Dirk Kuyt.

[Elvoz]

And he has ...

I think you will find that fat lump scored 4 goals in Europe last season and "our" Dirk scored 7 this year Dirk has already got on the score sheet in Europe whilst fatboy again is shooting blanks and he has played in Europe this season

apologies old chum i thought we were on about this seasons CL
my error
sincere apologies

[RedReet]

Could also say if we didnt have him working so hard closing down the United defenders that they might have scored more as well. Him and Keane tortured there defenders and didnt let them play from the back. At the end they gave up trying to pass it out and started to hump the ball up in hope.

Not to mention when the ball dropped to Rooney on the edge of the box deep into injury time, he was first to close him down along with Carra.

[Woobus]

He would laughed out of town as soon as Rafa sells him, like Crouch. It's a shame so many people on here rate players based on what Rafa thinks. Kuyt is a player who works hard and runs all day making chances for the team through sheer hard work. Myself, I'd prefer a player with more talent and can provide quality.... on too many occasions things break down at Kuyt's feet which for an attacking player should not be the case. It may be feint praise but Kuyt would be a good right back!

We all know you dont like the way Rafa sets his team up. For Rafas team to play the way he wants them he needs players like Kuyt up front, he wants to play the full 90 minutes in their halfs with defending from the front.
When this works it is great to see and we completely dominate teams. Looks at how terrible the united team looked, they couldnt string two passes together due to the amount of work Keane and Kuyt but in. Their normal game of paying from the back was ruined, which then helped ruin the confidence of the rest of the team. If we didnt had a more skillful lazier player it just wouldnt work.

[Mike]

Have to say, i haven't seen us pass the ball so well for a long time during spells in that match.

[dww]

He would laughed out of town as soon as Rafa sells him, like Crouch. It's a shame so many people on here rate players based on what Rafa thinks. Kuyt is a player who works hard and runs all day making chances for the team through sheer hard work. Myself, I'd prefer a player with more talent and can provide quality.... on too many occasions things break down at Kuyt's feet which for an attacking player should not be the case. It may be feint praise but Kuyt would be a good right back!

Who laughed Crouch out of town? Plenty of people on here (and other fans I know) think he should have been played more and would rather he stayed.

Me - I couldn't give a **** how the chances come so long as they come and we put them away. Nothing to me would have made the second goal against United more satisfying and basically it came down to two players hard work and Ryan Babel standing still for a bit in the area.

I doubt anyone really thinks Kuyt is their dream player but he offers a great deal to the team and seems to often be the person who takes the blame from a lot of supporters for overall team failings. People seem to see Kuyt through the prism of how they want to see the team. So he isn't Rooney (the player I think he is most comparable to tactically) but he is ours and when on form he is a great asset.

[RedReet]

It was encouraging to see when the space wasn’t there we didn’t just lump the ball up blindly, we took our time, playing it back if need be.

[Nicey]

apologies old chum i thought we were on about this seasons CL
my error
sincere apologies

Yeah I believe Shrek has had a run out this year also

My bad ... just realized that does not make sense

[hamshanks]

Quote:
Originally Posted by hamshanks
He looked better because he was playing up front, which his position but didn't score coz he isn't good enough to be a regular centre forward for a top four side. Works hard yes, but so did Heskey

Eh?

Has he not finished 4th and 3rd in his previous two seasons and about to finish 1st?


We don't play him as a centre forward anymore for that very reason, he was bought to be played there and wasn't good enough, so he was dropped back into midfield. And we won't win the league this season, we're not good enough

[RedReet]

He played CF in his first year and we finished 3rd. 3rd is in the top four last time I checked.

[DeeTheDog]

Dirk had a difficult start to last season and was subsequently in and out of the team, when he regained his starting spot in late February, we have been beaten only once in the league, by United, whom we have just beaten at home for the first time in 7 years.

He is a huge asset for the team wherever he plays. He was second only to Gerrard in assists last season, scored the goal that meant we are still in Europe and set up the winner against United. Furthermore, it is a cliché but you have to be in the position to have these opportunities and Kuyt more often than not, finds himself in good scoring positions. This is not luck but signs of a good player.

[billy_mac]

Kuyt is donkey and every team needs a donkey. He's actually a little better than a donkey. He is no doubt a very intellegent player and as others have eluded to he finds himself in great positions. He's our best target at corners and freekicks (apart from Sami) but he's useless with his head, but still finds himself in good positions. Rafa is a percentages man. He sticks with Kuyt because he knows that sooner or later he'll get in a position to score or to assist or make a mess of it. While his execution might let him down more often than not, he is bound to get it right at some stage. To Rafa there is no negatives to Kuyt, he sees him as a work horse, a tempo setter, an example to others to put in the same effort. The fact that he falls over, miss places passes, fluffs at chances are all positives to Rafa, because he knows that he'll get in the position and that he'll get it right sometime, all the while working his socks off and that is enough for Rafa from Dirk.

The most important thing that Rafa uses Kuyt for is as legs for Torres and Gerrard and this is the main reason he brought in Keane. He lets Kuyt chase around whilst Gerrard and Torres can save energy and be selective with their movement. And Keane the same, Robbie will run all day but he has more ability than Kuyt. Yes Keane isn't showing this, but with Riera hugging the left touch line rather than cutting in like Yossi/Kuyt/Babel there will be more room for Robbie to manouver.

I'm not a big fan of Kuyt's and I see him as a Wigan type player, but I can see why Rafa sticks with him. What would be interesting to see is the stats for goals and assists for Kuyt against Luis Garcia. Two very different players but both equally fustrating for different reasons. For me and most I suspect that Luis would be preferred ahead of Kuyt, but for me I think that Kuyt would have better stats???? Any stato's out there?

[wiw]

Think he's good in the air yet shaggy?

[Nicey]

Kuyt is donkey and every team needs a donkey. He's actually a little better than a donkey. He is no doubt a very intellegent player and as others have eluded to he finds himself in great positions. He's our best target at corners and freekicks (apart from Sami) but he's useless with his head, but still finds himself in good positions. Rafa is a percentages man. He sticks with Kuyt because he knows that sooner or later he'll get in a position to score or to assist or make a mess of it. While his execution might let him down more often than not, he is bound to get it right at some stage. To Rafa there is no negatives to Kuyt, he sees him as a work horse, a tempo setter, an example to others to put in the same effort. The fact that he falls over, miss places passes, fluffs at chances are all positives to Rafa, because he knows that he'll get in the position and that he'll get it right sometime, all the while working his socks off and that is enough for Rafa from Dirk.

The most important thing that Rafa uses Kuyt for is as legs for Torres and Gerrard and this is the main reason he brought in Keane. He lets Kuyt chase around whilst Gerrard and Torres can save energy and be selective with their movement. And Keane the same, Robbie will run all day but he has more ability than Kuyt. Yes Keane isn't showing this, but with Riera hugging the left touch line rather than cutting in like Yossi/Kuyt/Babel there will be more room for Robbie to manouver.

I'm not a big fan of Kuyt's and I see him as a Wigan type player, but I can see why Rafa sticks with him. What would be interesting to see is the stats for goals and assists for Kuyt against Luis Garcia. Two very different players but both equally fustrating for different reasons. For me and most I suspect that Luis would be preferred ahead of Kuyt, but for me I think that Kuyt would have better stats???? Any stato's out there?

So its perfectly fine to abuse players but not each other .. ok I get it .


Calling Kuyt a Donkey ... no class what so ever

[IanTatt]

He had a nightmare! missed two sitters, his first touch as a dreadful and his passing at times was garbage, just watch the match again... and you will see that he shouldn't be anyway near the first team... I think we are just getting carried away with the fact we beat Utd and that ever player put in a worldclass performance.

[BG1973]

Could also say if we didnt have him working so hard closing down the United defenders that they might have scored more as well. Him and Keane tortured there defenders and didnt let them play from the back. At the end they gave up trying to pass it out and started to hump the ball up in hope.

Yep agree with you there. It's a quandry Rafa faces everyday and I think he sees the benefit of Kuyt's spoiling ability outweighing his technical limitations. Some might say it sums Rafa up, concentrating on nullifying the opposition rather than maxmising your own team's attacking threat.

I like Dirk and I love Rafa. Was just surprised to see Kuyt getting lauded after that performance where he missed two guilt edge chanches. Lucky for him they weren't decisive.