When Dirk Kuyt joined Liverpool in the summer of 2006 for £10 million, he had a massive goalscoring pedigree; netting 149 times in 306 appearances in Dutch football for both Utrecht and Feyenoord.
The Dutchman was seen as the answer to Liverpool’s current goalscoring problems and a massive weight off the shoulders of Steven Gerrard, whose goals were relied upon heavily and all too frequently.
Not many people would have expected that only a few years later the Dutch international would be converted into Liverpool’s main right winger and would operate down the flanks rather than through the middle.
With talk of a new contract imminent, opinions on Kuyt are often mixed. Some say he is crucial to Liverpool, some say he is simply not good enough. One thing is for sure though, Dirk Kuyt gives Liverpool something not many players can give – 100% effort and commitment for the full 90 minutes of every game he’s involved in. No cause is a lost cause for Kuyt and he will fight until the final whistle. But is that enough?
Some people believe that his enterprise simply papers over the cracks of a player that lacks the creative quality to be anything other than a mediocre attacking force.
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Would love him to stay in the squad, great player.
I like the guy. He’s served the club well. But if his best asset is working his socks off, then he can be mediocre at best – especially given that every player is expected to work his socks off wearing the red shirt!
I think once we get specialized wingers, together with specialized strikers and a good attacking midfield, Kuyt the jack-of-all-trades will be squeezed out of the first team. That said, he’s a very very useful and experienced player to have on the bench.
great player to have in the team. his movement , coupled with his work rate, makes him such a difficult player to play against. he’s always looking to shoulder responsibility and fight for the cause, more than can be said of some players over the last 18months or so. getting on a bit so his first team activity can be slowed down a little, but c’mon – there’s a reason he played every game for holland in the world cup. also, his injury record is amazing, he’s only been injured once as far as i can remember in his time here. great player.
He shoulder’s responsibility?? Isn’t one of the main arguments for keeping him in the team that he allows the right backs the freedom to do all of the attacking up the right wing?? (even if the right back is naturally a centre-back playing out of position, such as Kelly or Carragher!)
The guy has a free role in the team (doesn’t have to offer width, or be a target man, or be a playmaker – actually, I ask anybody to describe his role in attack!) but doesn’t consistently create chances, score goals or carry a threat on or off the ball. It’s a joke that fans are so happy with this guy on the wings for a team that supposedly wants to challenge for major titles (especially when the equally pointless Maxi remains on the opposite wing!)
i love dirk. he might not have a world class touch but his heart is bigger than holland. i think that even when (if) we sign a couple of world class wingers it will take some damn fine displays in training from them for dirk to lose his place. much in the same way finnan and riise were expected to lose thier place in the team when rafa came in. hard work with a tiny touch of class is a better combo than just a bit of flair. obviously he is getting toward the autumn of his career so a bit of healthy competition wouldnt be the end of the world with a look at replacing him in a year or two, but even then id like to see him as sub, squad player and eventually a coach, maybe carras number two 🙂
it’ll be hard for world-class wingers to displace him????? PISH!!!
unfortunately that may be true. Even world class wingers are seen as ‘inconsistent’ seeing as some days their tricks just won’t come off.
Kuyt (and Maxi) look consistent because they never really do anything, and everybody seems to love that at LFC… 🙁
I think when we have specialized wingers you will see Dirk play through the middle as a striker. He will be one of 3 strong strikers wee shall have. I wold like to see him operate with Suraez as the did in Luis’s first game. But I do see him coming off the bench more.
The only reason that he plays on the wings for us is because he was an appalling failure as a striker, but everybody conveniently forgets that fact. In a full league campaign playing upfront for us, the guy managed ONE goal from open play!!
It’s a joke that he gets so many opportunities to start and is NEVER made accountable for his continued poor performances
jay why weren’t you on tribal last night backing me up against all those sweat lovers?
couldn’t agree more mate
Kuyt should be sold while the club can still get some money for him. It is time for the club to move on and get more pace into the team. We need wingers urgently. One of the main reasons Man Utd have won 11 titles and soon to be 12 since 1992 is because they play at pace with 2 wingers and stretch defences wide creating space for their strikers and midfielders to score. Kuyt comes in field and congests the space. His goal return this season especially is unacceptable. Kuyt played in the World Cup Final (So What)! He was anonymous in that game and left Sergio Ramos get forward time and time again.
Rubbish in my opinion! all he seems to do is run around, a lot, then lose the ball with a ridiculously extravagant attempt to pass the ball when there’ll be a simpler pass available to him. I don’t understand why no one has bothered to tell him to keep it simple when possible.
If we wanted a hardman in the team i’m sure we would get that sort of player in a more central position, say, Defensive Midfield! Fair enough he works hard for the team but if we’re being honest with each other wouldn’t we want him providing more assists and goals? It amazes me when people come on here and go on about how vital Dirk is to the team, personally I don’t see it in fact I think he’s holding back Pacheco who’d provide that extra bit of guile that we seem to lack when Meireles has been out of the team recently, and those same people go on and slate Lucas for not providing more when going forward. Why should he, he’s a DM remember, so what he’s doing for the team is actually what he’s supposed to be doing!
Kuyt does as much defending and breaking up play as Lucas but Kuyt’s supposed to be an attacking right sided midfielder and for some reason everyone seems to think this is what epitomises LFC, personally I don’t think so and to answer your initial question I think he’s a midfield misfit and I can’t wait for proper wingers to wear that Red shirt and get past defenders and actually pass the ball to their teammates. YNWA!!!!
here here!
kuyt is, without doubt, the most hard working player and i love him for his committment and loyalty towards liverpool…a certain spaniard shud’ve learned a lot from him…
having said that, i wud like to see glen johnson play in the right wing, a natural winger with pace and the ability to get crosses in…
there wasn’t too much loyalty toward liverpool in the summer when he was talking to inter! unfortunately they didn’t buy him!
here here! Nobody talks about that, or the fact that he started b*tching as soon as he was benched for a couple of games FOR HIS COUNTRY! All you hear about is how a guy that has started pretty much every single game since the day he arrived, for one of the top clubs in Europe (in spite of his shocking lack of quality) is so loyal and doesn’t complain – What on earth could the guy have to complain about?!
One of Roy’s worst decisions was to reject any advances for Kuyt. One of Kenny’s worst would be to hand the guy a new contract (unless its just a ploy to enhance his transfer value…)
Bloody whiner, aren’t u? All of you Kuyt haters need to realise one thing.. the same thing 3 successive managers had realised… Kuyt is a Energizer Bunny battery on the field…. which means he may be directly doing nothing, but his huffing n puffing leaves defenders concentrating on him leaving spaces for the forwards! N that, in it’s own way is invaluable! When we get world class wingers who can run past players, dribble, cross and shoot, then n then only will Kuyt no longer be playing in that role!!!