Kuyt-Hit or Miss?

[Sir Bob]

A miss for me.
First touch is poor
lacks pace
Not a good finisher
Not great in the air

All in all apart from working his backside off he offers little at the top level. i'd sell for £8m nevermind £10m.

[Abro100]

As I said, I don't want him but he's more of a goal threat than Kuyt.

Agreed

[The Glove]

Hit. Just.

I'll go along with that.

[FatTony]

A big miss, but I'll give him another season before I write him off for good.

[cobain]

Rafa did. He didn't.

You did watch Cisse play, right?

Kuyt - IMO - is a totally different player to Cisse, more of a second striker to Cisse's centre forward.

In the end both will be judged on their goals and performances. Cisse was an abject failure, and Kuyt isn't pulling up any trees thus far.

Cisse played on the right which isn't his position. And he still scored 18 goals.

[Mr Tourette]

Miss.

I posted a while back that i feel this business of giving players 2 seasons to 'adjust and settle in' is just too forgiving for my taste. He speaks fluent english, is in his mid twenties - theoretically approaching his peak, he has had a full pre season with his team mates, will have played probably 35 or 40 games to get used to the pace of the premier league (or other suitable cliche bollox that many people hide behind) He simply has to be (even appear to be) more effective.

To me he is too slow which worries me the most, something that i was concerned about watching him in the world cup, and unfortunatelty his first touch isnt quite good enough to disguise this fact. Initially i thought he looked an instinctive finsher after smasing one home in the first few games but his forms seems to have dropped off. I hoped for dennis Bergkamp, then i thought kevin keegan, or perhaps more Mark Hughes but at the minute hes not looking good enough to be on the same page.

Having said all that, I like his attitude, his running and his intelligence and would by no means be deeply dissapointed when he does - obviously - stay next year. I deeply hope he does improve.

Irritatingly for me, beacuse i think hes a prick, i feel that bellamy has more of the raw materials to be a better player - but he too is struggling for some reason - I thought he was going to be a complete bargain after looking so good for blackburn and newcastle in the past.

We all know crouchy is playing very well at the minute, but we really havent completed the purchase of a truly successful striker (or a genuine HIT as you put it) for so long im beginning to think we are cursed. The majority seem to go backwards when they sign for us, failing to live up to the previously high standards and even higher expectations.

Good luck Dirk.

PS. As i side note and apologies for going off thread topc - i genuinely wouldnt be surprised if voronin turns up and has a very useful season. As most people dont give him a cat in hells chance of being anything other than of sunday league standard, he might just think "**** it, nothing to lose" and the lack of expectation could help him to become something of a cult hero. Good luck to the lad.

[GordonGecko]

Needs more time people...

[rage]

not good enough, won't improve next season to score loads more, improve his touch etc. He's not like the spanish or french players who struggle to cope with the physical nature of the premiership so there's nothing to adapt there. He is a poor striker to lead the line, should play second fiddle to crouch and not the other way round. We all want him to succeed but if we take the rose tinted glasses off he would no way get into the starting 11 of Arsenal, United or Chelsea. He has a high work rate but this does not compensate for his lack of pace, poor first touch, erratic finishing, and mediocre link up play. He must spend the least amount of time in the opposition third from any striker i have ever seen play.

[The Glove]

absolute ****e, we should let him and fowler go at thge end of the season, why the **** we have bought voronin in i will never know cos hes worse than the 2 of them

He hasnt kicked a ball for us yet so you cant say he is ****e.

[cobain]

He hasnt kicked a ball for us yet so you cant say he is ****e.

Boy mikegbelieve, you sound like a feckin glory hunter. Just because he isn't a world class star like Sheva or Bollock, doesn't mean he is ****e

[CharlieMansonsSquint]

Cisse played on the right which isn't his position. And he still scored 18 goals.

No he didn't. He played mostly up front and sometimes on the right.

What about his performance at old toilet last season? Cost us the game.

Or how about the FA cup final? Scored, brilliant. Picked up a knock and hobbled around on the wing for the rest of the match - about an hour - yet he was sprinting all over the place after we'd won.

My point being that this is Liverpool football club, and that we have high standards - or should have. Perhaps players like Cisse, with that level of performance and those like him are considered acceptable or good enough by yourself. I certainly hope I'm wrong.

[Mr Tourette]

i cant be bothered to check the stats - but like cobain, I got the overwhelming impression that cisse was used for long periods as a wide right player, im sure this is going over very very old ground but im sure im not imagining it and even though he had a massive 50p foot and generally had was a bit pony - he did have a bit of a knack (or more of a knack than some of our existing strikers) to score the odd goal poachers (i.e. ****) goal.

Not that i want him back of course ......

No he didn't. He played mostly up front and sometimes on the right.

What about his performance at old toilet last season? Cost us the game.

Or how about the FA cup final? Scored, brilliant. Picked up a knock and hobbled around on the wing for the rest of the match - about an hour - yet he was sprinting all over the place after we'd won.

My point being that this is Liverpool football club, and that we have high standards - or should have. Perhaps players like Cisse, with that level of performance and those like him are considered acceptable or good enough by yourself. I cetainly hope I'm wrong.

[Morph]

he has had a full pre season with his team mates

I think you'll find he never, not that I think that would have impacted on his game too much

[fowlen]

This is a very difficult one. He started off really well as many people have mentioned, but he just looks shattered.

He is most probably struggling a little with both the pace of the league and the length of the season, and is used to a mid season rest.

So for me, he is closer to a hit than a miss.

Might be too early to judge too, coz some of our better players, who are proven have had poor seasons.....if Xabi was being judged on this season he'd probably be a miss, but he also has probably not receovered from literally 2 years of non-stop football.....Many of our players from the world cup have struggled this season.

So for me, let's judge him next season....in fact I would think that with a proper rest we should see the best of Stevie, Kuyt and Alonso in 4 months when the season starts again!

[kurtangle01]

I like Kuyt. He's been off form of late but I have no doubt that he will prosper in the next year to 18 months. Settling in to the premiership is hard. Just ask the likes of Henry, Pires etc...

I think Berbatov has been a superb signing for Spurs, excellent player and I'd consider him a hit that will get better with time. Kuyt as already scored more than him.

Hit.