Liverpool FC Forum

[Reg]

When we signed him, I heard a Dutch correspondent giving an insight into Babel in a radio interview, and was surprised that we seemed to be signing him as a wide-left player as he was more in the style of a certain Thierry Henry. This was in as much that he liked to cut in from the left to shoot, although he had a low goal scoring rate.

To be fair to Babel, I don't think he's ever been given a chance at playing in his preferred role but that doesn't excuse the fact that he is undoubtedly one of the laziest cowards I've ever seen playing for Liverpool in the last 15 years. I wouldn't lose any sleep over Babel leaving, but not on loan, just sell, and accept the loss we will inevitably make.

I think on the right is where he should be played but we already have Kuyt there. As you say though that is no excuse. Yossi found himself in a similar situation but he didn't whinge, he forced his way into the first team which is what Babel should be doing. He lacks the motivation both on and off the pitch.

Not sure you have read what st mike said mate, as it states that he cuts in from the left like Henry.
Dirk plays on the right 

Anyway i can see everyones issue regarding his attitude, to say its poor would be an understatement.
I still think with our squad being so poor we could do with giving him a go in a position that he favours.
Because we are going to need him at some point this season and when we bring him in we are going to end up with a player thats massively out of form and totally unhappy.

You have to have excellent touch and ball control to be able to play on the left if you are right footed. HEnry had that control, Babel does now.

He looked a lot better against PSV playing on the right.

EXACTLY - Babel´s ball controll is not good enough to be a Henry.  Top strikers have the thing glued to their feet.

[LFC2007]

His only real saviour is that he has Ngog and Voronin for competition. I'd still take Kuyt up top on his own over those three though. At least you'd get the work rate, attitude, a better level of awareness and the ability to hold the ball up.

[maguskwt]

When we signed him, I heard a Dutch correspondent giving an insight into Babel in a radio interview, and was surprised that we seemed to be signing him as a wide-left player as he was more in the style of a certain Thierry Henry. This was in as much that he liked to cut in from the left to shoot, although he had a low goal scoring rate.

To be fair to Babel, I don't think he's ever been given a chance at playing in his preferred role but that doesn't excuse the fact that he is undoubtedly one of the laziest cowards I've ever seen playing for Liverpool in the last 15 years. I wouldn't lose any sleep over Babel leaving, but not on loan, just sell, and accept the loss we will inevitably make.

I think on the right is where he should be played but we already have Kuyt there. As you say though that is no excuse. Yossi found himself in a similar situation but he didn't whinge, he forced his way into the first team which is what Babel should be doing. He lacks the motivation both on and off the pitch.

Not sure you have read what st mike said mate, as it states that he cuts in from the left like Henry.
Dirk plays on the right 

Anyway i can see everyones issue regarding his attitude, to say its poor would be an understatement.
I still think with our squad being so poor we could do with giving him a go in a position that he favours.
Because we are going to need him at some point this season and when we bring him in we are going to end up with a player thats massively out of form and totally unhappy.

You have to have excellent touch and ball control to be able to play on the left if you are right footed. HEnry had that control, Babel does now.

He looked a lot better against PSV playing on the right.

EXACTLY - Babel´s ball controll is not good enough to be a Henry.  Top strikers have the thing glued to their feet.

what thing? I don't see any foreign objects glued to Torres' boots... 

[Fauxy]

Babel is just not the finished product and never will be, simple as that. On his day he can take someone on but then cant give a good delivery or shot.

Loaning him may be a good idea because it may bring up his pricetag but I wouldn't mind if we just got rid of him.

[tubby]

People keep saying he has raw talent, if he went elsewhere he would become world class. Well let him go elsewhere and become world class and then ill happily eat humble pie. But here he is doing all. If anything he is probably regressed since his first season. He has never had the right attitude either both on and off the pitch. Always moaning about not being picked and on the pitch he doesn't looks like he would break a sweat to chase a ball.

There really isn't anything more to say about him to be honest. He is an overated player at best.

[Fauxy]

People keep saying he has raw talent, if he went elsewhere he would become world class. Well let him go elsewhere and become world class and then ill happily eat humble pie. But here he is doing all. If anything he is probably regressed since his first season. He has never had the right attitude either both on and off the pitch. Always moaning about not being picked and on the pitch he doesn't looks like he would break a sweat to chase a ball.

There really isn't anything more to say about him to be honest. He is an overated player at best.

I wouldnt say he is overrated because most people say he is sh!ite, but just has lots of potential.

[LFC2007]

If we're all agreed then I'll get the paperwork sorted.

[REDTILLDEAD]

he should have been loaned out.....we have missed the boat again, i hope he never plays for us again!......having said that did he ever?

[Dazzer]

Babel is just not the finished product and never will be, simple as that. On his day he can take someone on but then cant give a good delivery or shot.

Loaning him may be a good idea because it may bring up his pricetag but I wouldn't mind if we just got rid of him.

That commant is funny I feel his best areas are crossing (on right foot) and shooting/heading but we never see him do these things(much) because he always out on left on his left foot.Now if Rafa gave him 3-5 games on right wing or as striker I think we would see a different player. 

Not saying he is gonna turn into Henry or nothing just I think you see a consistent improvement. 

[supersub]

Not saying he is gonna turn into Henry or nothing just I think you see a consistent improvement. 

Do you honestly believe he can improve 

[maguskwt]

Babel is just not the finished product and never will be, simple as that. On his day he can take someone on but then cant give a good delivery or shot.

Loaning him may be a good idea because it may bring up his pricetag but I wouldn't mind if we just got rid of him.

That commant is funny I feel his best areas are crossing (on right foot) and shooting/heading but we never see him do these things(much) because he always out on left on his left foot.Now if Rafa gave him 3-5 games on right wing or as striker I think we would see a different player. 

Not saying he is gonna turn into Henry or nothing just I think you see a consistent improvement. 

In his first year rafa played him first on the left. Then rafa tried him on the right. He was worse than when he played on the left. That's why rafa put him back on the left or a late substitute up front to run down defenders who were tired. It's as simple as that... he was given enough chances.

[bigmick]

I think it's fairly clear though that if he is ever going to make a footballer (and it's by no means a certainty that he will) it will be as an out and out front player. We haven't in all honesty given him "enough chances" there, infact we've barely given him an opportunity at all.

Many posters say we should just sell him, and aside from the fact nobody wants to buy him I broadly agree. If and when someone does stump up a few million to take him off our hands though, where does anyone think they'll play him? They'll obviously bung him up top and see what they've got on their hands. If he from there finds a way to utilise his undoubted pace, good shot, ability to beat a man etc and scores regularly, we will end up looking a bit daft. Similarly, if and when Torres gets a tweak or a strain and we suddenly realise "feck me, we haven't got anybody else who can play there" we might then look at Babel and think we might have been better advised giving him a go a bit earlier.

Before anyone starts foaming at the mouth, I am simply making the point that as we haven't got anybody else who's any good we might as well try him out. At least he has pace (none of the others do), at least he can beat a man (none of the others can) and at least he has a decent shot from range (only one of the others, Kuyt, has). Kuyt has more awareness marginally, and probably a similar level of control, but we could do with him playing on the right and worrying about putting in a decent performance there right now. 

If Torres gets injured it's Voronin, Egg Nog, Babel or Kuyt (who we need on the right) . That is the painful reality, and for me it's an absolute no brainer that for all his faults we've got to at some stage between now and then, give Babel a decent go up top.

[LFC2007]

Benayoun, Kuyt, or even Pacheco could come in and play as the extra man up top/in midfield while we await Aquilani's return to fitness. When he's recovered, the system can revert back to what it was last season.

If Torres gets injured, we have Kuyt to come in and Benayoun can move to the right - with Johnson already there I'm not convinced we'd suffer too greatly by that changeup. Besides, if there is a small price to pay in that sense then it's one worth paying. Babel; head down, straight into blind alleys, or Kuyt; harrying, holding it up and at least showing some kind of awarness of his teammates (I think he's more than just 'marginally' better than Babel in this respect). In such a scenario that Torres sustains an injury, the most realistic objective of the forward to come in would be to bring others - our more attacking 'others' - into the game as much as possible, i.e. Gerrard, Johnson, Riera, Benayoun, Aquilani (assuming he's good), principally because I don't expect either Kuyt or Babel to pose much of a threat themselves. Kuyt would serve this objective more effectively, I'm convinced of that.

Then, when January comes around, we can move Babel on to Ajax and - hopefully - sign someone as a replacement.

Diverging slightly...it's unbelievable to think that Kranjcar and Gudjohnsen cost £4.5m combined and how we could do with those two right now.

[LFC2007]

You can definitely see a Thierry Henry type quality in him.

 

[akumaface]

Unless he changes his mentality, otherwise, it would be hard for him to realize what is needed to become successful. It is true that he underperforms but teases the fans with excellent pace and power. This is why it is so frustrated as he clearly does have some natural ability (unlike his counterpart Lucas ). Someone please straighten his head as we need all the helps that we can get....