When Dirk Kuyt was purchased back in the summer of 2006, there was a great deal of expectation surrounding his arrival and I for one was over the moon that we had acquired this seemingly deadly Dutch master. He was meant to be the answer to our shyness in front of goal and with a record of 83 goals in 122 appearances for Feyenoord, I like many others, had faith in him leading our scoring charts with ease for the next few seasons.
I even remember Martin Jol at the time stating that Kuyt was the type of player that could provide 20 assists as well as 20 goals during a league campaign. Fast forward to April 2011 and one thing that is for certain is that Dirk Kuyt has been one of Liverpool’s most talked about and important players for the last five seasons. He has been much criticised by fans and pundits for his lack of goals and footballing technique but the fact that he is still here deservedly starting games is testament to his character and ability.
When he was first deployed on the right by Rafa Benitez, he was criticised for his lack of width, pace and ability to take on defenders. Many saw his removal from the striker position to right midfielder as a sign that his goalscoring ability wasn’t all it was cracked up to be and it therefore took a lot of people time to appreciate what he really brings to the team. After losing count of the amount of times Kuyt has put in a heroic display during a big game, it is fair to say that most Reds can now see how essential the Dutchman is to our style of play.
He has always been likened to the energizer bunny for his incredible stamina levels and even though he isn’t the most elegant player while in possession, he has always had that knack of making hugely influential contributions at times when we’ve really needed it. Because of his enormous work rate, he was forgiven for not being anywhere near prolific for us. However, recently Kuyt has been in outstanding goalscoring form, hitting the net 9 times in his last 10 games for Liverpool and the Netherlands.
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INTRODUCING THE SAMSUNG GALAXY ACE!
He’s a confidence player that will thrive playing alongside Carrol and Suarez, in the past he was the only reds player taking on defences (in the absence of Gerard) now those defences need eyes in their backsides!