Liverpool Thread

Dave Cahill · Post by **Dave Cahill** » August 17th, 2006, 9:59 am

Flash Gordons holland supporting 6 year old son wasn't too impressed with Kuyt last night. When asked for his opinion of him, he thought for a while, then blew a raspberry

sarah_lennon · Post by **sarah_lennon** » August 17th, 2006, 10:01 am

Well I am now definitely against the move

Duke Raoul · Post by **Duke Raoul** » August 17th, 2006, 10:02 am

I've never been impressed with Kuyt at all. Not even on You Tube!

His goals to games ratio is excellent, but then aren't they all in Holland? I think they count their goals scored in training or something...

sarah_lennon · Post by **sarah_lennon** » August 17th, 2006, 10:04 am

Hopefully another RVN rather than Kezman (but I think he was a bit unlucky)

He showed a couple of nice moments yesterday linked the play ok!

No, not bubbling over with enthusiasm here!

Duke Raoul · Post by **Duke Raoul** » August 17th, 2006, 10:16 am

Some more Kuyt details/quotes. Still no mention of a fee though. Surely not £10 million?

Liverpool are poised to sign Holland striker Dirk Kuyt from Feyenoord after agreeing a fee for the 26-year-old.

Providing the deal goes through, it will complete a summer-long search for a top-class striker by manager Rafael Benitez who has seen Fernando Morientes and Djibril Cisse leave the club.

Liverpool did not reveal details of the fee in today's announcement, however they appear to have beaten Newcastle in the race to land Kuyt, who played for Holland at the World Cup.

Kuyt played for Holland in last night's 4-0 win over Republic of Ireland in Dublin and after the match hinted he was on the brink of joining Liverpool.

Today he said: "For me, Liverpool is sure to be the dream club I was looking for.

"There was more interest from abroad, but for me there was nothing of the calibre of Liverpool, a brilliant club with an enormous reputation, fantastic support and a fabulous history. It is an honour to play for a club like that."

Newcastle manager Glenn Roeder and chairman Freddy Shepherd flew to last night's match in Dublin in an effort to contact Kuyt, who they had earmarked as a strike partner for Shola Ameobi.

However, according to Feyenoord chairman Jorien van den Herik, it was always Kuyt's ambition to move to Anfield.

Van den Herik told http://www.feyenoord.nl: "We did everything we could to keep Dirk at Feyenoord.

"We went a long way to doing that and Dirk was open to that, but we knew that the chance was he would leave if his dream club came in. Liverpool is his dream club.

"Many clubs have tried to contact Dirk over the recent period, but he's said 'no' to clubs every time because they were not appealing enough despite there being many renowned clubs among them. That characterises Dirk's attitude: either Feyenoord or my dream club."

According to Feyenoord, Kuyt has agreed a four-year contract.

"All parties have kept their promises," said Van den Herik. "And the response was always no up to now, but when Liverpool came knocking with a serious offer we knew that a transfer was an option.

"It is a pity for Feyenoord, but we do not begrudge him this step. We have to be thankful to Dirk for his effort and loyalty to Feyenoord and its supporters. He deserves respect and a big farewell from Feyenoord and we hope that he returns to De Kuip after his foreign career."

Kuyt was due to undertake his medical in Liverpool today.

The striker began his career with Utrecht but attracted Feyenoord's interested after netting 20 goals in the 2002-03 season.

Since joining the Rotterdam club in summer 2003, he has netted 71 goals in 101 league matches.

Dave Cahill · Post by **Dave Cahill** » August 17th, 2006, 10:19 am

Peter Crouch has now scored 8 times in 12 appearences for England, all since this calender year begun.

sarah_lennon · Post by **sarah_lennon** » August 17th, 2006, 10:24 am

Dave Cahill wrote:Peter Crouch has now scored 8 times in 12 appearences for England, all since this calender year begun.

A lot of them at Old Trafford too, where all the booing began!

General Collins · Post by **General Collins** » August 17th, 2006, 2:45 pm

sarah_lennon wrote:
Dave Cahill wrote:Peter Crouch has now scored 8 times in 12 appearences for England, all since this calender year begun.
A lot of them at Old Trafford too, where all the booing began!

those morons were still at last night before Crouchy scored. At the same time they were all shouting Freak freak. As soon as he scored it all stopped.

I took alot of stick from my mates and family when we signed Crouchy, especially when he went on his 78 game streak without a goal. However i'm now glad i've always stuck up for him. He may not be your stereotypical striker, but he's improving every game, his confidence is sky high and i think he'll get on really well this season.

tate · Post by **tate** » August 17th, 2006, 3:30 pm

acccording to this

http://home.skysports.com/list.aspx?hli ... e+Kuyt+fee

liverpool have agreed £10million fee

Duke Raoul · Post by **Duke Raoul** » August 17th, 2006, 4:11 pm

Interweb Ledge Paul Tomkins on Liverpool's new signing:

Dirk Kuyt, the man of many goals and even more name spellings, has proved ruthless in front of goal in the Dutch league. Should he agree personal terms in the next 24 hours, Liverpool will finally have their fourth 'main' striker, and this one is an out-and-out goal-getter.

He completes the balance of the attacking options. By now we should all know what Crouch offers, while Bellamy is the quick striker who'll also drift wide. These days Fowler is arguably even more effective as a creator – his vision and passing are superb when he drops deep. Kuyt is someone who can run for 90 minutes and plunder goals.

If Jan Kromkamp remains at Liverpool, as an alternative to Steve Finnan, then it will be virtually impossible to find a gap in this current squad, where every position is (at least) double-banked with talent.

Kuyt's arrival, once the 't's are crossed, the 'i's dotted and the 'p' analysed in the lab, can only be seen as great news. I honestly felt the Reds were ready to challenge for the title with the squad as it stood, with more options for creating and scoring goals; but another striker can only increase the chances. If he proves a flop, taking the worst-case scenario, there are other players capable of scoring goals; if he does well, everyone is laughing.

But is Kuyt the new Ruud van Nistelrooy or the next Mateja Kezman?

Of course, he is neither. He is a separate individual, with no connections to the other two beyond scoring lots of goals in the Eredivisie. He is joining Liverpool in 2006, not Manchester United in 2001 or Chelsea in 2004. Comparisons will always be made, but for every player in the world you can find an example of someone similar failing and someone similar succeeding.

Bad strikers do not have 30-goal-seasons in any country, but the question is whether or not such prolific scoring can be translated to another league, where goals are usually harder to come by. Ruud van Nistelrooy proved capable of doing so; Mateja Kezman did not, although he was not given many starts in the blue of Chelsea; Mourinho wanted a target-man in his first XI, not a prolific scorer.

Kuyt’s record suggests he is a hugely reliable finisher. In the last two seasons he has has notched up a total of 57 goals, at a rate of 0.74-per-90 minutes; albeit in a league which doesn’t rank amongst the very best in Europe. That said, Dutch football is not a weak league like Scotland, the one I've seen it compared to.

Van Nistelrooy leads to an interesting comparison. In his two full seasons at PSV van Nistelrooy racked up an average of 30 goals-a-season; in his four injury-free seasons with Manchester United in the Premiership (thus excluding 2004/05) he averaged 22 goals per year –– a 25% reduction in goals coming from the [iEredivisie to the Premiership.

Kuyt has scored an average of 24 goals-per-season in his three years with Feyenoord; if he saw a similar reduction to van Nistelrooy in his league statistics when heading from the top flight in Holland to the top flight in England he could still find himself close to 20 league goals-a-season. But as has been shown to be the case, it just needs reliable strikers to win the league, not necessarily the most prolific.

Kuyt's also a player who has improved in recent seasons, after a fairly slow start to his career, which suggests he might not have reached his full potential.

His performances in the World Cup, for a Holland team lacking confidence and direction, should not be taken too seriously, especially as he tended to be stuck on the wing; only one appearance was as a starter, and he certainly looked no worse than Ruud van Nistelrooy. Kuyt was under tremendous pressure – his first start in the World Cup, and he had to score to help the team through.

His movement and work-rate were first-class; his finishing was lax on a couple of occasions but he was in the right areas. Having been a striker as a semi-pro I know what it's like to struggle in front of goal when you first move up to a higher level; but once you get over that mental hurdle and prove to yourself you're good enough you can relax and play your natural game. We've seen it with Crouch in the last nine months, where he's scored 22 goals for club and country.

I was actually quite impressed with Kuyt over the summer, without ever thinking he was a must-have player on that evidence alone. But give me an up-and-coming willing striker who is capable of scoring goals and who works for the team over an overweight and under-motivated Ronaldo any day, based on this World Cup. Kuyt isn't yet a superstar; but he can be. Being at Liverpool will help.

Also, plenty of top-class goalscorers have failed to make much of a dent on international football. Robbie Fowler and Ian Wright have just been overtaken by the largely-derided Peter Crouch in terms of international goals, with Crouch also scoring at a rate better than Alan Shearer (and without 25% of his goals being penalties). Meanwhile, Jermaine Defoe, who has an excellent goals-per-game record in English football, has just one goal in 17 England appearances. Go figure.

So the striking roster is about to be completed. With Bellamy, Crouch, Fowler and Kuyt there won't be too many training sessions missed due to modelling assignments. When Rafa said he wanted strikers who can frighten the opposition he clearly wasn't joking.

You can't beat an ugly centre-forward, whose bag-of-spanners face shows he's not afraid to put his head in where it hurts –– although Ian Dowie is living proof that simply being ugly does not suffice on its own.

It can go two ways for a striker like Kuyt arriving in England. Either he'll struggle to find his best at a big club in a tougher league, and find no rhythm as part the rotation system – in the way Djibril Cissé seemed to suffer; or he'll score even more goals by being in a better team, especially now creativity and pace has been added to wide areas.

Also, Kuyt is being hand-picked by Rafa. That will help him, as much as it hindered the previous striker to arrive at Liverpool for £10m+.

I still believe that in a very counter-attacking team, as the Reds were under Houllier, and with the total admiration and support of his manager, Djibril Cissé would have flourished, at least in terms of his individual goals tally, even if the team might have been limited as a result; managers have their own 'types' of player, who suit their system, and it can undermine the confidence of any player when a new man takes charge and has his own way of working. Unlike Cissé, Kuyt fits Rafa's profile.

With the Dutchman about sign, it can be said – and I give advanced warning of a bad pun – that the sky's the limit for Kuyt.

jhc99 · Post by **jhc99** » August 17th, 2006, 7:56 pm

How does anyone think Louis Garcia will fit in with the arrival of DK?

Post by **limecat** » August 17th, 2006, 8:48 pm

jhc99 wrote:How does anyone think Louis Garcia will fit in with the arrival of DK?

WTF...Declan Kidney has signed for Liverpool?

sarah_lennon · Post by **sarah_lennon** » August 18th, 2006, 8:52 am

limecat wrote:
jhc99 wrote:How does anyone think Louis Garcia will fit in with the arrival of DK?
WTF...Declan Kidney has signed for Liverpool?

Actually he looks more like Iain Dowie!!!

garcia would have struggled to make the team even without Kuyt, Cover for Right Wing I'd have thought!

General Collins · Post by **General Collins** » August 18th, 2006, 2:42 pm

Luis Garcia, he's drinks Sangria...
He's signed from Barca to Liverpool......

To be honest, as frustrating as the little guy is, he's a scorer of some very important goals. I think he'll be used as a impact sub (65/70 mins) mainly at Anfield. He seems to play better at home. Also can see him starting in alot of the Cup games.

sarah_lennon · Post by **sarah_lennon** » August 18th, 2006, 2:47 pm

General Collins wrote:Luis Garcia, he's drinks Sangria...
He's signed from Barca to Liverpool......

To be honest, as frustrating as the little guy is, he's a scorer of some very important goals. I think he'll be used as a impact sub (65/70 mins) mainly at Anfield. He seems to play better at home. Also can see him starting in alot of the Cup games.

he's 5'7, he's football heaven

By gum, he's lucky he has scored those goals, cos he'd be out the door otherwise.

sarah_lennon · Post by **sarah_lennon** » August 18th, 2006, 2:48 pm

Kuyt Fever, Kuyt Feeevvveeerrrr, he knows how to do it!

General Collins · Post by **General Collins** » August 18th, 2006, 2:59 pm

Crikey, that's some pic Sarah.
He looks like one of the vampires in the Lost Boys.
I hope he makes me eat my words, but i've yet to see Kuyt do anything remotely impressive.
He didn't impress me in the World Cup, and he failed to shine against an Irish team that would have lost to Cork City last Wednesday night.

I think we should have spent the money on Defoe.[/img]

General Collins · Post by **General Collins** » August 18th, 2006, 3:01 pm

how do i attach a pic to a message???[/img]

sarah_lennon · Post by **sarah_lennon** » August 18th, 2006, 3:03 pm

General Collins wrote:how do i attach a pic to a message???[/img]

Post the link, then highlight it, then press img button once.

jhc99 · Post by **jhc99** » August 20th, 2006, 11:19 am

What did everyone make of yeterdays shocker. Sheffield Utd pressured us well but Stevie G aside, no one showed any composure. Fowler looked off the pace having missed a lot of the pre-season.