisse (apart from his whingeing, but you can't hold that against him and then defend Bellamy ! )

[Kopite_Colin]

no he did not

Yes he did. Right midfield for a considerable proportion of them, especially the games he started.