In the last two seasons, Dirk Kuyt was one of the first names in the Liverpool starting lineup. He held down that right-hand midfield role and made it his own due to his sheer hard work on the field. He is not the best right midfielder to ever play the game in terms of pace, trickery and crossing ability that you would expect from a wide player, but he has been so vital to Liverpool over the last couple of season due to his never say die attitude and ability to defend from the front.
But now this season, Dirk has found himself on Kenny Dalglish’s bench as Jordan Henderson has been preferred to play on the right side of midfield. Henderson has not done too badly thus far but he has not set the stage alight either. Should Dirk Kuyt be called back into the side in place of Henderson or does Dalglish see Dirk as a backup striker this season?
Kuyt himself has come out and said that he is looking forward to the challenge of making the Liverpool starting lineup this season.
“From childhood, I’ve always been disappointed when I’m not in the team because I’m desperate to be involved and make a good contribution,” said Kuyt.
“But it also makes me very determined too. I need to continue to prove myself, train as hard as possible and, when I do play, make sure my performance is of a high standard.”
Kuyt added: “Competition is tough now but it’s brilliant for the club that there are so many players to choose from now, top-class international players. The players realise at the end of the day you need more than 11 good players to be successful.
“When I first arrived here we had a very good, big squad but for the last two seasons before this one, we haven’t had the depth that we did in the first three seasons.
“Someone like Craig Bellamy is a strong addition to what is already a very strong squad, and that can only be good for the team. We definitely have better quality now and more players to choose from as well.
“I think with the signings we’ve made, we have a great squad now so we should be ambitious and have confidence in ourselves.”
What role do you see Kuyt playing for Liverpool this season?
back up striker, as he always should have been
starting kuyt is negative, we want pacey, young wingers not a slow guy in his 30’s. He’ll have left Liverpool or retired in the next few years, we want to give somebody like henderson a chance to progress and become a great footballer.
Henderson is, and will always be, outclassed by Kuyt. Do you actually go to matches, cause if you did, you’ll know, you would not have posted your comment!.
and…..do you class Henderson/Adams as pacey??…..are you for real?
shud of got a fast pacey right winger anyway, henderson is learning still but kuyt is what we need cos hes played there so much
@YNWA, couldn’t have put it better myself! Kuyt will always be better than Henderson, have seen nothing from watching Henderson in every game this season to suggest he was worth what we paid, very stupid move bringing in Henderson and Adam and letting Meireles and Aquilani go, Suarez would have thrived playing alongside either of them two!
If the team is picked on form as stated by Kenny, Maxi, Kuyt and Spearing should be starting every game with Carrol, Henderson, Downing and Adam warming the bench!
I’d like to see Lucas and Spearing sit in front of the defence and then let a front four of Gerrard, Maxi, Kuyt and Suarez interchange and run riot, with Downing and Bellamy introduced as subs when needed.
i hate to say this but KK has shown disrespectfulness to the fans and dirk kuyt by benching him,becaus kuyt is far better than henderson in terms of tracking back to tackle and also cover either of our right backs are attacking
Remain blessed!
@YNWA: wot do u men by ‘will always’ uh? Kuyt has never had class. ppl only cover up his basic technical inabilities both as a strikes n winger by talkin about his ‘work ethic’ and ‘defensive abilities’. I think Kuyt can do a beta job than Hendo rite now but not in the near future and isn’t dat wot we’re working towards?? fink.
My good guess is that YOU are American, therefore, you’ve got a lot to learn, about the football over here. First, i’ll start you off, over here the ball is ROUND!, so there you go, you’ve just leraned something 🙂
@Gerrardious……..and Kuyt for your info, is a FULL International, that means, he plays for HIS COUNTRY, and that also means, he is above average, which I regret to say, Hendo is nowhere near at the moment!!!
Seen nothing from Henderson?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60nwdlH1U8U
watch that and tell me that again.
euh
how to say that?
oh yeah I know what this video shows is that Henderson can do : average things that every epl player can do
Even on the goal he was verry lucky to find the ball back otherwise it was a bad shot
so of course henderson will improve but NOW having him in the starting XI it’s a weakness for liverpool.
I’m sure he’ll shine at LFC but not now for him and for us : bench him
If we had a young natural winger in January, Kuyt would be no more than our J.S.Park. u copy??
kuyt is a failed forward and a headless chicken midfilder. the man can’t pass of beat people. the sooner we have a quality right winger the better. Ps. give Henderson a half a season before you jump on him.
Failed forward? Given he plays most of his games from wide right yet still manages 12-15 goals a season I’d say that’s better than many quality wingers and midfielders. And we really missed his work rate and tracking back against Spurs. May not be the best in the business but if some of our better players put in the shift he does we’d be a lot better off. Carry on ‘failing’ Dirk.
SAM or whatever you call your miserable self, may be you need to be reminded that Kuyt is a regular in the Dutch national team which ranks number one in FIFA ranking, and played every minute in just concluded world cup. The question is: can a Henderson be in the Dutch national team bench?
So…………Why is he always selected to play for his COUNTRY?. Give Henderson half a season?, YOU SAY, @£20million?, you should really concentrate on watching Cricket, you know!.
bench henderson and carol put in kuyt 4 7 sg and suarez up front against everton and utd u ll see free flowing pass and move kk is talking abt
What i like to know why did lfc give kuyt a new contract if they wanted him on the bench. The players 8of 11 is not good enough
Lfc gave him a new contract so that if he is not content with a rotation/bit-part role, he can be sold for a good price
Yes buy crap players but sell the few we got who can preform!.
@AC…..Agree 100%, some of the fans comments here are really amazing.
@Gerrardious….you keep contradicting yourself, my friend, you obviously don’t rate Kuyt, than you say @sell him at a GOOD price???. Make your mind up m8, he’s either crap or he’s not!’.
Kuyt has no vision, poor first touch, decision making is abysmal resulting in conceding possession constantly. When playing, despite his hard work, he is the first point our attacks break down. I would give his place to Bellamy or play Gerrard on the right.
Well maybe if Gerrard starts in place of Henderson or Kuyt then there is no need for all this arguement!
It will take Henderson 5 solid seasons, playing all matches before he can get something close to the level of Kuyt. As long as KK goes ahead to use both Adam and Henderson against Everton and Manure, then we should get prepared to loose both encounters.
@NJANJA……Exactly my thought’s.
@YNWA: too bad I have not been online to reply some of ur silly comments.
Well 1st of all, am not an American.
U wanna defend Kuyt and the 1st thing u say is ‘he’s an International’ seriously? since wen did being a starter even for a top country make u a quality ‘1st team’ player for a big team with big ambitions. according to ur logic, we might as well buy Camoranesi, or maybe Kevin Doyle. Poulsen would be a wonderful buy or maybe Rosciky. Salomon kalou would be fantastic, or maybe Eboue. ……Kuyt (in Holland) plays among exciting and classy players including VDV, Van Persie, Sneijder and needless to mention Robben (to mention a few). thats why his inabilities are barely noticed.
U say am contradicting myself. I might as well accuse u of doing d same. I neva said Kuyt is a bad player. I said he isn’t class. u on the other hand (while tryin to defend him) said that ‘he is above average’. Just brilliant.
Kuyt has always been a useful player. The question is this – if we had a transfer budget of 100m and we could attract top players would u like to see him start every match for the next 2 seasons (assuming u’re a fan who wants us to go back to the very top)???
by the way, way wen I talked about selling him for a good price, its common sense. A player who has 3-4 years on his contract should always command a good price for the selling club. Shouldnt be dat hard to figure out. use ur head bro.
peace