Markus babbel - Retiring in may

Liverpool Football Club - General Discussion

Postby J*o*n*D*o*e » Mon Jan 22, 2007 9:38 pm

maybe not a leg end but a great player for us none the less, goodluck to him and it would be great to see him bring a team to Anfield one day.
Image
ImageImage
User avatar
J*o*n*D*o*e
 
Posts: 2355
Joined: Sat Jul 15, 2006 9:20 pm
Location: Liverpool

Postby Dundalk » Tue Jan 23, 2007 2:57 am

A legend for what he went through and still came back to play the game.

Good luck Markus
User avatar
Dundalk
>> LFC Elite Member <<
 
Posts: 14767
Joined: Fri Oct 21, 2005 9:46 am
Location: Dundalk

Postby azriahmad » Tue Jan 23, 2007 3:13 pm

I agree with LFC #1, Babbel was immense in the treble winning season.
User avatar
azriahmad
>> LFC Elite Member <<
 
Posts: 2632
Joined: Sun Aug 17, 2003 6:10 pm

Postby Pedro Maradona » Wed Jan 24, 2007 2:05 am

best of luck to him, top player, deserves all the plaudits he gets....
Pedro Maradona
 
Posts: 339
Joined: Sat Jan 20, 2007 2:01 pm
Location: Ireland

Postby crazyhorse » Fri Jan 26, 2007 4:40 am

Good servant to the club, and at his peak one of the best defenders in Europe. I always thought that he should have been picked more times by the Germans...
Image
Image
Image
THIS IS ANFIELD
User avatar
crazyhorse
>> LFC Elite Member <<
 
Posts: 2249
Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 5:43 pm

Postby Lando_Griffin » Fri Jan 26, 2007 6:03 am

Was one of our best players that season, scoring some important goals, and keeping others out.

If a player can be described as a legend after 1 season, then there's no doubt he IS a legend.

Best of luck Markus. :)
Image
Image

Rafa Benitez - An unfinished Legend.
User avatar
Lando_Griffin
>> LFC Elite Member <<
 
Posts: 10633
Joined: Thu Mar 10, 2005 3:19 pm

Postby A.B. » Fri Jan 26, 2007 9:36 pm

Babbel is one of the best right-backs we've had at the club in the last decade or so and it's a shame his Liverpool career ended the way it did.

It's weird though, him and Rob Jones would had been absolute legends if they didn't have health problems [illness with Babbel and Rob's injuries].

Good luck to Markus, he was absolutely superb.
YNWA - DrummerPhil
Gone but not forgotten
R.I.P.
A.B.
LFC Elite Member
 
Posts: 11353
Joined: Thu Aug 12, 2004 2:56 am

Postby kazza » Sat Jan 27, 2007 10:15 am

A.B. wrote:Babbel is one of the best right-backs we've had at the club in the last decade or so and it's a shame his Liverpool career ended the way it did.

It's weird though, him and Rob Jones would had been absolute legends if they didn't have health problems [illness with Babbel and Rob's injuries].

Good luck to Markus, he was absolutely superb.

:laugh:  That is funny

Three years ago you were a Real Madrid supporter (based on what you have said). So when did you actually see Babbel play (and Jones for that matter).

Oh that's right, you are just re-writing what you have read. Well at least you are consistant!

:laugh:
User avatar
kazza
>> LFC Elite Member <<
 
Posts: 6191
Joined: Mon Apr 12, 2004 11:06 pm
Location: Spread thin

Postby A.B. » Sat Jan 27, 2007 4:04 pm

kazza wrote:
A.B. wrote:Babbel is one of the best right-backs we've had at the club in the last decade or so and it's a shame his Liverpool career ended the way it did.

It's weird though, him and Rob Jones would had been absolute legends if they didn't have health problems [illness with Babbel and Rob's injuries].

Good luck to Markus, he was absolutely superb.

:laugh:  That is funny

Three years ago you were a Real Madrid supporter (based on what you have said). So when did you actually see Babbel play (and Jones for that matter).

Oh that's right, you are just re-writing what you have read. Well at least you are consistant!

:laugh:

What a sad pathetic creature you are.

This is your first post in months and it's a poor pathetic dig at me.

1. So from 1997 to 2007 thats 3 years? I see that they failed to teach you how to count in school

2. Never said I was a Real Madrid Fan, and if you go back I'm sure I clarified that. I followed their results due to the Yugoslavian influence at the club at the time. Which I'm sure I've said that.

3. Ever heard of DVD's? Or is that not come out yet in your cave? :laugh:
Last edited by A.B. on Sat Jan 27, 2007 4:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.
YNWA - DrummerPhil
Gone but not forgotten
R.I.P.
A.B.
LFC Elite Member
 
Posts: 11353
Joined: Thu Aug 12, 2004 2:56 am

Postby jonnymac1979 » Sat Jan 27, 2007 7:06 pm

I don't know your history but if you two start baiting each other publicly, Kazza and AB, do it by PM or I'll start deleting posts and that defeats the object.

Come on now... drop it. :)
jonnymac1979
 

Postby Pig Catcher » Mon Feb 18, 2019 10:53 am

https://www.coachesvoice.com/markus-bab ... rn-munich/

Even now, I go mad if I see the pictures from that game.

Even now, I go mad if I see the pictures from that game.

The Champions League final, 1999. Bayern Munich versus Manchester United. A game that I will never get out of my head. Every time I think about it, I ask myself: “My god Markus, what did you do?”

It’s not just about the defeat.

Of course, that is really hard to accept, because I think we were the better team in this game. If we score the second goal, then I think the game is finished. But the post was always there, or the crossbar. Or Peter Schmeichel.

To be totally honest with you, though, when the whistle went I was happy it was over.

It was always my biggest dream to win the Champions League. I would give my European Championship back for that. For me, it’s the biggest title you can win.

But, in the final, I put so much pressure on myself that I couldn’t enjoy it. All I could think about was not making a mistake.

When the game went to 1-1, I was thinking: “Oh no, extra time. How can I do it?”

I couldn’t run any more. Not because the game was physical but because, mentally, I was just so tired. In English, I think you would say: I was f**ked.

It was only in the weeks and months afterwards that I realised what I had done. Markus, you dickhead, what did you do? Not many players have the chance to play in a final. You did, and you couldn’t enjoy it. It’s really sad.

“Show me a coach who does everything perfectly. This is not possible”

Playing at a club like Bayern Munich teaches you a mindset: you have to win. It started in the youth. At first, I couldn’t understand it: you’re 10 or 11 years old, you finish second and the youth co-ordinator is telling you that it’s not good enough.

You think, what is going on here?

In youth tournaments, everybody was always booing us and celebrating if another team beat us. That’s when you learn the mentality to say okay, everyone is against us. So we have to show we are better than them.

It’s a process. One that I started at 10 years old.

At Bayern, I was learning all the time. In the beginning, when I went back there after two years in Hamburg, it was hard for me because I wasn’t playing. I wasn’t sure if I had made the right move going back.

But Giovanni Trapattoni was the Bayern coach at the time, and he spent many hours working with me on my technique. Just him and me. I improved a lot, and after five or six games he threw me in. After that, I was playing regularly.

From every coach along the way, you learn something different.

Otto Rehhagel had the best team meetings. He told all the stories, and we were always laughing. Later in my career, I recognised what he wanted to do – he wanted to take your nerves away before games.

“On the radio, I heard the news. Big transfer from Bayern Munich: Markus Babbel is going to Real Madrid”

There was always something good to take from each coach. Of course, there were a couple of things that were not so good, but show me a coach who does everything perfectly. This is not possible.

I had one coach who always shouted at the young guys. If you’re shouting at the 18, 19, 20-year-olds, then the club has a bigger problem than you expect. If you shout at anyone, it has to be the big players, because you expect top performances from them. They are the ones who make the difference.

If they’re not performing, you can’t shout at the 18-year-old guy. He is not the problem.

Growing up in Munich, we used to see highlights of one Premier League game a week, but that was enough for me to become fascinated with English football. Tottenham Hotspur, Liverpool, Manchester United – I can’t tell you why, but it was always special for me.

At that time Italian football was maybe bigger, but I wasn’t interested in it. The same for Spain or France. I said all the time: “If I go away from Germany, the only country where I will go is England. Because I like the football. I like the supporters, the stadiums, the atmosphere. If I have the chance, then I go there.”

And then, of course, I had the luck with Liverpool. A special team.

The funny thing was, I was on the way to the airport to meet with Gerard Houllier and talk to him when on the radio I heard the news: “Big transfer from Bayern Munich: Markus Babbel is going to Real Madrid.”

Oh, this is funny. Apparently I’m going to Real Madrid, but in one hour I will be on the plane to Liverpool.

“Steven Gerrard had very good technique, but in the beginning his management of power wasn’t the best”

In Liverpool, I had a good chat with Houllier (below). He explained what he wanted me to do and where I’d be playing. I had a good feeling about it.

I went to a game and sat in the box thinking: “I have to do it. This is exactly what I want.”

Liverpool is a big name, even in Germany. And everything was there: the atmosphere, how they were talking to me. And, of course, I won’t lie – the money was top, too.

The biggest problem in English football at that time was this: they were not 100 per cent professional. On the pitch, they gave everything. Outside the pitch, they loved a drink as well.

But Houllier changed this. He took all the players out who loved to drink, and brought in many young players along with experienced guys like me, Didi Hamann, Jari Litmanen and Sami Hyypiä. It was a good mix.

In the beginning, the foreigners were a little bit outside of the English guys. I understand it – it was their club. Some of them came from Liverpool, so for them it was something special. To them, we were some foreigners who came in and got good money – but they didn’t know how much we’d help the team.

With time, they saw that I was performing – not just coming in and taking the money. That, every game, I tried to bring 100 per cent. In the end, I had their respect.

“If you want to enjoy life and also want to be a professional footballer, this is not the best combination”

One player who you could always see had a big talent was Steven Gerrard. For his age he had very good technique, but in the beginning his management of power wasn’t the best. In every single second, he gave 100 per cent.

So after 50, 60 minutes, he was very tired, or picked up injuries. He was always full speed or nothing. He had to learn to slow down. To choose his moments. It comes with experience, but he learned quickly.

My second season at Liverpool started strangely. I played in the European Super Cup against Bayern Munich in Monaco, and after the game I felt really tired. I looked at myself in the mirror and saw I was white like a wall.

I knew the doctor from Bayern Munich was very good, so I went to see him: “Ja, you look Sh*t.”

I went to Germany for some tests, and that’s when it started. I had the Epstein-Barr virus. A few months later, things got worse. The virus led to Guillain-Barré syndrome. This is something that affects the nervous system and can attack muscles all over your body.

Nobody could tell me how long it would take to get better.

If you have a broken leg, you know it’s six months, plus or minus one or two. But the problem with this is that it changes. I was a different person to the next one – he was lying there for two years. I was only sitting in a wheelchair for five weeks.

It was a very tough period, though. In this moment, you’d give everything away – all your money, all your success – just to come back healthy.

“As a single man, England is a paradise city. If you go out, it’s very easy to do stupid things”

The experience changed a bit inside me. After this, I wasn’t the same person as before.

I saw how quickly life can change, so I started to enjoy life. If you want to enjoy life and also want to be a professional footballer, this is not the best combination.

I was going out a lot. Drinking a lot. Smoking a lot. I wasn’t professional. Also, in this time I got divorced from my first wife, so had many private problems as well.

If you want to come back at the highest level, you need discipline. But, for one or two years, I couldn’t show this because I was living. I was really living.

It was a problem for Liverpool. They saw me, a top professional who had played 60 games from 63 games, going out drinking and smoking. For them, too, it was very difficult. It took probably two and a half years for me to get back to being a bit more normal, but for me it was clear: if I want to come back to 100 per cent professional football, then I have to leave the country.

Because, as a single man, England is a paradise city. If you go out, it’s very easy to do stupid things.

I went to VfB Stuttgart.

Three years later, we won the Bundesliga, which was unbelievable – like winning the Premier League with Leicester. But I was never back to 100 per cent as a player, because I never ever got the feeling fully back in my toes. Even now, I only feel 90 per cent. The funny thing was, even with that, I had a better technique than some players in my team.

That was the right time for me to retire, and begin my career as a coach. It’s something I knew I wanted to do even from a young age. I remember telling my mum, when I was around 14 years old, that after I finished playing football, I wanted to be a coach.

Why?

Because I want to see: is it too difficult or not? Always, my coaches would say: “If you were a manager, you would see how hard it is.”

So I said: “Okay, I try. It doesn’t matter which league, I want to do it.”

Now I know, it is different. The pressure is different.

As a player, I am on the pitch, so I can do something about the result. As a coach, you can only bring the best team on the pitch. You can prepare them for the game and give them everything they need to know about the other team. After that, you are on the outside. You have to cross your fingers that everything is working.

As a player, you’re only thinking for yourself. As a coach, you have to think about so many things: about the team, about the team around the team… so many different things.

After my first season as a coach at Stuttgart, I remember I was even more tired than I had been as a player.

Maybe in this case, my coaches were right: it is hard.

But the mentality I learnt from the age of 10 is still strong. It’s a process. One that never ends.
Pig Catcher
>> LFC Elite Member <<
 
Posts: 1124
Joined: Fri Nov 05, 2004 2:51 pm

Postby 7_Kewell » Mon Feb 18, 2019 2:09 pm

Great player before his illness.  And it's interesting to see how it affected his mentality, with the drinking and smoking.

He nearly died and was confined to a wheelchair at one stag - hardly surprising he went off the rails given the circumstances.
“You cannot transfer the heart and soul of Liverpool Football Club, although I am sure there are many clubs who would like to buy it.”
User avatar
7_Kewell
>> LFC Elite Member <<
 
Posts: 13320
Joined: Fri Apr 16, 2004 11:04 pm
Location: Here, there, everywhere

Postby ycsatbjywtbiastkamb » Mon Feb 18, 2019 7:34 pm

Yeah he was a quality player, terrible shame about his illness but glad to see he's doing well again now.
ycsatbjywtbiastkamb
LFC Guru Member
 
Posts: 12248
Joined: Fri Mar 09, 2012 6:54 pm
Location: Liverpool

Postby Pig Catcher » Mon Feb 18, 2019 7:36 pm

He started almost every game we won the treble and that was his first season. He was brilliant and even chipped in with goals.
Pig Catcher
>> LFC Elite Member <<
 
Posts: 1124
Joined: Fri Nov 05, 2004 2:51 pm

Postby redshade » Mon Feb 18, 2019 9:25 pm

For a second there i thought you guys were on about Ryan Babel lol. That lad was fekin shyte, pacey but prone to brain farts.

Yup Markus was very talented i remember when he opened up the goal spree vs Alaves when we won 5-4. What a game that was lol.

Shame about his illness though, very talented and instrumental in our side in 2001.
redshade
LFC Guru Member
 
Posts: 5596
Joined: Thu May 21, 2015 5:07 pm

PreviousNext

Return to Liverpool FC - General Discussion

 


  • Related topics
    Replies
    Views
    Last post

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Google [Bot] and 52 guests