Kuyt's always praised for the amount of work he puts in. But does he work harder than others? Kuyt often seems stationary to me, especialy when we have the ball. I imagine Downing - just to pick someone often accused of slacking - covers far more yards per game than Kuyt. Does anyone have reliable stats on this?
Really? I'd say his movement, especially when we have the ball, is one of his key assets. He's always looking to get into space and receive a pass, especially after releasing the ball. It's the Dutch way and used to always be the Liverpool way after all. Very rarely do I see him stationary, unless it's after making a big run and recovering from a sprint, awaiting a ball he will hold up, or when he's holding his position because that is the right thing to do tactically.
I would say surely it's not the yards you cover but the speed you cover them at when tracking runners, closing people down, pressing the ball etc when we are dispossessed? For which there aren't really stats. On TAW the other day they said Charlie Adam had covered the most distance in a game, but I wouldn't say it was a game in which he had worked harder than others. I think the two things are different.
Watching the final highlights again last night when I got in, there was a moment after we scored, when Dirk was working like a maniac to press the tired Cardiff players. He was like a man possessed. While he doesn't always do this to this extent, because nobody could keep it up for 90 minutes, this is what I'm getting at, it's not the distance covered, it's this pressing and eagerness to win back possession that can only be judged qualitatively.
From 24.25 seconds
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xp2kdy_cc-lfc-vs-cardiff-extra-time-26-02-12_lifestyle?start=0#from=embed