by red37 » Wed Nov 28, 2007 3:47 pm
Article on tonights game with Kuyt.
"We will show true colours"
Nov 28 2007
Tony Barrett, Liverpool Echo
DIRK KUYT says Porto will see “the real Liverpool” when the two sides meet at Anfield tonight.
In their last encounter in Portugal in September, Liverpool struggled to a 1-1 draw and played the majority of the second half with ten men after Jermaine Pennant was sent off.
At that stage of the season Liverpool were struggling to show their best form but Kuyt believes they are now ready to show Porto just how good they are – with the recent 8-0 demolition of Besiktas their inspiration.
He said: “We have to take the confidence from the Besiktas game and our form in the Premiership into the game tonight.
“If we do that then I am sure we will be okay because we have more quality and better players than we showed when we drew with Porto earlier this season.
“I think they will see the real Liverpool tonight.”
It was Kuyt’s instinctive header at the Estadio de Dragao which gave the Reds a point against Porto but after that the Dutchman suffered something of a barren spell from open play, with only a pair of match winning penalties against Everton to show for his efforts.
And when he missed a string of chances in the Premiership match at Blackburn, Kuyt found himself on the receiving on end of some severe criticism.
“It wasn’t nice for me,” he said. “I am used to the pressure of playing up front for a big club because it was the same when I was at Feyenoord.
“You know if you are playing up front for a major club and you miss chances that you are going to be criticised. That’s just the way it is.
“The thing that was most difficult for me was that I was not able to play in the two games after Blackburn because that meant it was more difficult for me to get it out of my system.”
On Saturday, Kuyt’s luck changed when he got his name on the score sheet thanks to one going in off his knee.
Now he hopes that is just the start of better times for him in front of goal.
He said: “It was nice for me to score because it helped the team to get a good result in a difficult away game.
“I had a bit of luck because it is unusual to score with your knee but every goal counts – especially after what happened at Blackburn.
“But the most important thing is that the team played well and we have to look to produce a similar performance against Porto.
“We had a lot of problems at the start of the Champions League campaign but the last game against Besiktas showed exactly what we can do.
“Porto is a massive game but it is one we are all ready for and we have the quality to beat them.”
In the days which followed the Blackburn match, Kuyt found himself at the centre of a storm of criticism but he was delighted to find that he could count on the support of everyone at Anfield, most notably captain Steven Gerrard and manager Rafa Benitez.
He said: “It was really important to know that I had the backing of the captain but I wouldn’t expect anything else from Stevie because that is the kind of person he is.
“He always helps and supports the players around him and when you have the support of someone like Steven Gerrard it is a real boost.
“He is very good for all his team-mates and when he spoke to the ECHO to say he was supporting me and that he still believed in me that meant a lot.
“It was the same with the manager and all the support I got really helped me.”
Tonight, Kuyt is hoping that he can repay the confidence that has been shown in him by playing a role in a victory which would put Liverpool on course for a winner takes all final group game against Marseille.
And just as he never lost faith in his own ability to deliver the goods in front of goal, the Dutch striker insists he never thought Liverpool would fail to qualify for the knockout stages even after they only managed to garner a single point from their first three group games.
“You never give up hope,” he said. “In football anything is possible and I never stopped believing that we would qualify.
“We didn’t make things easy for ourselves but we are a much better team than we showed at the start of the competition and now we are starting to show our best form I am sure that we will get through.”
TITANS of HOPE
up for this one 
