Watching Dirk Kuyt toil throughout every minute of the game against Manchester City whilst simultaneously hearing the groans of those around me whenever he got close to the ball was a discomforting experience.

On the one hand, it is impossible not to appreciate the effort that Kuyt puts in: quite simply he never stops running.

Yet it is just as possible to understand the growing frustration that there is with him. Ultimately, strikers are there to score and, with just three league goals all season (two of which came from the penalty spot), Kuyt is failing miserably.

Perhaps even worse, the belief that he can score appears to have been lost. Every time he’s in with half a chance, he seems to dither that little bit that allows defenders just enough time to close him down. Or else he opts to pass the ball on to someone else, effectively passing on responsibility. Little wonder there is moaning.

His defenders will point at Kuyt’s work rate and the important role that he plays for the team but rather then being of any comfort, that is effectively part of the problem.

In most games it is difficult to determine whether Kuyt is playing as a striker or else as a midfielder, so little does he get into the box. With Torres or Crouch as the main forwards, he’s nominally the second man up front but, on the pitch, he is rarely in the opposing penalty box.

Being an extremely intelligent footballer, coupled with his work rate, Kuyt fits into the role designed by Benitez whereby he drops deep to win balls and get others into play.

Yet, although he can fulfill those tasks well, he’ll never excel in such a role. He’ll huff and he’ll puff but he’ll never blow any houses down.

The main reason is Kuyt’s lack of pace. He’ll never be a dynamic player like Gerrard who can explode into the box and past defenders. It is why he is always seems to be that split second late whenever the ball breaks to him: out of position due to his role, it takes him that little bit longer to get into the danger areas.

Last season, when he was used as the main striker, Kuyt showed that he is a reasonable forward. He’s not in the same class as Fernando Torres, yet he can easily score ten to fifteen goals in a season.

Yet, it is precisely because Torres is at Anfield that his role has changed. His versatility makes it easier for Benitez to play him contrary to someone like Peter Crouch who you can only see playing instead of Torres rather than alongside him. There is, however, a huge difference between being able to play in a position and doing well in that role.

Slowly, Kuyt is morphing into Emile Heskey. The parallels are certainly worrying. When Heskey first joined Liverpool, injuries to the other strikers saw him being used as the lone man up front and he did exceptionally well.

Once Owen returned to the side, however, Heskey was asked to play in a more withdrawn role with the primary brief of getting balls to the main striker. It wasn’t something that he was particularly good at yet he stuck to the task so much that he ultimately he started to believe that it wasn’t a problem if he didn’t score any goals because he was doing a job for the team.
His unquestioning loyalty was appreciated by Houllier but it hampered his career as he got stuck with the label of not being good enough. It is a lesson that Kuyt would do well to absorb.