Liverpool FC Forum

[Hebz]

kuyt didnt have the best of seasons last season, but he has had some crackers for his previous club. i think he just needed to adjust to the english league and the style of our football. this season should be an eyeopener for kuyt and all liverpool fans. he has the potential to be brilliant and i think this season will be the start of it. not only do we have kuyt though but we have torres and voronin so i think this season, in terms of forwards will be the start of something amazing

kuyt is a worker, a worker that would do almost anything to achieve a goal scoring oppurtunity and isnt a selfish player, like so many divs in the premiership, this could be either a severe disadvantage, or we could use it to gain more goals and goal scoring oppurtunities.

sorry for the rant, im just fed up of people doubting him.

[YAWL]

not only do we have kuyt though but we have torres and voronin so i think this season, in terms of forwards will be the start of something amazing

sorry for the rant, im just fed up of people doubting him.

Well I'm also fed up with people not praising Crouch enough.

You fail to mention him in the list of strikers, but mention Voronin!? WTF is that all about.

I do have doubts over Kuyt, I'd admit.  I think he is a worker more than anything else.  At times I do doubt his quality.

But he's a good striker, a good all rounder and an important player. 

For me though Crouch was underused last season and I hope the same doesn't occur this season.

[Hebz]

i do like crouch, if im being honest he slipped my mind because im excited about seeing how the new forwards bare up to the start of the season, but crouch does have something that we can use to our advantage. i dont think his ball control is as good as it could be though, but the height advantage he has is definately something to use. he proved to be our champions league triumph card so many times last season and i have high respect for the bloke. but IMO i dont think he'll get played as often as he should this season because of the new boys.

[maypaxvobiscum]

i rather play crouch over kuyt anytime. crouch has better ball control and he knows his job is to get the ball into the back of the net. whats the point of being sucha workhouse when you dont do the job that you were bought to do so? even in the friendly games i notice kuyt was still playing so deep. its frustrating really.

[Wilhelmsson]

crouch scores more goals because he plays higher up the pitch and therefore gets into more goalscoring positions

kuyt is a great player with an amazing attitude, some people question his ability whitch for me is a joke, he is a very good player!! end of

Wo wo wo.

I have never said Kuyt isn't a good player.  I know he is and I agree he has some very valuable assets such as his movement, work rate and power.

However in my opinion (I hope I'm entitled to that), I think Crouch offers more to the team.  He showed last season he is a better finisher than Kuyt.  Kuyt missed some chances last season, not to mention this pre season.  However that is not to say he's a bad finisher, I just rate Crouch higher.

I agree with your point about Kuyt playing deeper.  Personally I hope this doesn't happen again.  For me if Kuyt players it should be higher up the field.  He doesn't have the touch and creation to play that supporting role.

There’s nothing I need to add here, because you have summed my feelings up in this particular post with regards to Crouch and Kuyt.

If Crouch and Kuyt play together than Kuyt needs to be further up the field and not playing as a support striker for Crouch.

fair enough but if you look at last season crouch missed some shocking chances

You're just nit picking now. 

[stmichael]

As for the other strikers, I doubt any of them would be able to do the role given to kuyt this season. I dont think he is the best around at dropping deep and playing off another striker but its not his fault thats how rafa wanted to use him. I dont think any of them have got the all round game to do what Kuyt does anyway, certainly not the engine. With more attacking threat from out wide it will allow Gerrard to play more from the middle and create from up higher up the pitch meaning Kuyt wont need the outright pace to get onto an alonso through ball for example. We also have Torres who can play up top or come deep and link up so I don't think Rafa will need Kuyt to drop as deep as often and hopefully get in the box more.

If Pennant continues to improve like he did at the end of the season and with Babel and Benayoun I think we'll see better opportunities for Kuyt to show his threat in the air. If he doesnt improve with the improved creativity in the side then I don't think Rafa will have any qualms about shipping him out, and he's still likely to bring in a fair wedge if that is the case.

[YAWL]

stmichael.

Crouch might not be able to play the 'supporting striker' role as Kuyt, simply because he doesn't have the same work rate or movement.  However I would much rather see Torres or Voronin played in that role or Babel, Kewell, Gerrard and Yossi.

I just don't think he has the touch, creation or vision to play that key role.  Players who have done that role with great success in the league - Sheringham, Rooney, Zola, Bergkamp, Cantona etc all were very technical players, creative ones and top draw in that position.  They also had one 'special' attribute, be it vision in Sherinham's case, control with Bergkamp and Zola etc.  I don't see what attribute Kuyt has for that role and he'd be far more effective in the box, certainly as we have betetr players to play that role.

[Liverpoolaremagic]

I have been impressed by Voronin's build up play in pre-season. Torres also likes to pick the ball up from deep and we've seen his skill and what he can do. So Voronin and Torres are the deep forwards and Crouch and Kuyt should be the centre forwards. I say "should" as Benitez will probs end up playing them at centre half or something.

[Ray Pugh]

Everone seems to be happy with the 4 strikers we have now, I was very dissappointed that we did not go and buy another class striker with Torres.

I rated Kuyt to start off with but was then dissapponted. He doesn't really create much and his finishing was not up to scratch, really as a striker you at least need one or the other.

I really do rate Crouch and along with Torres I'm happy with them. Kuyt and Voronin have a lot to prove to me this season

[Rafa D]

Everone seems to be happy with the 4 strikers we have now, I was very dissappointed that we did not go and buy another class striker with Torres.

I rated Kuyt to start off with but was then dissapponted. He doesn't really create much and his finishing was not up to scratch, really as a striker you at least need one or the other.

I really do rate Crouch and along with Torres I'm happy with them. Kuyt and Voronin have a lot to prove to me this season

I think Kuyt and Voronin could both have great seasons this year.

[yckatbjywtbiastkamb]

i was encouraged by torres`s and kuyt`s link up play at villa park, i thought considering they`ve known each other a matter of weeks they were on the same wavelength as players.
we`ve often played with 2 up front but they`ve tended to concentrate on (and play) their own game where as on saturday i saw signs that fernando and dirk are trying to become a unit.

[66-1112520797]

Credit where its due. I was more impressed with Kuyts display on Saturday.

I suppose now that he'll be playing alongside Torres, its more vital to play in tandem and as a partnership with the Spaniard. Maybe last season Kuyt was dropping deep for two reasons, one obviously to get back and defend for some ungodly reason. And two because playing alongside someone like Crouch who can hold the ball up very well gave him license to drop deep. Although is didnt really help us as an attacking threat, because when this did happen any chance of a quick break away or even a knock on was out of the question and Crouch would have to wait for support from the midfield or even Kuyt himself.

But Saturday he was more advanced, and I'm happy he has the engine to hussle, but what he needs to do like on Saturday is hussle higher up the field. Him and Torres linked quite well at times and I think Torres will need and want the help from his partner, he is that kind of striker who'll work well in a forward pairing.

I think Kuyt could be a bit more selfish infront of goal at times and he really needs to work on his first touch more. If the Torres/Kuyt partnership is to flourish. In the first half Gerrard played an exquisit (sp) ball into Kuyt who was found free on the edge of the box, he should of just hit the f.ucker and made the keeper work. But he instead turned back onto the defender who was goal side again and the opportunity to shoot was gone.
Visa versa in the second half, Kuyt was given the ball to the right of the 18 yard box and took a low hard drive towards the keepers near post, when the probable better option would of been a little reverse ball into the path of Gerrard or whoever was around.

Sometimes his decision making isnt that good, and those two incidents stood out for me. I'm being very critical of him here. But overall on Saturday I think he did well and would want to see him carry on from there, hussle higher, take the opportunities, and make the right decisions and he'll be a much better threat to opposing defences.

[crazyhorse]

People seem to forget that last year was Kuyts first season in English football after playing in what is fair to say an inferior league.

He did OK. I believe if he were at school his report would say something like "shows promise but must do better and get the most out of his hard work"

He works hard and never stops running. The goals will come for him this year, and he will improve more and more. For me he would not be the first striker on the team sheet but he should be an ever present in the squad and play some part in most games.

It will be a while before who we know who fits best with Torres, but all of the other three will have a part to play. It is after all a long season, more so if we progress in the cup competitions.

[stmichael]

Although not my ideal choice, I think the Kuyt-Torres partnership has potential to develop. Kuyt was dropping deep again on Saturday but it was not as bad because of the pace that Torres had to exploit Villa. If we had more pacey players on the pitch from the start and Kuyt continued to play like that there would have been no problem. He was pulling defenders out of position and players like Babel, Torres and Gerrard can make use of that.