Bleacher Report - Articles by Dafydd Wood

Dirk Kuyt: Constantly Underestimated

Dafydd Wood — Sat, 23 May 2009 03:57:45 -0400

Something that has really started to annoy me recently is the attitude people have towards Dirk Kuyt.

He is automatically branded as a "hard-worker" a credit that is obviously true, however all too often his technical ability and contribution to the team are overlooked.

Last season, he scored three league goals, obviously unhappy playing down the right wing, a position he was unused to. This season however, he has adapted superbly, contributing 15 goals for Liverpool, 12 of which have come in the Premiership.

This puts him ninth in the top scorers table, above the likes of Frank Lampard, Wayne Rooney, Emmanuel Adebayor, and most importantly in the context of the transfer season, Carlos Tevez.

Tevez and Kuyt have been compared ad nauseum recently, both hard workers, both loyal to the club and fans, however Tevez constantly comes out on top as more technically gifted and better infront of goal.

Tevez himself has made exactly the same number of appearances this season as Kuyt has made for Liverpool (50), scoring in the process, wait for it... 15 goals, exactly the same number as Kuyt, even though Tevez plays as a striker for arguably the best side in the world, and Kuyt is playing only his second season at right midfield.

Add to this Kuyt's famous effort and industry, plus the number of assists he has from crosses into the area, and there is no way that it can be argued that all Kuyt offers is hard work.

When it comes to technical ability, Kuyt's first touch is perfection. I cannot count the number of times this season I've watched him bring down a long ball from Alonso or Gerrard in one movement, flicking it down the line and beating his man before delivering a ball into the box.

As for scoring, no one can say his scissor kick to take all three points against Wigan was anything but wonderful.

Now people may say that I'm going over the top, that there is no way he is better than Tevez, or that there are plenty of right wingers who could do a better job. But I think that a bit of celebration and praise is exactly what a man who is constantly willing to step back from the lime light needs.

It's about time that people saw Dirk Kuyt for what he is, so much more than just a hard worker, one of the best players in the Premiership.

Refereeing Nonsense Leaves Mascherano Out For Quarter Final Clash

Dafydd Wood — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 10:43:02 -0400

Over the last couple of weeks I've been quite looking forward to Liverpool vs Chelsea. Our performances against The Blues this season have been very solid, and that coupled with our recent Premiership form and our constant European prowess had all led to me being quietly confident that I would be watching a Liverpool vs Bayern Munich/ Barcelona semi-final in a few weeks time.

That is untill I saw the article on F365 today, reminding me about one of the worst refereeing decisions I've seen in this or any other season, one that left me fuming at the time it occured, but which I had forgotten about during the last three incredible weeks.

In the 43rd minute of our 4-0 demolition of Real Madrid, Xabi Alonso tripped Pepe a few yards outside of the Liverpool penalty area. Now having watched the replay multiple times, I can guarantee you that Mascherano clears the ball, something any player would have done, at exactly the same time as the referee blows his whistle for the foul. It was a blatant trip, Liverpool were 2-0 up, Mascherano has been much more composed this season than he has been previously, there is simply no explanation as to why he would have kicked the ball away. On top of this, the referee could be seen to count up on his fingers the 1, 2, 3, 4 previous fouls that Alonso, not Mascherano had committed, before booking the Argentinian captain. The commentators were left bemused, as were I, the whole of Anfield and Mascherano himself, who pleaded his innocence with the referee.

Despite the fact that it was clearly a case of mistaken identity, Mascherano remains suspended for Wednesday night's clash, probably to be replaced by Lucas, who on current form is at best capable, and at worst a serious liability.

Now to the point. Firstly, I don't know one football fan who would claim that Lucas is in anywhere the same league as Mascherano, especially in the role of defensive midfield, one which will be decisive tomorrow night as he will be marking Frank Lampard, Chelsea's best player, second top scorer and talisman.

Fair enough people claim that Liverpool do not have the depth to replace a player like Mascherano, what club does? But the fact that we've lost such a crucial player, in such a crucial match, to such a ridiculous decision, will make anything other than victory very hard to swallow, especially if Lampard plays a deciding role in the game.

And secondly, the referee that night was Frank De Bleeckere from Belgium. Now I realise that it's necessary to have neutral referee's in competitions as big as the Champions League, but surely it is also as important to have match officials with experience of controlling big games on a weekly basis. If Serie A referee's officiated games involving English and Spanish teams, Premiership ref's got French and German teams, La Liga officials were given Italian and Portugese sides etc then I think it is highly likely that situations such as this would arise less often.

Where Do Liverpool Go from Here?

Dafydd Wood — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 18:00:03 -0500

As a Liverpool fan I am very dissapointed, I think it's fair enough to conceed that our chances of winning the title are now very slim.

Were I a Chelsea or Man U fan, I would currently be writing an article entitled, "Why the referee not giving us a blatant penalty for handball against Dunne cost us the title", or slagging off the players and managers of the opposition team, however seeing as I am a level headed person and like Rafa "I deal with the facts", I won't be doing that. :P

When looking at the bigger picture, this season has been a vast improvement on pretty much any of the last 18. I think that if we had been told we would be in our current position, at the begining of the season most Liverpool fans would have been okay with it.

At least we didn't fade out before January this time, and we've maintained a much stronger challenge than Chelsea or Arsenal.

The problem is why we're in this position, and where we go from here.

Firstly the "why":

When you compare Liverpool's home record this season to Man U's, the difference is clear. Liverpool have now drawn six and won seven at Anfield, while United have drawn just one and won 12 at Old Trafford. For a team looking to contend for the title, this is simply not good enough.

Yet again this season, Liverpool have risen magnificently to the big occassions, beating Man U without Gerrard or Torres and doing the double over Chelsea, while they've slumped to draws with lower-mid table opposition such as Stoke and Fulham, who we should be putting 3 or 4 past, especially at home.

It's hard not to find yourself thinking what if. What if Robbie Keane had just buried that chance against Stoke, or that Gerrard free kick had been just a couple of inches lower against West Ham and what about that 2-1 loss to Tottenham away?
All those chances that went begging after Kuyt put us ahead, including hitting the wood-work three times...Those points would be making all the difference now.

Then, more importantly, the "where":

Of course, we are still very much in the Champions League, a tournament we boast the best record in Britain in. Our opponents Real Madrid have failed to get past the last 16 over the last four years, a very poor record indeed when compared to ours over the same period (one win, one runner-up, one semi-final, and one last 16).

Yes Madrid are on a brilliant run in La Liga at the moment, but so were Juventus and Chelsea in their respective leagues in 2005, and that didn't stop us.

Looking ahead to next season, the main barrier between us reaching the standard of United is the same problem analysts and pundits have been identifying for the last couple of years, the depth of our squad.

In players like Possebon, Rafael and Anderson, Manchester have genuinely talented young players coming through the ranks, who's youth and energy, when integrated with the experience and leadership of the previous generation of Giggs, Scholes, and Neville can be easily deployed to allow for Ronaldo, Berbatov, Carrick, and co. to be rested.

When you look at Liverpool's options, we have Lucas, top scorer in the Brazilian league and Brazil U21 captain before we purchased him, but who could maybe do with a loan spell in a foreign league with a lower tempo in order to gain experience.

We have David N'Gog, a proven goal scorer at every level of the French youth team and we have players like Jay Spearing and Steven Derby, the next generation of local lads, youth FA cup and reserve league winners.

On paper, the Liverpool youngsters look much more dangerous, however in practice, Man U are the only premiership team, including Arsenal, who have a set of young players currently capable of making the transition to the first team.

Next there are players like Yossi Benayoun, Andrea Dossenna, and Philip Degen who are simply not good enough to replace the first choices, Albert Riera, Fabio Aurelio, and Alvaro Arbeloa.

So we have young players not ready to make the step up, second choices not good enough to do the job and then the final category. This category contains players like Daniel Agger and Ryan Babbel, who although they have proven they are more than capable, are the victims of Rafa finally dropping his rotation policy.

Agger was not even included on the bench today, and it is highly likely that he will be leaving at the end of the season.

When you step back and look at all of these factors, the one thing they have in common is they all lead back to the manager.

I am a huge fan of Rafael Benitez, but while he has not had nearly as much time as his United couterpart so it would be unfair to compare them, he is too prone to infuriating substitutions, maddening starting elevens and ridiculous tactics (one that has particularly annoyed me this season is his insistence that we take every corner short, then pass it back to the taker, who consequently gets caught offside and a perfectly good chance is squandered).

He also seems incredibley impatient with players like Peter Crouch, Jermaine Pennant and, of course, Robbie Keane, who are too often not given enough of a chance before being sold, while going out and wasting money on a very long list of players, summed up by the purchase of Andrea Dossenna, £7 million for THAT?! we should have just kept Riise.

My point, which I know I've taken a while to get to, is that while we are making progress, it seems to be so painstakingly slow, I would go as far as saying that the only beneficial addition to our squad we made last summer was Riera.

Next summer no doubt we will improve again, hopefully Ronaldo will take his posing, diving, ferrari crashing (and match winning wonder goals) to Real Madrid, I don't see Chelsea threatening next year, their squad is aging, they'll be managerless come the summer, and Roman's Rubles have dried up in the credit crunch, so hopefully we can close the gap again.

The truth of the matter is that it took Ferguson seven years to bring the title to Old Trafford, four years in, chants of "Fergie out" could be heard around the stadium, but the club stuck with him, and he eventually delivered.

Rafa may have won more in his initial years than Ferguson, and as United did, I say that we stand by him, but unfortuantely at this rate, there is no reason why we won't have to wait just as long for the Rafalution to bring the Premiership to Liverpool.

Hamilton Keeps His Cool As The Iceman Freezes Up

Dafydd Wood — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 02:43:28 -0400

With four laps left of the Belgian Grand Prix, I was waiting for the articles about how Hamilton makes mistakes under pressure, and therefore threw away what should have been a comfortable win after his first lap spin.

However, just two laps later, it was "The Iceman" Kimi Raikkonen who had failed to keep his car on the track in ever-worsening conditions as the heavens opened above Spa - Francorchamps. Despite being much more experienced than Lewis, it was he who panicked after being overtaken at the second attempt by the young McLaren driver towards the end of a largely uneventful race. Pushing his car too hard and running wide twice, before skidding into the barrier.

"Raikkonen seemed to lose his cool no question about it. Hamilton hunted him down and it was Raikkonen who cracked. I think Ferrari have to start saying this is the end of his title challenge now." BBC Radio 5 Analyst.

Admittedly Raikkonen's error was largely down to the terrible conditions, however this provides more evidence for the Hamilton-haters, that Lewis's success has not purely been down to the fact that he is in a great car. On the same set of tires, under the same conditions it was Lewis who came out on top, before edging his car home on a track that had become incredibly slippery. His joy was visible as he crossed the line in first place, leaving himself eight points clear of Massa with five races to go.

Keane Set For The Kop

Dafydd Wood — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 01:20:36 -0400

Liverpool are expected to complete the £18 million signing of striker Robbie Keane from Tottenham within the next 24 hours. It is believed Rafael Benitez completed the final stages of his negotiations with the 28-year-old over the weekend.

The former Wolves, Coventry, Inter Milan and Leeds striker underwent a medical on Monday making it possible that his transfer could be completed in time for him to debut for The Red's in a friendly against Villareal in Spain on Wednesday.

Keane is rumoured to have signed a five-year deal worth about £80,000 per week, which would keep him at Anfield until he is 33.

Can Rafa Ever Win The Premiership?

Dafydd Wood — Sun, 25 May 2008 01:08:57 -0400

No matter what your opinion of Rafael Benitez, there is no denying he is a great tactician. Against some of the best sides in the world, Arsenal, Chelsea, AC and Inter Milan, Juventus and Barcelona, he has guided Liverpool to victory using a careful balance of tactics and grim determination.

How is it then that week in week out against much lesser opposition in the Premier League, Rafa seems tactically inept, bringing off Steven Gerrard against Everton and resting Fernando Torres for a large part of the 1st half of the season. Some may argue that it was the rest he got in the early stages of the season that allowed El Nino to tear up defences so easily in the later stages, others believe that had he been played more regularly at the begining, Liverpool may not have found themselves out of the title race by Christmas.

It seems to me that if you're there or there abouts in the title race at Christmas, the players tend to try and hang on, fighting till the end, it takes much more to save yourself till the 2nd half of the season and then try and drag yourself back into the running. Could it simply be that Rafa lacks the motivation in the small games that he has when he is taking on one of the big guns? After all there are far less gracious headlines for beating Blackburn at Anfield then for taking down Inter Milan.

Personally, I think that Rafa has the knowledge and ability to bring the Premiership to Anfield if he is given the funds to do so, and uses them to purchase the right players. A good partner for Torres upfront, someone to compete with Ryan Babel for a place on the right wing, and another option when Pennant isnt playing on the left. However with the way things are going in the board room at the moment, Liverpool fans are left questioning whether the Hicks and Gillett will put aside their personal feud long enough to agree on the backing Rafa needs to take the team forwards, or will we see another summer of average signings, bringing in more Craig Bellamy's or Yossi Benayon's...

So sadly in the end it all comes down to money, if Rafa had enough then resting Torres wouldn't matter, as we would have 2 or 3 other equally world class options, as with Chelsea, Shevchenko, Kalou, Drogba, Anelka. If the owners provide the backing, then I really believe Rafa will provide the silverware and be remembered as a hero, however if the money is not there, then this could well end up being Rafa's farewell season on merseyside, remembered as the man for the big games, a sort of Luis Garcia of the managerial world.