Liverpool FC Forum

[Fo Dne]

We'll never know of course but my suspicion is that Robbie (Fowler...as opposed to "Robert David Keane" ) would have anticipated that ball falling to him in the box much quicker than Babel did and would have done more with it.  I'm not going to crucify the lad for it or anything--we still won and all--but it was just another question mark about his awareness for me.

The lads not good enough, simple as that.

[maguskwt]

gonna copy and paste my comment on the match thread regarding babel's not looking like a striker... 


anyway to toffehaters reply on my comment on babel... yes I think babel is not a striker... because he had gilt-edged chances which HAD to be put away there's no doubt about it...peter crouch would've put them away... I remember him having MORE than 2 chances in the whole game... one was early in the first half... kuyt gave him a good pass... he did very very well with his first touch turning the marseille defender and all of a sudden he was one on one with the keeper and the keeper was still behind... with the whole goal to choose from, what did he do? It seemed to me like he closed his eyes and whacked the ball so hard it went to the stands... another one is where later on in the second half reira attacked down the left and sent in a dangerous cross... benayoun and marseille defender went for the the ball and it spilt out to babel... alone close range he blasted the ball again... hitting the keeper... another one was also a goalmouthscramble... he could've slipped the ball under the keeper towards the near post but again he blasted the ball... IF you consider this as a striker's finishing, then i must say I don't like strikers who just try to blast the ball without an intent, I like strikers who finish the ball into the net intelligently like Torres or Owen. Not to say the rest of his performance was bad... but he still blows hot and cold for me... and I don't like the look of his finishing skills...

Well first of I did watch the game so i know the chances in fact I watched game 3 times now.

2nd of all the 2nd chance you speak of with benny he couldn't score that keep made up to much ground and got hand in way if he had hit the ball softer his foot would have taken longer to reacht he ball and keep would have had time to grab the ball.

As for you not liking strikers who hit ball with power , since when has it been down to a pans personal pref , how the hell out players hit the ball.

I mean wtf You wanna tell the player how to run next or you don't like how they move foot to the right when they do step overs maybe you like them to move the ball to the left before.

Or maybe you don't like they cross the ball to flat you want more air , basicly they play how they play end of story.

As long as he carrys on to improve I could care how he plays its his style , I personal think his style will be very effective once he nails it.

So the chance from Rieira's cross he couldn't have done better? He couldn't have opened his body up? He couldn't have slotted it? He couldn't have took another touch or sold the keeper a dummy? He couldn't have adjusted his body position?

He done the only thing possible did he?

Absoloute rubbish.

He missed a sitter and thats the end of it.

Classic clueless comment I watched game 3 times now nothing else he could of done.

Not even robbie fowler would have scored that in fact he wouldn't have even got on end of it so please stfu.

you've just embarrassed yourself with this post... the clueless one I'm afraid is you...



not even robbie fowler...     

No robbie was good but he did miss chances and he wouldn;t have had pace to even get on end of it let alone score muppet.

Who is the fan boy. 

I would have bet my house that a 21-year old robbie would have scored AT LEAST one goal, AT THE VERY LEAST, with the same number and nature of chances that babel had on that day. You're talking about probably the most natural and instinctive finisher the premier league had ever seen here! And I'm not praising fowler because I'm a fan boy of his... it's because it's a FACT... if I was being a fan boy, I would be praising owen... he doesn't need pace he's always there to FINISH! his anticipation is probably 10 times better than babel! what you just said is just ridiculous and if you rethink about your comments you'll know it...

[flamingpoe]

i agree he hasn't scored obsessively and theyve not been screamers but the lad will come good in the end, i think that if he isn't good here he will go on to be a good striker for some 1 else, he just needs time he is very young and is very talented, his first touch is brilliant and if it hadn't been for him it would of been 1-1 in marseille, granted it could of been 2-1 to us n e ways but it could of easily been 2-1 to them if it hadn't been for reina, and then again you seen babel almost scoring at their end again right at the end, so stop all the moaning considering babel is gonna become one of the best strikers in the premiership, with or without us moaning about or praising him!!

[Cool Hand Luke]

When Torres is not fit, suspended or just rotated, Babel should be given the chance to start in his role upfront. If Torres were injured for a couple a month or two I wouldn’t mind giving Babel his position for 10-15 games and see what happens.

[maypaxvobiscum]

i agree he hasn't scored obsessively and theyve not been screamers but the lad will come good in the end, i think that if he isn't good here he will go on to be a good striker for some 1 else, he just needs time he is very young and is very talented, his first touch is brilliant and if it hadn't been for him it would of been 1-1 in marseille, granted it could of been 2-1 to us n e ways but it could of easily been 2-1 to them if it hadn't been for reina, and then again you seen babel almost scoring at their end again right at the end, so stop all the moaning considering babel is gonna become one of the best strikers in the premiership, with or without us moaning about or praising him!!

sorry but if babel did score at the other end wouldnt it be an own goal? 

[bigmick]

I think the blokes got a chance, but I do wish some of the happy clappiers would stop the ridiculous comparisons with other players. On the one hand he occasionally looks clumsy but then again "so did John Barnes" , or we should "remember Henri" or if he misses a chance, "Fowler wouldn't have scored it either" .

Now quite why we should remember Henri when we are discussing Babel is an absolute mystery to me. Given the widely accepted fact that Henri was in all probability the best player to ever grace the Premiership, we'd be far better off completely forgetting about him rather than remembering him where Babels concerned. If Babel could eventually become half the player Henri was, we'd all (including Stu I'm absolutely certain) be absolutely over the moon with him. As it is, he is an absolutely different stratosphere to the ex-Arsenal man, and whats more he will never ever get there. Like I say though, no particular shame in that so in the meantime lets just not mention them in the same sentence.

John Barnes oaccasionally looked clumsy? I don't know what to say really. Suffice to say I don't agree. "Fowler wouldn't have scored it either". There seems to be a trend developing on the boards where we degenerate previous achievements and personel at the club in order to make a comparison with todays "hero's" more worthy. If we aren't comparing points totals with an era where a win only got you you twice as many points as a draw so a draw was a better result (sounds amazing but I assure you it's true), or comparing the current manager with people like Shankly and Dalglish  we're talking about Barnes looking "clumsy" or Fowlers finishing prowess .

If Babel could become half the finisher that Fowler was, half as good in the air and half as good at striking the ball cleanly, with his pace he'd be a top player. Chuck in Fowlers cunning and game intelligence, he'd be a World beater. If he could also be as clumsy as Barnes was, feck me we'd have a World player of the year on our hands.



He isn't of course ever going to become any of those things. As Steve McLaren would say, "Shtop with the comparishons" (or indeed as Sean Connery would say now I think about it). Lets just see how he turns out. If he carries on improving, one day he might become a decent first team player. If he does, lovely.

[NANNY RED]

Just got to say that who ever is comparing Babel with Fowler is way off the mark . Not even in the same class . Different type of player completly. Different mentality and attitude towards the game. Robbie Fowler was a one off maybe in a couple of years Babel will get somewhere near the football ability and brain that Fowler had but imo nothing like him

[tonyeh]

When Torres is not fit, suspended or just rotated, Babel should be given the chance to start in his role upfront. If Torres were injured for a couple a month or two I wouldn’t mind giving Babel his position for 10-15 games and see what happens.

Hmmm...all last season, I was urging Rafa to try out Babel up front with Torres or in place of Torres in a surely won game. I think the lad has speed and can get around a player (don't know about 2 though    ) and he has a decent shot.

Rafa didn't take me up on the point though. 

This year, with Riera looking like he could do the business on the left wing, Babel is left very much floating and could be tried out in one of the strikers absence, to see what could happen, as you say.


Tony

[tonyeh]

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[maypaxvobiscum]

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this is the first post u had without








tony

[tonyeh]

It was a double post.   



Tony 

[maypaxvobiscum]

[Cool Hand Luke]

Aggression and “game intelligence” are two major things that Babel lacks. I think to a certain degree he can be worked on to improve the latter. When he starts games he doesn’t seem to get himself in to many good positions, only when the game gets stretched and the opposition get tired does he really make an impact. I think he needs a couple of 90 minutes in a row in his favourite position, only then will all the coaching that he is supposed to be getting will really start to have an impact on his game.

But it doesn’t look like he is going to get that unless 2 or 3 of our strikers pick up long term injuries.

[Igor Zidane]

Kuyt , Babel , Lucas , Dossena , Benayoun. We are unbeaten and joint top inspight of these players , is that right?

[bigmick]

Kuyt , Babel , Lucas , Dossena , Benayoun. We are unbeaten and joint top inspight of these players , is that right?

We are Igor and we've made a good start. Fortunately we have a viable alternative to all the players mentioned with the possible exception of Kuyt. I have absolutely no doubts though that if Benayoun, Lucas, Babel, Kuyt and Dossena had started every game it wouldn't be so.

All that said, they didn't start every game and it is so so all is good.


I've said lots of times that I actually think we've got a very good bunch of players and we've got real chances of doing things this season. One or two of the fringe blokes are not good enough IMHO, but by and large we've got the makings of a very good team.

IMHO like the two previous seasons we are plenty good enough to launch a genuine title challenge. We didn't in either case for a variety of reasons IMHO which in the interests of not clogging up the thread I won't go into here. Hopefully we've learnt from it and this time we'll challenge, we're plenty good enough to do so.