Salomon Kalou? No, just no.

Salomon Kalou is a conundrum.  Is he any good? Was he ever good?  When he transferred from Feyenoord to Chelsea in 2006, he was coming off two productive years where he scored 42 goals in 80 matches in all competitions.  Interestingly enough, his strike mate at the Eredivisie club was Dirk Kuyt, who scored 61 goals in 82 matches over that same span.

The first season for the 21-year-old Ivorian at Stamford Bridge was mildly successful as he bagged seven goals and assisted on five more in 1931 minutes played.  Though seemingly a 'transition' year, Kalou would fail to improve much on those numbers for his remaining stay with the Blues.  He would only manage 36 goals and 25 assists in 156 league appearances and was let go on a free to Lille.

Unfortunately, Ligue 1 hasn't treated him much better:

	npgp90	gcp90	ccp90	ap90	ccv
2013-14	0.32	0.64	1.57	0.17	11.1
2012-13	0.53	0.7	1.27	0.12	9.7
	pass%	bp%	sacc%	shot%	TTI90
2013-14	75.9	47.9	48.9	17	15.8
2012-13	75.6	45.7	46.5	19.7	17.9
	gap90	gsp90	gop90	tgop	gopd90
2013-14	0.7	1.28	0.58	0.53	0.05
2012-13	0.9	1.76	0.86	0.5	0.36

He has scored 30 goals in 66 matches, 6 of those were penalties though.  His passing is painfully average, he turns over the ball too frequently, and his chance created values are nothing to get excited about.  At 29, Kalou is the poster boy for 'unreached potential'.

The Liverpool is somehow linked to Kalou, but I don't think he's even worth the pitch time on a free.  I'd rather see Ibe get more playing time than waste it on a 29-year-old forward who couldn't prove his worth in six seasons at Chelsea.

How much will United pay for Dirk Kuyt?

After dishing out ridiculous sums for turnover prone 25-year-old, Ander Herrera, and the nemesis of Victor Moses, Luke Shaw, they are now linked to splash the cash for soon-to-be 34-year-old former 'Liverpool Legend', Dirk Kuyt. I use 'legend' in the loosest sense there, but Kuyt is much more deserving than say, Roy Hodgson.

Dirk Kuyt's evolution as a footballer is interesting to say the least.  At FC Utrecht and especially Feyenoord in the Eredivisie, he was a poacher, a goal-scoring machine.  Unfortunately, he didn't have the pace to translate his finishing skills in the Prem and had to change his approach if he wanted to survive.  So he became a more complete player, a blue collar one mind you, but good enough to earn a starting place as a supporting striker.  His determination to stay and fight for a place at Liverpool after a disappointing first season instead of returning to the Eridivise where he could have easily reverted back to his prolific poaching ways was a testament to his character.

In his first season at Liverpool, he had one assist in 34 appearances, in his second he had 8 in 32.  In his final three seasons he had a chance created per 90 of 1.79, but it was not just his ability to make important passes that improved, he became a defensive forward, if one ever existed.  From 2009-2012, he averaged 1.91 tackles per 90 and 1.56 int per 90, for perspective, during that same period, Rooney contributed 0.63 tp90 and 0.42 intp90, a massive difference.

His latest rebirth as a left wing back for the Netherlands in the World Cup apparently has spurned Van Gaal into thinking about taking him to United when the Dutch coach starts his term there.  If I can say so sans punishment, playing the heavy-footed Kuyt at that position actually is a genius move, it takes advantage of his strengths and less exposes his weaknesses.  His contributions have been solid on both ends of the pitch and the coverage he provides for Daley Blind is pricelesss, but will it translate in the Prem?

The potential big winner here is Fenerbache.  With United willing to pay double and triple a player's valuation, the Turkish club could possibly get £10m for a player they bought for £880,000.

Top of the table... again... for now...

What a match, though for all intents and purposes, the theatrics I could do without. Our boys were clearly the better side from start to finish and for us to have to come back from a 1-0 deficit to begin with, was the biggest joke of all. If Nugent was onside, then so was Kuyt (on his called-back goal, of course)... EASILY. Nothing surprises me from an Evertonian though, as Nugent showed his true scum colors by trying every move in the book to cheat Liverpool of three points. Sorry, son, you lost.

Like it or not, Rafa's tactics worked. Ngog was effective as his speed kept the Pompey back four at bay, scared to leave the Frenchman unmarked for more than a few seconds. Benayoun continued his brilliant form, causing chaos throughout the pitch. The only real disappointment was Babel, who missed a mind-blowing sitter (who the hell uses their right foot on a right to left cross?) and still failed to find the pass when covered by multiple defenders. Somebody is open, somewhere, even if you have to pass it back, it's better than losing possession. In his defense though, he scared the living crap out of the defenders with his threatening pace.

The most effective aspect of Rafa's gameplan? Resting Kuyt, Xabi, and Torres until later in the match. He used his younger and less worn players to wear down the opposition, which made them easy pickings when the more experienced came on.

One thing I found amusing, for two reasons actually, is how hard Crouch played. First, if he had played that hard for us, he'd probably still have a place on our squad and second, he was still pretty much ineffective.

My player of the match goes to Yossi Benayoun. He was effectively everywhere throughout and set-up the match winning goal. As for the rest of the squad, no one played particularly horrible, but I've seen better days from Babel and Mascherano. I would also like to add that Aurelio played particularly well for basically playing out-of-position at central midfield for a majority of the match.

I know I said in my pre-match blog that a goal against us would be embarrassing, but while watching the match I realized that a lot of our 'defensive-minded' players, saw this as more of an opportunity to show their attacking abilities and in that way, it sort of backfired. I wouldn't go as far as to call it 'delusions of grandeur' (except for in maybe Mascherano's case) though. Agger and Aurelio were far from incompetent in what they offered on attack.

Well, two weeks and a day until Man City. Let's hope for a healthy return for all our internationals. Cheers.

The Tinkerman tinkers versus Portsmouth

No Torres, Xabi, Riera, nor Kuyt to start. Strangeways here we come... again. Torres being worn and Xabi being knocked are understandable... somewhat, but the absences of Kuyt and Riera are a bit baffling. Cahill and Arteta as well as a plethora of others played today for Everton?

Anyways, with that said, I like when Benitez gambles, as long as it works, but today's line-up is severely defensive-minded. Five defenders plus Mascherano? Agger has the ability to play midfield as he is good enough on the ball and an adequate passer with the talent to make the occasional great play. Not sure if he's to start there along side Masche though. Dossena and Aurelio on the left should be interesting as both players like going forward. No matter what though, a Pompey goal against will be nothing short of embarrassing.

On the attack side, it's going to be up to Benayoun to lead. Yossi has been playing exceptionable lately though, hopefully that will rub off on Babel and Ngog. I also wouldn't be surprised to see Mascherano or even Carragher uncharacteristically forward. Here's to being back on top by the end of ninety.

God Bless the Fates for Dirk Kuyt?

Gees, what a way to win the match. Played useless for most the match and then he comes up with the most important goal for the season so far. No big surprise.

So I've slept through the season so far, this match being little difference. In our defense, Liege played 8 back for the majority, but with the amount of talent we have, it shouldn't have been this hard.

My man of the match? Well, nobody, really. Skrtel was somewhat of a standout, but for the most part no one appeared to be able to figure out the Pandora's Jar that was Liege's defense. Nabil El Zhar and Babel certainly streesed out their defense though.

Well, hopefully our run of playing less than mediocre and producing results will continue this weekend.

Liverpool at Beşiktaş: the line-up

Here it is:
Reina
Riise
Hyypia
Carragher
Finnan
Babel
Mascherano
Gerrard
Pennant
Kuyt
Voronin

Subs:
Itandje
Hobbs
Alonso
Sissoko
Lucas
Benayoun
Crouch

No big surprises except maybe Crouch not starting. I could care less, after his Marseilles performance he can rot on the bench until January and then sold. We need Agger back soon as I don't feel comfortable with Hyypia playing this often. Also, what's up with Arbeloa? Is he injured? He's not even on the bench. Weird. Anyhow, boys, let's get this done.

Liverpool 2, Tottenham 2: the 'game-winner'?

Well, before I get to the actual match, once again Fox Soccer makes themselves look like a bunch of donkeys. Apparently Torres' extra-time header was the 'game-winner'. I wish, but at least it gave me a little chuckle, something I need after that pathetic display.

I don't know where to start. Our whole side played pretty poor and the worse part is if we hadn't been distracted by the stadium intercom announcer, (btw, what was that about?) we would have probably won.

Who played well? No one. Well, maybe Stevie Finnan, but that's it. It was a poor display all-round. Now teams know how to beat us, just keep trying the long ball.

I feel sorry for Reina, without Agger we look pretty pathetic at the back. We need the Dane back as soon as possible and Rafa needs to buy the best centre back as possible in the January transfer window.

Anyhow, I'm pretty disgusted by the whole affair and don't really want to get into it, but our ball movement is shoddy at best. We don't look like a team out there at all. There's no flow whatsoever, it's very disheartening. Maybe it's time Rafa brings in some kids, at least then we have an excuse for being poor.

Liverpool 2, Tottenham 2: the goals

Voronin's put-back.


Torres' 'game-winner'. ha.

Liverpool vs Tottenham: the line-up

And the envelop reads...

Reina
Arbeloa
Carragher
Hyypia
Finnan
Riise
Mascherano
Gerrard
Pennant
Voronin
Torres

Bench:
Itandje
Kuyt
Benayoun
Babel
Lucas

Still no Babel starting and Lucas on the bench. Interesting. As long as there's no Crouch.

Liverpool 1, Wigan 0: Yossi plays, we win

I wonder if we'll hear any nonsense about Yossi not starting today as to why we barely pulled this one off. Probably not, I figure the memory vacuum will take care of all the Rafa rotation bashing. Anyhow, on to the match.

Wigan should be commended for a well-played, well-executed game plan. We were really lucky to come away with three points as they were the better side and missed a couple of relatively easy opportunities in front of the net.

Overall, we were not a top side. We seemed to lack motivation as a whole and were timid about scoring. Wigan stuffed the box when we had the best chances to score and our attempts to do so were characteristic of keystone cops. Our lack of ability to be creative, utilize the whole field, and movement off the ball was quite evident in these cases.

Individually, Yossi stole the show with an absolute class strike. I posted a video of it in an earlier post, but I'm not sure if it's working or not. The Israeli seemed to revitalize our side the minute he stepped onto the pitch, especially Gerrard.

Our defense was surprisingly appalling at times, particularly Hyypia. He talked about how he's never had pace earlier this week, but it's never really hurt his performance. Today it seemed to as Wigan quickly countered set plays which left the heavy-footed Finn well out of position. It forced Carra to make some tackles that frankly could have been called penalties, but were not.

We grinded out the win and I'm happy about that, but better sides would have at least drew us. I know I complained about Pennant not cutting inside enough, but he did it a little too much here and as a team, we failed miserably at using the entire pitch, especially the deep flanks.

Kuyt was simply not fit to wear the shirt. He really needs to dig deep and get more creative. I'm not sure what his issue was today, but he was our worse player by far. Anyhow, I gotta go. Cheers.

Liverpool 1, Wigan 0: the goal

Here's Yossi's phenomenal goal from earlier today. The Israeli saved us from another embarassing draw. Cheers.

Liverpool 0, Wigan 0:halftime thoughts

Well, I missed the first ten minutes of the match, but from what I've seen we're dangerous to score, well, at least Torres is. If he doesn't score in the second half or at least set up a goal, I'll be surprised.

As a team we seem to play well in brief stretches, but for the most part look like a bunch of unfocused eight-year-olds waiting for ice cream. Pennant has been the most baffling, at times he looks fantastic, while other times he looks like he's never played the sport. At one point, he had the ball at the top of the box and should have blasted it, instead he laid it off to Riise, who was far over on the left and had defenders in front of him.

Speaking of Pennant, when did he become Wigan's punching bag? Koumas could have probably got a straight red for trying to break his leg on a blatant attempt to do so and towards the end of the half one of the loser Wigan thugs threw a punch at him. It's ridiculous not to expect JP to retaliate when the ref is letting the Lactics get away with assault.

As for the rest of the side, Kuyt and Gerrard are invisible, though no one has played bad. I don't think Stevie-G is fully fit yet, but with Xabi out and the inexperienced Lucas as the only real option, there's little choice. I guess we could play Sissoko, but that would almost guarantee a draw.

Anyhow, second half is about to start. I think we can win this, but I won't get my hopes up. We really need a Riise belter.

Liverpool vs Wigan: the line-up

Here it is:
Reina
Aurelio
Hyypia
Carragher
Arbeloa
Riise
Mascherano
Gerrard
Pennant
Kuyt
Torres

Subs:
Itandje
Benayoun
Sissoko
Finnan
Voronin

Once again, Rafa isn't messing around. I wonder how Voronin feels about the rotation now and really don't care how Crouch feels. I'm thinking Rafa is taking the Ukrainian's age in perspective and since he played well against Toulouse, maybe the gaffer is thinking of holding him for Marseilles. Babel's also getting an extending vacation, I hope he's okay. I do recall him limping off in the last match. I'm just glad I dropped him from my fantasy team. Anyhow, I doubt I'm going to get to see this match, I have company coming into town, but I'll definitely watch it tomorrow and have a report by Monday plus (hopefully) lots of goal clips. Cheers.

Today's Banter: Rafa may sit Torres, Martin to Yeovil?, CNN needs a better fact checker, & more

- Rafa has made sure that everyone knows this is his club when he stated that Torres' performance last night doesn't guarantee him a place at Wigan on Saturday. It might be best to start him on the bench anyhow as we should have a fresh Kuyt and Voronin, both of whom should be looking to redeem themselves after Saturday's subpar performance versus Birmingham.

- It's looking less likely that a rumored loan move for keeper David Martin to Yeovil Town will come to fruition. With last night's shaky performance from Frenchman Charles Itandje, it's understandable that Rafa wants to keep the 21-year-old Reserves keeper around. If Itandje stumbles on his second outing, I fully expect Martin to get his shot. Both Martin and out-on-loan Nikolay Mihaylov gave solid performances in the preseason.

- CNN made a slight and understandable error in this report from yesterday's Sevilla-Espanyol match, unless Luis Garcia was recently loaned out from Atletico to Espanyol. I think I would have heard about it though.

- Coppell claims it's Torres' pace that sets him apart from other players. I would have to agree that El Nino has some speed and quickness, but he's also strong and how can you not deny his uncanny ability to score any which way by foot after the Chelsea goal and the phenomenal second strike yesterday? He's just so unpredictable on the ball.

- Finally, Ryan Babel and Dirk Kuyt have both been named to Marco Van Bastien's provisional Holland squad for their upcoming Euro qualifier matches in mid-October. The fixtures are just three weeks away. Cheers.

Liverpool 0, Birmingham 0: final thoughts

After viewing this match for the second time, with much less emotion involved since I knew the outcome, I have to say that the reason Liverpool did not get the three points is because most of the team, particularly up front, were mentally unprepared for this match while Birmingham seemed quite the opposite.

Kuyt was appalling and Voronin wasn't much better. In fact, I would have to say this is the worse match I have ever seen Kuyt play. He seemed to turn the ball over nearly every time he got possession or he took a bad shot when there was a smarter pass. Voronin appeared to just be waiting for the ball to come to him instead of going after it.

Overall we lacked intensity as a side, save Carra and Mascherano, who more than made up for his poor performance in Portugal last week. You can blame Rafa for not starting Torres all you want, but Kuyt should have been more than capable of getting the job done. If Dirk played for Birmingham he would easily be their best player.

I do have a problem with Rafa's subbing though. I feel as if Torres should have been brought on for Kuyt and if Babel needed to come off for one reason or another, then Finnan could have been brought in, Arbeloa pushed over to the left and Riise pushed up to midfield. Kuyt should have been taken off at the half in my opinion as he had no business wearing the shirt that day.

You can say that Birmingham played solid defense, but the truth is, Kuyt had plenty of opportunity to at least be the catalyst in scoring a goal and he messed up time and time again. His head clearly wasn't in the match.

The funny thing is, if we were Man United, we would have won this by at least a goal. Case in point, as the first half was coming to a close, Carra made a brilliant pass to Kuyt in the box who controlled and turned to shoot. Just as he was about to do so though, the ref blew the whistle to end the half. Apparently only Man U gets extra time to score the goal they need.

Also, Torres should have had a penalty late in the game. After being set-up by a nice pass from Pennant, he faked out Queudrue in the box and the Frenchman not only clearly obstructs El Nino's forward movement, but also grabs his shirt to prevent him from continuing play. If Saha's dive was a penalty, then there's no question that that was one as well.

Some other points, Babel wasn't at his best, but he by no means cost us the match. He needs to work on his corners a little bit though. Speaking of set plays, the few we got, we were abominable, except for maybe the last corner where Gerrard found Crouch's head with a perfect pass, though the latter couldn't finish the job.

Defensively, Arbeloa had his second lackluster performance in a row and I think it's time he get a game off. If he starts against Reading tomorrow, I'll be surprised. Riise seemed to lose steam as the match wore on, but I wouldn't characterize his performance as anything less than average. Carra and Hyypia were adequate if anything.

As for our skipper, I've seen him play better, but for the most part he just faded in and out of the match. I'm hoping the week off gets him back into preseason form. If he was so fatigued though, I wonder why Rafa just didn't let him and Mascherano switch up and make Stevie-G the holding midfielder?

Birmingham said they were going to focus on Pennant and most the first half they did. It allowed Babel more space, but the Dutchman still preferred to go inside instead of out, which sort of took away the space he would have provided had he gone wide. I can't really complain about Pennant's performance as he was hounded throughout the day and when they finally let up, he became more of a threat and created a few chances for us.

My man of the match is Mascherano, though I've seen him play much better. In fact, with Hyypia and Carra sitting so far back the entire match, Masche certainly could have gotten more involved on the attack. He did towards the end, but it was too little too late. He was tackling was on point per usual and he was without a doubt a menace to the Blues the entirety of the match.

I guess Birmingham does deserve some credit for executing their game plan, but in truth, it was just a poor, insipid performance by Kuyt and Voronin that cost us. Maybe if Babel stayed to the left more, Dirk and Andriy would have had more room to operate, but what's done is done and all we can hope is that he learns from it.

Reading next and I'm think why Carra and Hyypia were basically planters was because we'll probably need them to do the same tomorrow at the Mad Stad. I'll have my 'What will Rafa do?' up soon. Cheers.

Liverpool 0, Birmingham 0: embarassing

Well, it looks like our old haunt of not being able to finish has returned. Kuyt couldn't kick the ball into the stands if he wanted to. All his tireless effort seem to just get him tired and I hate dogging on the kid, but gees, I feel like I'm watching Toronto FC out there at times.

This is the third straight match that I've disagreed with Rafa's selection. Torres should have started. What? Is he saving him for Reading and the Carling Cup? Rubbish. I have no problems with his tinkering, but for Christ sake, if you're going to do it have the guts to do something different.

Do you want to know why we are such a dreary side? It's because Rafa is afraid to really mix things up. Play a different formation, play Babel up front, put Voronin on the left, do something. The only critics who would be against it are old men living in an old world and they can go piss off.

Nobody is buying that we are any different from last year nor the year before because we aren't. We've reverted back to the old ways despite the new faces. Nobody eats stale bread because they know it's stale. They just leave it on the table to be thrown away.

I'm fully convinced we lost the league today and the only bright spot was we didn't give away a penalty. Ugh. Okay, let me calm down. I'll be back later.

Liverpool vs Birmingham: the line-up

Here it be:
Reina
Riise
Carra
Hyypia
Arbeloa
Babel
Mascherano
Gerrard
Pennant
Voronin
Kuyt

Subs:
Itandje
Finnan
Crouch
Torres
Sissoko

Interesting having Mascherano in there. I thought for sure he'd be given the day off to think about his performance against Porto. I guess Sissoko will play Tuesday. Kuyt and Voronin is interesting as well. I know they've played together, but I believe this is the first time they've started alongside one another in a match that counts. Rafa means business today. Here's to Pennant wreaking havoc. Cheers.

Oh, yeah, also Robbie Fowler has a brace so far for Cardiff today.

Liverpool vs Birmingham: What will Rafa do?

Well, we went from arguably the easiest match to predict so far this season, to quite possibly the hardest league fixture so far. Wait until our Cup ties start, then it gets next to impossible to guess what Rafa the Mad Tinkerer will come up with.

There are a lot of outside factors to consider this week, especially at right midfield. It's Yom Kippur so that may rule out Benayoun. Jermaine Pennant's reckless performance at Porto may also see him starting from the bench. Also, with the Carling Cup tie coming up against Reading next Tuesday and Rafa apparently taking it more seriously this time around, you wonder who he'll reserve. I wouldn't be surprised to see Gerrard start on the right with Sissoko and Mascherano in the middle. It also wouldn't shock me to see Riise or Aurelio start on the left and Babel start on the right.

In other words, I have no clue what Rafa is going to do. Since it is a 'lesser' side, I hope he goes balls out and that doesn't mean bringing in any Reserves, but I don't really consider Sebastian Leto nor Lucas as full-time Reserves like I do say Robbie Threlfall or Ray Putterill. No offense to those two as they have both showed promise when given the opportunity, they just aren't as ready as the aforementioned pair. Once again, I would love to know what is up with Harry Kewell, having him fit for this match would be a huge boost. Ultimately, I'm looking for Rafa to take some risks here. As his squads have gotten deeper, he's gotten more predictable and I believe that's taken off some of the edge.

GK - Reina
If he's fit, he plays, and as far as I know, he's fine.

LB - Riise
He's back and he could start at left-mid with Aurelio here, but I think Rafa will want him to take it easy after coming back from a groin pull.

CB - Carragher
We need him to stay as healthy as possible.

CB - Arbeloa
Younger than Hyypia and though he could use a day off, I just don't see it happening here.

RB - Finnan
When's he fit, he'll play.

LM - Aurelio
I think Rafa goes defensive here, but that's using logic.

CM - Sissoko
Is back and after Masche's performance at Porto, the Argentine needs a day off.

CM - Gerrard
When he's fit and rested, he'll play.

RM - Benayoun or Babel
I don't see Pennant starting here only because his recent rash play and the fact that he used to play for Birmingham. I can see him making some bad decisions on and off the ball. Benayoun will start if Yom Kippur doesn't conflict, if not it will probably be Babel.

F - Voronin
I think Rafa will look to allow the Ukrainian to redeem himself for Portsmouth.

F - Torres
Torres will stay on until the three points are secured and then look for Crouch to get some pitch time

Bench:
Itandje
Mascherano
Hyypia
Babel or Leto (it depends whether or not Benayoun is available to play)
Crouch

I have no confidence that Rafa's selection will be the same, but that's pretty much who I would play. Cheers.

Liverpool 1, Porto 1: Man of the Match

Whoa, were my fellow Liverpool fans watching the same match I was? I just checked out the Fan's Man of the Match over at the official site and it had Dirk Kuyt voted first by the fans followed by Sami Hyypia and Mascherano?! Holy shit on a stick! Are you serious? Do I have unrealistic expectations of our Argentine midfielder or were you all drunk? Masche was appalling. I will admit that Hyypia started out just as unimpressive, but got better as the match progressed.

The site's picks were Jamie Carragher first followed by Hyypia and then Kuyt. There's just no way I put Kuyt behind Hyypia since it was mostly the latter's fault that they got the penalty. And what about Finney? Kudos for giving credit to one of our unsunge heroes in Carra, but I'd put Finnan above Hyypia as well.

In fact, if I had to rate our players in order from best to worst it would go something like this:

1. Kuyt
1. Carra

Kuyt is my Man of the Match, but I can't put Carragher very far behind him as he was in his inspirational form. The never-say-die Dutchman was relentless and per usual did what ever he was asked when he moved over to the right after Pennant was sent off. Carra was tremendous in keeping Porto and the ball away from the box.

3. Finnan

Another quiet, flawless performance. I'm going to start calling him the ghost because not only does he haunt our opponents, but no one ever seems to notice him.

4. Torres

El Nino did what El Nino was brought on to do, create space for Gerrard and worry the hell out of our opponent's defenses. He sent them scrambling mad on a couple of occasions.

5. Babel

It would have been nice if someone would have gotten open when he had the ball deep down in Porto territory.

6. Reina

Made a great save, but made questionable decisions in the box and on the ball, especially early on.

6. Hyypia

Almost made up for the penalty with his clearance and got better as the match wore on.

8. Gerrard

Was apparently hanging out with Harry Kewell.

9. Arbeloa

Looked tired and made some poor decisions after he was beat. His positioning was questionable as well.

10. Mascherano

His legal issues must be affecting him or he was having flashbacks of the Copa final when he heard the Porto players speaking in Portuguese.

11. Pennant

Thought his name was Ashley Cole again.

I'm not going to bother with the subs. Saturday can't come soon enough. Cheers.

Liverpool 1, Porto 1: the goal

Great team work. Torres won the foul, Finnan took the kick, Hyypia got the header assist, and Kuyt headed it home. It's Kuyt's third CL goal this season and fourth for his career. Cheers.