woodylfc

A nice little article from Kopblog. I happen to be a big fan of Dirks but whats the general consensus. Would you sell him to Hamburg in January and bring in for example Bentley. Not sure how to do a poll Kuyt - The Flying Dutchman Written by Gerry on October 14th, 2008 ▪ 16 comments so far As we are in the middle of this international break I thought it might be a good time to get stuck into the Dirk Kuyt debate that has regularly come up in previous blogs. There’s no doubt he is a player that divides opinion among supporters. Some love him, some think he’s ok to have in the squad but shouldn’t be a regular starter in the side and others feel we should just get shot of him as soon as we can. It’s strange that one player can engender such a diverse range of opinions but that seems to be the case with Kuyt and I thought I would throw my two cents worth into the mix. For the record, I am a big fan of the guy for a number of reasons. Sometimes I think the type of footballers we like says as much about us as it does about them. When I was a kid the first Liverpool team I watched in those days contained players like Keegan, Heighway, Toshack etc and they were brilliant, but whenever anyone asked me who my favourite player was back then I would immediately answer, Tommy Smith. He was the toughest player in the game who would run through walls for the club and somehow you always felt that no-one would dare beat us or even score against us when he was in the side. However the hard-man reputation he gained overshadowed his whole career and in some ways did him more harm than good because he was also a very good player, but that side of his game was very under-rated outside of Anfield and he became one of the great unsung heroes of the side. I would always support any player wearing The Red but over the years I’ve always had an extra bit of affection for the players, like Smith, who played a vital role for the team but were in many ways unsung heroes. Players such as Kennedy, Whelan, Nicol, Johnson, Houghton to name but a few and more recent examples would be Hamann and even Jamie Carragher, all great players but often criminally under-rated outside of Anfield. To me Dirk Kuyt fits neatly into this category with one exception, it appears that unlike the others, his doubters do not exclusively exist outside of Anfield and there are a number of Reds fans who also question his worth. There are some who just have him down as a failed striker and view him as a square peg in a round hole on the right and I’ve even heard some people claim that Rafa only plays him there out of stubbornness! I remember 30-odd years ago when Bob Paisley bought a striker with a big reputation from Arsenal called Ray Kennedy but he never really worked out as a forward for Liverpool. However Paisley saw something in him and eventually converted him into a midfielder. In that position he excelled, became a regular in the England side and regarded as one of the best midfielders in Europe. Paisley was rightly regarded as a genius for this vision and I find it strange all these years later that when Benitez does something similar some people regard him as nothing but pig-headed! I accept the fact that Kuyt was bought predominately as a striker but we all know that the boss has a preference for versatile players and he would have been very well aware that Kuyt could also do a job on the right having previously played there for both club and country. So he can in no way be regarded as a square peg in a round hole. However I’m not saying the guy is perfect and I can understand some of the points that are raised by people on the other side of the argument, but all players have their strengths and weaknesses and Kuyt is no different, but to my mind his strengths far outweigh his weaknesses. He is the embodiment of the oft used expression, “playing for the shirt”, and I can honestly say that I have never seen a player from any era that so consistently puts 100% effort, energy and commitment every time he puts on the shirt. No matter whether he is having a good game or a bad game, his head never drops and he just keeps going. Whether we are playing Barca or Barnet his performance level never drops and he puts so much energy into every game that I sometimes feel bolloxed just watching him! That’s not to say his only value to us is his effort. I think we’ve seen plenty of players at the club in recent years who’s effort couldn’t be questioned but who were simply not good enough. Kuyt’s all-action style is one of his big plus points but he is not just a Durcell bunny that “takes a lickin but keeps on tickin”, I think he is a much better player than people give him credit for. Last season wasn’t one of his best which is understandable considering his Father passed away after losing his battle with cancer and this was bound to have an effect on his form as they were very close. But even so he still managed to score some important goals for us and he showed plenty of bottle to step up and successfully take our two penalties at Goodison Park to give us a 2-1 win. This season his form has looked a lot better and he has been one of our best players in the games we have played so far. Against Standard Liege after almost 120 minutes when the game was about to be decided by the lottery of a penalty shoot-out, many players were already suffering with cramp but when Babel swung over a cross from the left it was Kuyt that was still full of running who finished at the far post to secure our place in the CL. Against the mancs it was Kuyt once again that made a great run in from the right side to pick up the cut-back from Mascherano and slide the ball to Babel to score the winner. At Goodison it was Torres who was the hero for scoring two goals against our little neighbours but he was quick to praise Kuyt for his unselfish running which drew away some of their defenders and created space for Nando to do his thing. When Keane scored his first goal in a Red shirt against PSV, there was a lot made of Torres’s great run and cross from the right as well as Robbie’s great finish. But the fact that Kuyt received the ball when surrounded by four PSV players and not only held on to it but got it to Torres to start that move was largely ignored almost as much as the fact that he scored the opening goal in that game. And of course it was Dirk who was on hand to score the injury-time winner to seal our brilliant 3-2 come-back victory against City in our last game. I know there are some who would prefer to see us have some twinkle-toed South American dancing down the right, but they should be careful what they wish for. Such players may look great in a two minute compilation on You Tube but the reality of a lot of those type of players is often a lot different. Such players can offer an extra bit of quality in attack but often do little or nothing for the team defensively and can unbalance the whole side. I found it telling that when Rafa was recently asked if Robinho was a player that Liverpool might have been looking at, he said no, he is not the kind of player that would have been of interest to us. In Kuyt we have an unselfish team player who does as much work defensively as he does in the attacking third and he suits us just fine. He has scored three goals for us already this season and I’ll wager that barring injury he will finish the season with about 15. That’s not prolific enough for a striker at the top level but for a midfielder it would be a pretty decent haul. If we manage to achieve anything this campaign you can bet that the Flying Dutchman will play a significant role. We should celebrate the fact that we have a player who will always cover every blade of grass and always give it absolutely everything he has every time he pulls on The Red shirt. Dirk Kuyt is a hero and, in the modern game, players like him are as rare as a blond virgin. He is the kind of player we should always want to have in our team and I wish we had a few more like him, but for now I’ll settle for the one we have and I hope that I will see him battling away on our right wing for many years to come. Keep The Faith time saved time saved

this is a ramsey recipe and really nice,only takes about 20mins aswell, got to try the garlic and rosemary chicken next Spaghetti with prawns in a creamy tomato sauce Ingredients 4 Servings • 500g cooked prawns • 600g cherry tomatoes • 2-3 spring onions finely sliced or shredded • 1 chilli, deseeded and chopped • 1 garlic clove, chopped • Sea salt and pepper • 500g dried spaghetti • 1 tbsp olive oil • 100ml double cream • Handful of basil leaves, chopped Method Put the cherry tomatoes, spring onion, chilli, garlic and olive oil in a heavy-based pan and cook over a medium heat until soft but not coloured. Season with pepper and cook until soft. Add the spaghetti to a large pan of boiling salted water with the olive oil and cook until al dente. Meanwhile add the prawns to the sauce and stir in the cream and chopped basil. Warm through gently for a couple of minutes. Drain the pasta and toss with the pasta sauce. Divide between warm plates, Serve immediately.

Suddenly gave me goose pimples of expectation. I'm trying to avoid thinking like this coz my hopes have been dashed too many times

Plus Torres set up Robbie Keane v PSV

Fucking genius - just rinsed my screen with coffee.

The blue kippers version of the match, not at all bitter Saturday 27th September 2008 / Kick Off: 12:45pm (Live on Sky Sports) EVERTON 0 v 2 the shite Att: 39,574 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Everton: Howard, Hibbert, Yobo, Jagielka, Lescott, Neville, Osman , Cahill, Fellaini, Arteta, Yakubu. Bench: Rodwell, Baines, Nuno Valente, Nash, Castillo, Saha (Hibbert 65m), Vaughan Referee: 'Ol Mother Riley I fucking hate Liverpool. Now that I've got that out of the way I'll tell you what happened at the match. Well from Everton's point of view not that much. The first half was a very dull affair. There wasn't a shot on target from any of the players on the pitch in blue or shite. The only real chance was when Tim mis kicked in front of goal as a corner from Mikky found it's way to him. Mar blasted straight at some very ugly shite player on the goal line, but he was pulled up for a foul on the shite goalie. We didn't see much of Everton as an attacking force and the only time Yak had a shot in anger was two minutes before the half. His shot went well wide. When I was reading the papers this morning I was reading about Ferguson's reaction about Riley performance against Chelsea when he booked 7 Manure players when there wasn't really a bad tackle in the game. Ferguson said:'I looked at the Chelsea game and there wasn't a bad tackle in the match. But he's been rewarded, he's got Everton v shite tomorrow. That will be fun and games!' He was quickly into his stride when he booked Fellaini for his first tackle. More was to follow. Half Time: 0-0 Everton just couldn't get going and the only thing you could see was a shite goal. Well on 58 minutes the shite got the break through and 3 minutes later they got a second. Both scored by the shite number 9. We were dead and buried. Moyesy brought on Saha for Tony Hibbert to see if we could get anything from the game. Louis Saha looks a class act and he and the Yak must surely be given the chance to form a scoring partnership. Knobhead Riley made sure he was going to be talked about after the game more than any player on the pitch when he sent off Tim Cahill for a clumsy looking tackle on the shite number 14. He took so much time to send Tim off it makes you wonder if the shite number 8 had a chance to tell Riley what to do. Saha had a great effort just fly past the post in the dying minutes, but in truth Everton were well beaten today. I've given Jags the Bluekipper Star Man because of his effort and never say die attitude. I fucking hate Liverpool Full Time: 0-2

i think i know him

Any need of that ?

And who's that manager ? Who would you pick if you were given the job ?

Rash, out of interest, when you say you would like to see Rafa get one more go, lets just say we come 4th and win the FA cup with a half decent champions league run what would you do. If you sacked Rafa then who do you bring in ? The new guy will want to come in and do things his way. That means his own players which means back to square one where we have to wait at least 2 or 3 years to build the squad he wants coz there aint no bottomless pit where he can buy players like the translator did. The only way we will ever win the league in these modern times is Rafa in my opinion (or DIC come in and spend spend spend) which seems very unlikely. No matter what way you look at it the job in hand is nigh on impossible. The mancs and Chelsea have unlimited cash and that's a very big advantage. I dont think Slur, Wenger, mouriniho or any other manager in the world could just come in and win the title in a couple of seasons.

Backup iPod music to PC copy songs from iPod to computer,iPod to iTunes this is the link i was on about. costs a tenner now but well worth it

I have a program, cost me about a fiver and you can simply upload all songs from your ipod onto it's itunes like interface and then drag them into itunes. I am in work at the moment but will paste the link when I get home. It's pretty cool if you wanted to borrow a mates ipod and help yourself to a selection of his music aswell. Not that I would ever do such a thing obviously.

Can somebody tell me what the Weakness of the 3 - 5 - 2 system is. It seems infallible, 3 CB's plus 2 FB's, 5 in midfield when needed and 2 strikers. I'm sure there must be some coaches who can rip my naivety to shreds. Discussed it down the pub and cant find fault with it but very few teams use it

I agree but there is no reason why they shouldnt be able to do both. Didnt the Mancs have the best defensive record last season ? What he is talking about is turning defending into attack in the blink of an eye. Arsenal were experts at it a couple of years ago. The defence would pick up the ball and in a couple of seconds later either Henry, Pires or whoever were smashing in a goal without resorting to hoofing it the full length of the pitch. Too often in the past we have been guilty of using the "Crouch" ball and hitting it long hoping for something to happen

Questioning Carra is never going to go down well and rightly so. It will be interesting though to see what raffa does. I cant see Sami getting many games but with 3 great CB's at our disposal it would make sense to go with a 3 at the back. Dont think any of the 3 will be satified with being on the bench for any period of time

Its a guy called YorkyKopie but it does sound like Tompkins. I like the idea of a back 3 though. I seem to remember us using it against Newcastle a while ago and absolutely battered them.

So what do people think, this guy does talk a lot of sense and as much as I love JC (I named my son after him) is he likely to be pushed out of the back 4 ? Liverpool have started every season under Rafa with a worse defence than their main rivals. There are several reasons why we haven’t put in a serious title bid in the last four seasons and most of them fall easily off the tongue – lack of money, injuries, lack of depth in the squad, off the field public suicide. But the main reason has been our defence.* I say this in full knowledge that Rafa’s teams have conceded fewer goals than Arsenal (three times) and Man Utd (once). I also know that Pepe Reina (deservedly) has won the Golden Gloves in his first two seasons here. But I’m not talking about blocking attacks, which we’ve been supremely good at. I’m talking about our relative inability to attack from the back. Unlike the other three we have been poor at creating plays from the defence. This season, hopefully, things will be very different. This season our defence might become an effective first line of attack. The theory There is, of course,* an old-fashioned view in football that the prime job of the back-4 is to defend. If there’s anything left over after the opposition striker has been shimmied off the ball or the winger bundled into touch, then that’s very nice. But only in the sense that the packaging on a birthday present is very nice. You can do without it. Well, this idea may have been valid a few years ago in English football when a centre-back was judged purely on his ability to clear his lines and marshal the offside plan (Eye-Ore!), but not anymore. Today the job of the back-4 is to do both – to defend and attack. A successful back-4 has to be able defend and attack equally well and to switch between the two without pausing, taking a mental breather, or acquiring an alien mind-set. This means everybody. If a single part of the unit is not happy on the ball that simply increases the burden on the others and reduces the potency of the whole. In the modern game defenders spend a longer time with the ball at their feet than anyone else in the team. It’s a crime if they can’t use that time to cause the opposition problems. A back-4 of Finnan-Carragher-Hyypia-Riise could be heroic in defence. It often was. But ask it to attack and you could almost see the thought-bubbles full of agonised question marks floating free from the players’ skulls.* The tradition We know what it takes at Liverpool because we’ve had what it takes. We developed creative defences far earlier than anyone else in England. Cloughie’s teams – especially the Derby one – could be creative at the back but it was Liverpool who possessed a near-monopoly of defenders who took their offensive duties seriously. Thompson, Smith, Hughes, Lawrenson, Gillespie and – of course – the great Alan Hansen. Hansen often jokes today that he never crossed the half-way line. First of all that’s not true. Jocky sometimes carried the ball at high speed into the opposition penalty area where more often than not he’d bump into four or five unmarked attackers queuing up to shoot. But even in his later years, when the knees had gone, Hansen could still attack from the back. A skilful centre back, as Agger has repeatedly shown, doesn’t have to move a great distance with the ball to delete two opponents from the game and set up an attack. He just has to do it quickly. On the wings, too, we’ve had entrepreneurial full-backs. Lawler, Nicol, Neal, the criminally underrated Lindsay and the long-lamented Rob Jones. Rolls-Royce footballers in unglamorous positions, they were key to whatever success the teams they played in enjoyed. What other right-back has turned up in open play in an inside-left position to put a team 1-0 ahead in the European Cup final? For that matter what other left-back has blasted his way into the penalty box to fire his team 1-0 ahead in a European Cup final? The answer to both, of course, is our full-backs, Zico and Barney – players of varying talent, I think, but both holding a similar belief that the team they played for was flexible and ingenious enough to cover for an inspired moment’s walkabout. The inheritance I admire what Rafa has achieved with our defence since 2004. Under Houllier the back-4 was valiant but it was not equipped for the modern game – especially in Europe. Even when Liverpool had the ball the defence was square! I mean, what better way than a square defence for saying to a colleague “for Christ’s sake don’t pass the thing to me”? Rafa changed all that. He staggered the defence when we had possession. He took an inadequate full-back and made the best centre-back stopper in the world out of Carragher. He freed up big Sam’s game and allowed him to try and work his way out of a problem rather than just whack the ball up the field all the time (something that Houllier seemed to have red-lined ever since Henchoz once screwed up at White Hart Lane). He made a European-Cup winner out of the lamentable Riise and he turned Finnan into the marauding right-back he’d once been at Fulham. But it was still not enough. Not enough to win the league anyway. That back-4 made a great defence, but it was not an attack. Not by a long way. The competition I don’t want to dwell too much on the others. We can briefly admire them, especially the full backs. Evra, Clichy, Sagna, Ashley Cole (Christ, I said it) – all of them add such attacking dynamism to their teams. The centre backs too are, on the whole, quick with the ball and happy to have it at their feet. Carvalho, in particular, is a master at turning defensive play into an attacking play in a blink of an eye. We saw in the Euros how some of the most eye-catching players were positioned at full-back. Boswinga, Zhirkov, Lahm, Ramos, even van Bronckhurst – all of them (apart from maybe Lahm) did well at the back. But mainly they did well in attack, stretching play, frequently getting beyond their own ‘wingers’, always looking to drive into the opposition half. I don’t know if it was Guus Hidddink who pioneered this style of full-back play but he certainly perfected it – at South Korea, PSV, and now Russia. And not one of his full backs, at any of these teams, was an established star. The future Clearly Rafa has made the full-back positions his priority over the summer. Both Degen and Dossena are meant to be attacking full backs with plenty of pace – men who think about the offensive side of their game as much as the defensive. Degen, it’s even been said by Dortmund fans, isn’t that much of a defender (something he seemed a bit too keen to prove against Lucerne) – a fact that Rafa seems uncharacteristically blasé about at the moment. It’s possible, of course, that Degen will end up being Kuyt’s understudy on the right of midfield rather than a proper right-back, but I doubt it. It’s more likely that he and Arbeloa will be vying for the number 2 spot.* Spain’s squad player versus Switzerland’s squad player. It ought to be no contest. We’ll see. Dossena looks a safer bet and comes with a reputation for having elite pace. I like the sound of that. If Babel continues on the left hand side then we shall need a left full-back who can attack that area on the wing that Babel always vacates when he’s running with the ball. This is a great opportunity for the Italian lad. My guess is that a lot of opposition right-backs will have a wretched time against the Babel-Dossena combo this year. I’m a Fabio Aurelio fan. He sees passes, especially infield passes, that other full-backs fail to spot. But, as always with Fabio, he’s likely to prove more of a handful for the physicians than the footballers. And then the centre backs. I think Rafa will soon have to make the hardest decision of his coaching career. We now have four excellent centre-backs – all of them with proven ability, all of them keen to play. No one likes to rotate centre-halves. It’s not done. Barring injuries, therefore, Rafa will probably end up with a consistent centre-back pairing for the league. Who will be in it? I said earlier that “if a single part of the unit is not happy on the ball that simply increases the burden on the others and reduces the potency of the whole”. For that reason I would look to play Agger and Skrtel. For me they are the best centre backs we possess. They are both quick, decisive and positionally aware. They both recycle the ball quickly when they get it. They are the most attack-minded centre-back pairing we have and may quite easily turn out to be the best in the Premier League. They are also both at a stage in their careers where they will be wanting regular first-team football. Treading water at this point in their careers is no good at all – especially for Agger who’s already missed out on a whole season of football. Agger’s ability to attack space with the ball is already famous. He knows it’s a crime to dawdle even if there’s bags of time, and he has the pace to make for a gap in the opposition’s front line if he’s invited in. He’s also the consummate ‘picture-changer’. If nothing appears on in front of him, Agger is happy to move a few yards with the ball (rapidly) to see whether the picture is different from somewhere else. That’s when gaps open up and that’s why Liverpool are able to build quickly from the back when Agger plays. Of course Agger and Skrtel have yet to play together. It’s possible that there’ll be absolutely no rapport between them. But that’s highly unlikely. My own guess is that Skrtel, because of his similar ability to move with the ball at his feet, will actually make things a lot easier for Agger – pretty much as Lawrenson made things easier for Hansen. When you get two centre backs who have the ability to carry the ball it doesn’t half make things difficult for the opposition attack. You can’t sit back and let them come on to you – as teams do with Carragher and Hyypia – because they’ll just keep coming forward at pace. Instead of the floated nothing-ball into a crowded forward area you’ll probably end up with an extra, unmarked, man joining the attack at high speed. That’s usually fatal. Of course I feel like a regicide in relegating Carragher. Carragher is the King of the Kop. The player who has most defined Rafa’s first age at Anfield. But there are two reasons why he might not play such a prominent role in the second age. Firstly, he’s already playing to the maximum of his ability. He has been for several years. But with wear and tear – and let’s face it Carra has acquired a hell of a lot of it over the years – he’s now straining to keep in touch with the standards he’s set himself. Jamie is the sort of defender who, even at the peak of his powers, was all about stretching that extra impossible yard to nick the ball away or block a shot. Some of the blocks he produced echoed round the football world. Like the one against Robben in the first Semi at Anfield or the cramp-defying block in extra time in the Final. They were miraculous. But Jamie is all about driving the machine to the extreme – he was so good, at his peak, because he left nothing in reserve. So the question is ‘what happens when Carragher can no longer push himself to these physical limits?’ A long time ago a similar all-action defender, Emlyn Hughes, held the European Cup aloft twice in two years. Twelve months later a kid called Hansen had nicked his place. It happens. The second reason why Jamie might lose his automatic spot is to do with the back-4 as an attacking unit. Jamie does dawdle on the ball when he gets it. He cannot run into the gaps and once he’s stopped he finds it difficult to start again. Rather than attack open space and dishevel the* opposition Carra prefers to wait for Alonso or Mascherano to come back and start the attack themselves. This means we often start moves with 5 or 6 men already behind the ball. No wonder our wingers have such a thin time of it. No defender is better suited to a siege than Carragher. No question about that. When Liverpool are under the cosh for most of the match, defending deep, you want him in your side. But with the team – hopefully – playing more in the opponent’s half this season, and with a high line, his qualities are a bit less important.* And what of Sami? Until Skrtel found his groove I thought he was our best defender last season. But I don’t think Hyypia responds well to rotation either. He can take an age – sometimes 4 or 5 games – to get up to speed once he’s a missed a few. That’s no good for a centre back. You either give Sam the lion’s share of the games or you use him in an emergency. So I’m excited by what lies ahead. I honestly don’t think that any of our other main rivals have such an obvious way of improving as we do. If the boys can inject more pace and adventure into our defensive unit then the whole team will begin to change character. If the ball gets recycled quicker then there will be more space and time for players like Babel and…..whoever ends up on the right-wing.* But I don't want to fly that kuyt.*

I'd like to think Rafa will give both of them chance to impress. Hopefully they will both turn into awesome players, both bringing different talents. Obviously being from Hungary, you want Nemeth to succeed but the bigger picture is whats best for LFC

What does that prove ? Nemeth may or may not be better but there is no point in slating a new player until you have seen him play for us at least a dozen times so you can form an opinion on him.

Exactly, why as Liverpool fans would you rip into a young kid who wants to play for us. OK if he turns out to be useless then ship him out, If he turns out to be a fucking waster ie Kewell, Le Tellec and has no interest in being here other than to pick up massive wages for fuck all then feel free to tear him a new arsehole

A bit harsh, give the lad a chance at least. The worst that could happen is we break even on him after a year. On the other hand he could turn out to be a decent player and we either keep him or make a bundle. Look at Voronin, cost us fuck all except wages and will hopefully bring in 3 mil

The main problem seems to be you DO talk shite. Some of it so bad that it could only be deemed as a wind up. Your comment about wanting to sign Veron rather than Barry springs to mind. You cant serriously believe that which is why people get pissed off

Spot on

You say that but take the 6 points the Mancs took off us and add them to our total and we would have been 1 point ahead of them in the league if I'm not mistaken

Pure genius. Loved the way she thought a towel would be an effective weapon against a rock hard David Hasslehoff.