Liverpool player watch: European Championship

Group stage:

Final round of matches: Ukraine 0 England 1

Steven Gerrard: The irrepressible England Captain has led by example being not just a minder in a defensive sense using his experience, but as has shown a penchant for being the creative force in the team which has always being part of his DNA (he has three assists from England’s five goals).  Listening to him and watching him there seems to be an air calmness about his play and his press conferences which he has transmitted to the team.  The following comments show how much respect there is out for the Liverpool talisman:

"I think myself and Stevie have clicked really well this tournament. We're well organised. I know his game pretty well now and I'm sure he knows mine. We give the team a good base to work from, and hopefully we can maintain that.
 
"Stevie is one of the best midfielders in the world. That's been the case for many years and he's been the best in the Premier League.

"We lost some big players who had to drop out through injury like Frank and Gareth, which was disappointing.
 
"But myself and Stevie have taken on the challenge and hopefully we can carry on."
 Scott Parker

"Gerrard has always been my idol and he's a player who's been at the top level of the game for 10 years."

"Gerrard is the symbol of their team, he has been playing for 10 years. Gerrard is the symbol of this 'universal' player because he can play well in defence and in attack,"
Daniele De Rossi

"Steven's delivery has been exceptional in this tournament. He's a world-class player and I thought tonight he was really brilliant. He drove us on at times. We're lucky to have a player like that in the team."
Wayne Rooney

"You've got to single Steven out. I think to some extent he's been our man of the match in every match, it was a captain's performance,"
 Roy Hodgson

“He’s been absolutely phenomenal,” he said. “For ten years or more, he has been the catalyst for everything at Liverpool, and it is the same with England at the moment. He has been fantastic.
“We all know what a sensational player he is, and how influential he has been for club and country. His performances over the last couple of weeks have simply reiterated that.

“The scary thing is, I don’t think he has even hit top form yet! If he is playing his B-game at the moment, then how good will he be when he hits his A-game?

“He has had to be a little bit more defensive because of the way England play, with the 4-4-2 system and the rigid organisation, but he is popping up everywhere, in defence and attack. As captain, he leads by example, and you can’t ask for more than that. His work rate is unbelievable.”

“There should not have been a debate, end of,” he said. “He is everything you want in a footballer, and in a captain. He has shown that for ten years or more with Liverpool, and with England.

“Italy won’t be an easy game, nobody is saying it will be. But they are not unbeatable. And if Steven can continue the form he has shown in the first three games, and maybe even step it up another level, which I think he can do, then he could be the difference between success and failure.
“That’s how important he is to his country.”
Terry McDermott

Gerrard in full cry (Image: Indian Express)

Glen Johnson: Another impressive display by the England right-back, who is showing a level of defensive maturity which has been absent from his game until this point.  While the much maligned James Milner diligence in covering allows him to get up the pitch, Johnson has not gone forward with reckless abandoned and has settled in as part of the defensive unit which has been the key component in helped England qualify as group winners.

Jordan Henderson: Unused substitute
 
Andy Carroll: Replaced Danny Welbeck on 82 minutes and once again looked assured of touch and won a defensive header to clear his lines.  Looks a totally different beast to the player flitting in and out of the Liverpool team during last season.

Stewart Downing:  Unused substitute in all three games

Martin Kelly: Finally overcoming illness to take his place on the substitutes bench.

Andriy Voronin: Unused substitute. After his listless display against France, Vorinin was a spectator and we may just be seeing time called on what has been a very good international career.
 
Holland 1 Portugal 2
Dirk Kuyt: Unused substitute.  His team ethic and willingness to run for lost causing was missed by the Dutch who ultimately blew a gasket in explosive fashion.  Even Spain with the likes of Sergio Busquets needs its road runners and Kuyt has proven an invaluable asset over the years to club and county alike
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Croatia 0 Spain 1
Pepe Reina: Unused substitute.
 
Denmark 1 Germany 2
Daniel Agger: Another herculean performance by Denmark’s captain who only just failed to drive his country through to the quarter-finals.  The tournament could be the turning point in his career as he now appears to be at his peak.

Liverpool player watch: European Championship

By David (dedlfc)

England vs Sweden Very good 3-2 win vs one of England's bogey teams Sweden

Glen Johnson - Had a very good game apart from playing the Swedes onside for their first goal. His anticipation and interceptions throughout the game was very impressive. Prouduced the key short pass to Walcott before his lightning rod run sent up the final goal for Welbeck

Steven Gerrard - Absolutely inspirational in the first half was by far the best player in the first 45 mins and capped it all off with a delicious cross from deep midfield for his LFC team-mate Carroll to score a bullet header. Showed he running power was unimpaired when in the dying moments of the match bombing on and volleying against the goal-keeper.

Andy Carroll - His continued confidence from the end of the season showed especially in the first half when he latched on to a brilliant cross from his club  and country captain Stevie G to score a stunning header to give England a deserved lead. He's hold up play has noticeably improved since he began to play more regular and it's obvious to most that he just a one-trick pony with level of confidence and strength of character having stepped up another level.

Martin Kelly - Unused sub but nice to know he was at least available on the bench

Jordan Henderson - Unused sub not required this game as Hodgson kept the Gerrard/Parker axis in midfield for the full game.

Daniel Agger - His performance was deserving of at least a draw against Portugal where his continuation of form reached new heights.  He was simply magnificent defending as if he life depended it on it, producing clearance after clearance in critical moments.  If he had been the last defender during Portugal's final goal then Denmark may just be feeling a tad more confident going into the last game.

Pepe Reina - Unused substitute

Andiy Vorinin - Unable to help pressurise the French defence as he done in the previous game against Sweden.  Had a very poor game so much so, that Debuchy, the French right-back, had him 'in his pocket' and he was unable to link up with his erstwhile partner in crime Shevchenko.  He was unceremoniously 'hooked' at start of the second half.

Liverpool Player Watch: European Championship

Group Stage:
First round games

Netherlands v Denmark
Daniel Agger – As part of an inspirational team performance he was magnificent.  He showed how great he is at reading the game by making timely interceptions. His clearing defensive headers showed a Martin Skrtelesque quality and as usual was dangerous at set pieces.  That the Dutch had 28 attempts on goal is neither here nor there as Liverpool fans no full well.

This is the kind of performance which has Liverpool supporters hope and praying Agger can go a full season without injury as it proves he is not just a skilful football, but can defend with the best of the them.

Dirk Kuyt – The recently departed Liverpool favourite entered the fray 5 minutes from the end of normal time. Apart from an over hit long ball which was easily claimed by the Danish keeper Andersen and daisy cutter of a cross which was easily cut out, he found it difficult to impose himself in the time remaining, but as usual showed a willingness to run for lost causes.

Spain v Italy
Pepe Reina – The irrepressible Spaniard as expected warmed the bench and handled the drinks bottle expertly.
England v France

Steven Gerrard – Became only the fifth England player to play in three European Championships and led by example. Made 7 tackles, the most in the game and covered 10,474 metres only bettered by James Milner and Nasri. Strangely, assigned the deep lying holding role with Parker given licence to roam further forward.  His passing was not at its majestic best, loosing the ball a couple of times in dangerous and managing to atone for his mistakes.  Although, he delivered a couple of vintage long range passes, one which if Ashley Young had collected would’ve put him through to drive goal wards.

He may feel his attempt to block Nasri’s goal bound shot could have been more front on, but all in all his effort could not be faulted.


Worryingly, with the England set up as it is both Gerrard and Parker will have to get through a prodigious amount of work and it may well be that Hodgson will have to get Ashley Young to drop back to link the midfield Welbeck or even push Gerrard further forward in a more attacking role as England need to be more adventurous in their remaining game. He possesses the attacking and creativity bent to drive England and set free the wingers and Welbeck against Sweden and beyond.

Jordan Henderson – Replaced Parker with 23 minutes to go and as such was allocated a containment role which he did manfully.

Glen Johnson – England’s Man of The Match.  Thought to be the weak link in England’s back line, but snuffed out the much vaunted Ribery .  Nipped in brilliantly to intercept as Benzema lined up to bulge the net  and excelled going forward giving the team an extra dimension it so badly needed.  Of his 45 passes, 39 were accurate (87 per cent) and 18 of which were forward passes.  If his colleagues matched or improved his passing percentage England may just have eased the pressure they were under in the later part of the first half and the first period of the second.

Andy Carroll and Stewart Downing: Unused substitutes

Martin Kelly – Not picked.

Others:

Andriy Voronin - As a double-act with Shevchenko he has always looked a class act and looked as sharp as a razor cut against Sweden, dovetailing with the master poacher and almost finished off a smart move when his drive was parried away.  Just a shame he failed to show that kind of conviction for the reds often appearing to be carrying a bit of timber.  He may justifiably claim to have not have been given enough game time to get acclimatised to the British game.

DIRK KUYT: MAN OF THE PEOPLE

The new era under Rodgers Brendan  has begun.  Unbelievably England will be lead by Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard to the European Championship campaign accompanied by Stewart Downing, Glen Johnson, Jordan Henderson, Andy Carroll and now with the unfortunate injury to Gary Cahill following Saturday's International, Martin Kelly makes it just over 25 per cent of the squad made up by Liverpool Football Club players which is a proud moment for the club.  Craig Bellamy's inclusion as an overaged player in the Great Britain Olympic squad is the icing on the cake.
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As proud a moment as the multi-representation will be, sadly as always happens at the end of season players move on.  Yesterday saw Dirk Kuyt move to Fernerbache for a reputed £800,000 signing a three year contract.  At almost 32 years old, with Rodgers looking to create room and a new style of play, its unlikely the LFC board would be willing to sanction long contracts for  players of his age barring the captain.

Dirk Kuyt is a players player.  He may not possess the explosive power of Steven Gerrard, the majesty of Lionel Messi or the subtlety of Xavi, but what he has in abundance is the heart of lion.  The are some who see him as a journeyman, but only a player and a supporter appreciates his contribution to the cause and knows the value of this archetypal team player.

He played in a variety of positions for the club having entered the fray as striker in the 2006/07 season joining from Feyenoord for £10 million.

Kuyt had a very bad habit which most players would kill for.  His knack of scoring goals important matches was evident in the 2007/08 season when his 7 goals in the Champions League propelled Liverpool to a semi-final against Chelsea.  And not forgetting his goal in the previous season’s final against AC Milan and the winning penalty in the semi-final shootout.  One of my ouststanding memories was an Arsenal fan saying to me after Kuyt's hat-trick against Man United in March of the 2011 season that he was really happy because of his never say die attitude.  The reason why the memory lived so poignantly with me is because the player’s very attitude is a direct contradiction to that of Arsenal’s creatively slick play and the fact that Arsenal were going through another winless season and fingers were being pointed about their attitude.

Liverpool’s owe the player a huge debt for his cameo performance in the 2012 Carling Cup Final.  His direct style almost forced a win in extra-time when Liverpool’s stop-start performance looked in danger of losing us the game.  He went on to clinically dispatch his spot-kick.  Kuyt was adept at taking penalties as he proved in a Merseyside Derby against Everton at Goodison in the 2007/08 season scoring two penalties in a 2-1 win.

There are many more talented players than Kuyt, but skill doesn’t make a player it’s mental attitude and he is very rarely bettered in that that discipline or department.  He has been a permanent fixture in the Dutch squad almost  since his debut in 2004 and given their technical excellence this takes some doing.  It is this attitude that made him cult hero at Liverpool is the same mould of Sami Hyypia and during his time at Anfield, his cover of the full-backs was often understated.

Journeyman do not pull off as many big moments as he did for our club.  Kuyt  scored 51 Premiership goals in 208 appearances (71 in 286 in all games)  and has 24 goals in 85 games for the Dutch national team.  He played right and left side of midfield even coming on in games to play in the centre of midfield and also filled in a striking role in the later part of his career when filling in many occasions. On the flanks, he was unorthodox not delivering conventional crosses as one would expect from an orthodox winger, but what he did possess giving his striking instincts, was the ability to sniff out chances coming in off the wing.

As a human being Dirk Kuyt is one of the finest.  In 2006 he set up the Dirk Kuyt Foundation which with projects for children in Brazil, Nepal and Ghana.  The Foundation now concentrates its efforts in the Netherlands with projects for disabled children. Speaking to the Liverpool Echo in April he said, “We started to support disabled children, providing them with all different kinds of sports. We’ve been doing that for the past four years and it’s been going really well.

“It has grown quickly and now we support around 64 projects across the country. There is not enough money for these children to do the things they like to do. We’re able to give them the chance they deserve to play sports.”

“I have a lot of contact with the people who work for the foundation and I get sent a lot of emails and see a lot of photos.

“The best thing is when you open an email and see the smiles on the faces of all those children and their parents. That’s why I do wanted to do it – to help people.

Read More at Liverpool Echo

Class can ne measured in many different ways.  If the 10 outfield players were Lionel Messi clones football would be boring.  It’s a misnomer to believe that Dirk Kuyt was a one trick pony.  He is a team player and also a principalled person off the field who leads by example.  Stevenn Gerrard’s comments about Kuyt say more about the player and the man than I could describe.

Gerrard told Liverpoolfc.tv: "Dirk is a great player, a great person and was a great servant to Liverpool.

"From the first day he came to the club, he was someone you could trust and knew that he would never let you down on the pitch.

Dirk Kuyt

He played in a Liverpool that was never the best, but like Gerrard, Carragher and Hyypia he never stopped trying to make them the best.  He is another who will go down in Liverpool folklore and at Anfield we like our players to be good, but just as importantly represent the values set out by Shankly and Paisley.  No higher praise can be given than to say he represented Liverpool Football Club with distinction.

Dirk Kuyt, YNWA.