An overdue tribute to Dirk Kuyt

Following his hat-trick against Man Utd, I feel it is time for an overdue tribute to Dirk Kuyt.

Kuyt gets a fair bit of stick for his woeful first touch, general lack of pace and obvious limitations as an attacking player. While he is also praised for his work rate and super human stamina, such praise is tinged with the regret that he failed to become the 20+ goals-a-season striker we signed him to be.

Had Albert Riera or Jermaine Pennant matched Kuyt’s goal-return from wide positions and offered the versatility of playing up front when required they would have been lauded. However, those players were both signed as wingers whereas Kuyt was signed as a striker so, rather unfairly, different expectations are applied.

In the past I’ve compared him to Man Utd’s Park Ji-Sung. Park strikes me as a player who lacks the skill and poise of say Cristiano Ronaldo or Nani and who lacks the ‘star quality’ of Wayne Rooney and Dmitar Berbatov and yet his more agricultural approach frequently proves effective in some of the biggest fixtures such as games against Arsenal and Barcelona in their Champions League semi-final. Sometimes, having a player with an outstanding work rate and an uncanny knack of finding the net in the biggest games is a greater asset than having a ‘star’ player.

This is both a complimentary view and a slightly critical view. On the one hand, in making this comparison, I am acknowledging Kuyt’s value to the team and suggesting that even if we’d had a stronger squad over the last few years, he would still have had a valuable role to play. On the other hand, it infers that, given that stronger squad, perhaps Kuyt should have been used in certain games but should not necessarily have been a fixture in the first team.

Had we possessed Man United’s strength in depth over the last few years – or even two quality wide players – perhaps it would be correct to question Kuyt’s status as an automatic selection. However, we had the squads we had and there can be no doubting that since his conversion to the right wing in 2007-08, Kuyt has been the best man for that role at our club. Any frustrations over his limitations in that role should be aimed at the men who undermined our club by failing to invest adequately in the squad.

But of course, this is a tribute so focus on his limitations are inappropriate. Instead, let me list some of the reasons why Kuyt has been a fantastic servant to Liverpool Football Club.

> He has scored for us in a European Cup Final.

> Only Steven Gerrard, Michael Owen, Ian Rush and Roger Hunt have scored more European goals than him.

> Only Steven Gerrard has scored more Champions League goals than him.

> Of the current Liverpool squad, only Jamie Carragher, Steven Gerrard and Pepe Reina have made more appearances than him.

> Only Robbie Fowler, Michael Owen, Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres have scored more Premiership goals for Liverpool than him.

> Only 12 players who debuted in the last 20 years have played more Liverpool games than his current total of 230: Rob Jones (243), Jamie Redknapp (308), David James (277), Robbie Fowler (369), Jamie Carragher (630), Michael Owen (297), Danny Murphy (249), Steven Gerrard (532), Dietmar Hamann (283), Sami Hyypia (464), John Arne Riise (348) and Pepe Reina (299). In that time 159 players have appeared for the club.

> He has scored career goals against Everton (x5), Arsenal (x3), Chelsea (x3) and now Man United (x3).

> He has also scored Champions League goals against Inter Milan, AC Milan, Marseille and Porto.

> He has scored crucial (late) goals in European knock-out ties against the likes of Standard Liege, Trabzonspor and Sparta Prague.

> In the last 5 seasons, only Reina (246) and Carragher (241) have played more games than him.

> He never gives less than his best and works tirelessly for the team whenever selected.

The song goes “We all dream of a team of Carraghers”. It is clearly meant that we wish every member of the team had Carragher’s commitment and not his skill set. For the same reason, it could also be sung that “We all dream of a team of Dirk Kuyts”. And for the record, if a team of Dirk Kuyts played a team of Carraghers, the Kuyts would win by a cricket score!