Criticise Voronin so why not Kuyt?

[Rafa La Bamba]

At the end of the day Voronin scored more league goals than Dirk Kuyt.
Is 3 league goals acceptable? Of course it isn't. In my opinion these two are as bad/good as each other so I say again like I have once before, give Voronin a rest!

Just remember Voronin spent probably 60% of the season injured whereas Kuyt didn't. I hope to see the back of both these players but it isn't going to happen...

Yes Kuyt scored more in the Champions League but that shouldn't cover up the fact that he's a useless player in the Premiership only scoring 3 league goals of which 2 were penatly kicks against Everton.

So if your aloud to criticise Voronin, is it legal that I can do the same to Kuyt and get away with it?

Thoughts please...

[paulrobbo]

Of course 3 league goals isn't acceptable. He's put some important, immense performances in the champions league this season though. Voronin, when he has played has been much more frustrating to watch. Nearly every oppotunity ends up in row Z. Since Kuyt has been put out wide his return hasn't been THAT bad. It's something like 11 assists and 5 or 6 goals. Some of his crosses have been first class.

I think Kuyt's performances at the back end of this season warrant him a place in the squad next season.

Although I'd prefer two wingers, one on the right and one on the left. I wouldn't be against just buying one this summer if funds restrict us, and leave Kuyt on the right next season.

[Court LFC]

No.  But think about it.

Kuyt hasn't been playing down the middle all season has he?  He's done a good job on the right of midfield and he seems to enjoy it!

Fair enough.  Voronin has 5 Premiership goals.  How many clear cut chances has he missed???  You could argue the same with Kuyt.  But at least half of his shots were on target!!!!

[Rafa La Bamba]

No way do I want Kuyt on the right next season. His first touch, his control, his passing and his pace all lets him down and yes he's guilty also of missing easy chances.

Yes he's a hardworker, but thats all he offers and that is the reality!

[lil cisse]

I love kuyt he an extremely hard worker but I can see where Ra Ra is coming from. The goal tally has been very low this season, and he did spend ALOT of time upfront. The main things that I dont like about the kuyt situation is that...

1.) It seems to have played some part in crouch's unfair dismissal this season, iv'e lost count of the amount of games we should have started crouchie and dropped kuyt and probably would have won where we got a draw.

2.) He is a great player and has been doing well from the right but what about next season ? Is rafa's faith in him so strong now that we will see our new rm, whoever it is being 'rested' loads so kuyt can play on the right.

3.) It has caused pennant and yossi to miss out on a fair few games when he has been deployed on the right.

I think kuyt is a fantastic player but what on earth has happened to his finishing, if he was anywhere near the goal machine he was in holland we would be in the top 2 and maybe even champions, the dropping back used to frustrate me so much it was unreal and although I like kuyt alot I think he needs to regain his goalscoring form because him on the right does prevent other players getting a game. Prem games should be harder to score in I dont get it. He managed to score against Inter AND arsenal whereas missed the easiest of chances against teams like blackburn. I just want goals, dont get me wrong I love what he does but I want him to be what he is a STRIKER. I want a proper right mid getting crosses in all game although kuyt does well there he isnt a right winger.

[paulrobbo]

No way do I want Kuyt on the right next season. His first touch, his control, his passing and his pace all lets him down and yes he's guilty also of missing easy chances.

Yes he's a hardworker, but thats all he offers and that is the reality!

Dare I say it, we may not of been in the CL semi's if it were not for Kuyt. I'm not entirely sure where Kuyt will fit in next season. We don't know if Rafa is after two wingers or one. We don't know if he's after another striker. We don't know what formation we'll be playing next season. Will Babel be used up top? We don't know. I can't see Kuyt leaving though. If we do get another right winger I can see Kuyt playing as little football as Crouchy next season. I do think Kuyt is an excellent squad player, Voronin I do not. Overall Kuyt's performances have be much better than Voronin's

[Dadorious]

I think Dirk has done more than enough to warrant a place in the squad next season. Note I did say squad not the starting 11, he was superb in all our European outings with the exception of Stamford Bridge. 3 goals is a sh*t return in the PL but much of this coincided with the terrible run we went through late December through to January and Kuyt was shifted into a formation that worked.

He was a task player that played his role as instructed by Rafa he was never intended to be our goal poacher when Torres came on board. Why dont you look ath his return from previous season where he was in that central striker role without Toress. I dont have the time to look up the stats now but I am sure it was a solid return.

[lil cisse]

One thing we do have to take into consideration is him losing his father. Its not an excuse for the bad parts of his season but it hit him extremely hard. One of the things he said made me realise how bad it was, something about him looking up into the crowd for his father then realising he wouldnt be there anymore, that must affect you alot on the field. I just want him scoring goals alot again, in his first season he looked very promising.

[Rafa La Bamba]

To be honest it's not all about the Champions League, we don't evolve around that trophy!

He can't play on the right as he distrupts this formation badly. In the formation we play, we need proper wide men and Dirk Kuyt can play there but again would disrupt our play.

If I remember correctly, everytime he recives the ball he's plays it backwards and it really does slow the play down especially when we are on a counter attack.

He tries hard but little quality is shown. Put Babel on the right of attack and buy Silva and put him on the left.. then we'd be talking!

[paulrobbo]

Put Babel on the right of attack and buy Silva and put him on the left.. then we'd be talking!

Was about to post exactly that but you beat me to it

[Rafa La Bamba]

Was about to post exactly that but you beat me to it

Great minds think alike

[JD]

For an 11 million pound striker Dirk Kuyt's goal return has been woeful.  He has also fluffed plenty of chances this season.

Voronin is, statistically, much more ruthless than Kuyt in front of goal.

In my book, both these players are wide open to criticism, and Torres has set the new Anfield standard.

[RedWilly]

Completely agree Ra Ra, and with JD regarding the price tag, his first season he looked very promising 14 league goals he scored I think.

This season he has scored 3, only 1 from open play, he has been great for us in Europe, but as JD said he has been absolutely shocking with his goal return for an 11mill striker. As Voronin came on a free he is actually more value for money than Kuyt, Voronin has doubled Kuyts tally, all from open play.

For all of Kuyts hard work he should never be considered a first 11 player, for me he will never be better than a squad player. Definitely not one of Rafas better buys.

[king kenny]

I’ve always been very surprised by the amount of times Kuyt has been involved in comparison to players that I believe and in most cases most fans agree that are far better all round players.  Benayoun, Pennant and Crouch for me are far better player, especially Crouch and Benayoun.  But one thing that has struck me is Kuyt’s professionalism, he never complains, but accepts the competition he is amongst when not being in the picture for a spell of games. 

The thing is I think Benitez has used Kuyt as an example of what he wants in a player.  For players to knuckle down put in the hard work week in week out, and show the appreciations for the squad and put in the hard work on off the pitch.  As for his raw talent he is open to criticism. 

I do think that this attitude is beneficial to the squad especially the young players, to prove to them that hard work and professionalism is so vitally important, especially under the Benitez regime.  Surely, everyone in the dressing room can see that Kuyt is short in the quality department.

[ayrton77]

I’ve always been very surprised by the amount of times Kuyt has been involved in comparison to players that I believe and in most cases most fans agree that are far better all round players.  Benayoun, Pennant and Crouch for me are far better player, especially Crouch and Benayoun.  But one thing that has struck me is Kuyt’s professionalism, he never complains, but accepts the competition he is amongst when not being in the picture for a spell of games. 

The thing is I think Benitez has used Kuyt as an example of what he wants in a player.  For players to knuckle down put in the hard work week in week out, and show the appreciations for the squad and put in the hard work on off the pitch.  As for his raw talent he is open to criticism. 

I do think that this attitude is beneficial to the squad especially the young players, to prove to them that hard work and professionalism is so vitally important, especially under the Benitez regime.  Surely, everyone in the dressing room can see that Kuyt is short in the quality department.

Great post and I totally agree with you. Does anyone else think that by Benitez's insistance at playing Kuyt in almost every match though, he might have sacrificed any title challenge we could have had? After all, we finished 11 points behind United, if Crouch had had more starts perhaps we could have turned some draws into wins... the same goes for Pennant and Benayoun, both are more creative players and could perhaps have made the difference in some of the tight matches we had in the Xmas period.

I realise I am over-simplifying the situation somewhat, but I feel that using one player as an example to the others whilst sacrifying talent on the pitch at the same time just doesn't add up. I hope that the players have got the message and that next year we will focus on creativity and skill over how many miles a player runs during 90 minutes.

[king kenny]

The thing is Ayrton you could put it that and say that if we played the more creative players we might have made more of fight of it.  But is it about a single season, but the long term plan.  If you ask me I do think the likes of Crouch and Benayoun should have played a lot more, but then we have to look at long term aspects because of the competition we face from the financial giants, and if that makes Babel, Nemeth, Plessis, Lucas……etc.  This could be invaluable in the future.  As we do still have a excellent record of keeping hold of our players.

[LFC9]

Great post . Your totally right in what you say.They have both had a bad season. Vorinin hampered by injury and Kuyt being stuck on the right wing .But that cant be Kuyts excuse cos he didnt have the best season last year either . And I think thats why rafa chose to play him on the right his season (a)to ease the pressure from lack of goals and(b) to give him a chance to impress in a differant position,Which in some respects he did .
   But however I still think if Crouch goes in pre season then Kuyt and Vorinin may be valuble assests as squad players for next season.

[lil cisse]

I agree with buying silva but if we play babel as a right winger next season I will throw my tv out of the window. Im am sick and tired of playing players out of position, its one of the most annoying things we do right now. He's a striker use him as one aughh its like cissé all over again playing a striker as a winger and expecting results. I can understand one season as a winger to develop his ability to take people on and confidence but two is just wasting his ability and time that could be used better.

I just want us to buy some proper wingers and use the ones we have, especially young talent like hammill and anderson and stop using stand-ins it wastes so much time that could be used developing the player in questions talent more appropriately. Anderson scored 10 or 11 this season, even though it was in a different league its still that amount of goals from the wing and he himself has said he prefers playing on the left wing. Why not use him there, one of our most promising youngsters and there is talk of him going out on loan again, it will drive me nuts if we send him out on loan yet again and will spell out that he has no future at liverpool in my opinion.

[king kenny]

I agree with you mate that Babel needs to be played more upfront next season. But then that will depend on formation too.  We need Benitez to do for the squad that he has done for other positions, by bringing in a few long awaited gems.  Until Torres we hadn’t PURCHASED a real world class striker since Collymore.  We’ve had some very good goalies in the past decade or so but they had one thing at least missing, Benitez bought Reina – the real deal.  For me the last real class winger I saw at anfield was Mcmanaman, so come on Benitez relish this challenge and do the same.

[lfcreds27]

This is a simple answer Voronin is excess baggage, a waste of space and an abysmal player.
He makes no effort and seems to play for the other team most of the time.

Kuyt may not score enough, fine that is a weakness but he still puts the work in and cannot bare to just stand there and not be part of the game.