Dirk Kuyt reckons that him and Torres are at the start of a beautiful relationship after yesterday’s opening Premiership victory over Aston Villa.
In news that Peter Crouch may find hard to take, Dirk was bigging up Torres and himself as the main Liverpool strike force.
“I thought that Fernando played well. We had some good chances and we looked good together,” said Kuyt.
“The first goal was an own goal but the team work between the two of us leading up to it was really good.
“Now we will just try to work on things and keep going in the right direction.
“It’s his first time in the Premier League but I don’t think he will need too long a time to adjust. Every player needs a few games when they come in but he has shown already some quality.
“With a bit of luck he could have scored his first goal for Liverpool. He is real quality.”
Well done Rob….with your skills you might want to get a job with the staff:-)
Dirk Kuyt is spot on, he and Torres looked excellent together and for a brand new partnership playing their first competitive game together, it was quite remarkable and testament to Rafa’s coaching skills during the pre-season work together.
Crouch has had two seasons to prove himself the best striker at the club and over that time he HAS done quite well. However, he has not shown himself to be good at partnering any individual. He never really clicked with Kuyt last season despite them getting 32 goals between them. It often looked like they didn’t know what the other was doing.
The way Kuyt ran on and rescued the ball to turn it back and force pressure onto Villa which led to an own goal was testament to his amazing hard work and also his almost telepathic understanding of the direction that Torres was taking. They showed this in other areas of the game too and without doubt will be the top two strikers at the club this season.
That is hardly surprising but is by no means the end for Crouchie. He has a major role to play and will be used by Rafa as we know he does not like to wear out his players when there are alternative quality players who can come in and do the business. Not even Torres will play every game, nor should he.
We have played just one game so this is no time to be making predictions. After all, despite winning the game from a stunning free kick by Captain Fantastic, we won 2-1 without scoring a goal from open free play. We had plenty of chances to leave Villa dead and buried…. but where have we heard that before?
Babel looked superb when he came on and was unlucky not to score within a minute. He will be extremely valuable if he keeps that up.
All in all, it was a great start to our season, we just need to press that home by getting a result next week against Chelsea. I know a draw would be considered acceptable but I’d like to see us push for a solid win and make a clear declaration of intent for this season.
Cheers,
Rob