The Ryan Babel Fan Club

[spider-neil]

I think it will be interesting to see how he develops.

At the moment, he is certainly rough around the edges. From what I have seen, he looks to ba a head down type of player, who will shoot at every opportunity, without necessarily being aware of what is around him.

There is plenty of time for him to adjust though. He is also helped by being one of the number of new players, so the pressure to succeed isn't pinned on him as much as say, Pennant last season.

And what a shot he has. Never seen anyone hot the ball that hard consistently (Heskey maybe).

that's patently untrue, look at the way he plays the one/two with pennant or the way he slips in kuyt (sucking two defenders to give dirk more space) if you ask me his awareness is one of his strongest assets with his weakness (currently) probably his lack of confidence to take a player on down the wing.

[Reece]

I have to agree with you...

FLMAO

Nice one

[Pablo]

that's patently untrue, look at the way he plays the one/two with pennant or the way he slips in kuyt (sucking two defenders to give dirk more space) if you ask me his awareness is one of his strongest assets with his weakness (currently) probably his lack of confidence to take a player on down the wing.

[Sus]

I think I did address the laziness aspect in the original point. I think you do have a point. I remember the specific example you are referring to on Saturday too.

It's something he will have to work on and im sure it's something Rafa has spotted. I dont think workrate is such a big issue though, im certain that will improve once he gets used to the pace of the Premiership.

yeah fair enough I can't imagine Rafa would put up with it for long, so it's either something specific to Babel's condition at the moment, or it's something that will be ironed out over the coming weeks.....

[spider-neil]

yeah fair enough I can't imagine Rafa would put up with it for long, so it's either something specific to Babel's condition at the moment, or it's something that will be ironed out over the coming weeks.....

sometime people equate running around like a blue arsed fly/headless chicken with working hard and intelligent runs with laziness.

virtually every time there has been action in and around the box babel has been there (think about it)

[Imy]

sometime people equate running around like a blue arsed fly/headless chicken with working hard and intelligent runs with laziness.

virtually every time there has been action in and around the box babel has been there (think about it)

Agree, he certainly is not in the Baros/Cisse headless chicken club thats for sure.

He is still young, learning when to run, pass, shoot is something he will gain under the tutelage of rafa and game experience.

[Joe Le Toff]

Surely everyone can see this lad's potential? He's even younger than Leto, not 21 yet, and has a big future. I LOVE how he can BLAST 80mph shots with little or no backlift. Outstanding. He's gonna burst the net soon.

I'd like to know what he feels is his best position, though.

Spot on, IMO he has all the attributes to be a top player, at this stage of his career its clear hes a little raw and needs a good coach to nurture the ability he has. With Rafas guidance he'll be a star.

[hockin_monster]

Agger
Torres
Penant
Arbeloa
Babel
Mascherano
Leiva
Sissoko
Leto
Insua

All under 25

Without doubt the best young squad around

Yes, it's superb, but have a look at 26 and under and you get this .....

.................Reina
Arbeloa..Agger...Hobbs....Riise
Pennant..Masher..Alonso..Babel
........Crouch....Torres




So then, we need some central defensive cover by the looks of it.

[dww]

Disagree about his awareness I think that is far far better than you are giving him credit for, the little ball into Kuyt last night for the goal showed great awareness and great deft touch. I think the reason he seems to shoot on sight a bit at the moment is just his overeagerness to get off the mark and impress the fans. I cant fault him for that. Once he settles down I think he will show great awareness and pick the right moment to unleash his Jimmy H shots (copyright Slim).

I will win over the doubters, lol

I can see what you are saying but his decision making has been poor so far this season. He has however shown a lot of potential both with his skils on the ball and his instinctive short passing.

He now needs to improve the timing of his balls into the box and I agree with you that his first goal might help him as he stops trying to shoot all the time.

I've said it before but at the minute he reminds me of Pennant before he found his form - lacking the confidence to do the right thing at the right time. I think that he will be a big asset in the future but for now we have to be patient.

[Mattimetal]

I have no doubt he will be a star - I reckon Babel and Torres could be our number one strike force in 2 seasons time maybe? Watch the opp defence **** themselves then.

The lad oozes class at his young age and we have a gem in our team and he's a pleasure to watch - would use him as a super sub as that's when there's more space for him to exploit. Loved the understanding he had with Dirk last night as numerous people have said his deft one touch ball for Kuyt to score from a difficult angle was beautiful football to watch.

I'm joining the 'Babel fan club' and the rest of you doubters get a life please, try and be a bit more positive we haven't had such exciting talent in our squad since Rafa took over!

[Pablo]

I can see what you are saying but his decision making has been poor so far this season. He has however shown a lot of potential both with his skils on the ball and his instinctive short passing.

He now needs to improve the timing of his balls into the box and I agree with you that his first goal might help him as he stops trying to shoot all the time.

I've said it before but at the minute he reminds me of Pennant before he found his form - lacking the confidence to do the right thing at the right time. I think that he will be a big asset in the future but for now we have to be patient.

Yep, agree with that. Comparison with Pennant is fair also. Just a shame that some people lack the necessary patience.

[calvoboy]

I'lll wait and see on him. He's quick and can certainly hit a ball. His touch seems a bit random at the moment though, and he's definitely got a lot to learn.

A great prospect, but time will tell whether he develops and fulfils that potential. Pablo's first post in this thread is way over the top in its praise of a player who's done nothing as of yet, but then so is writing him off at this early stage.

[Sus]

sometime people equate running around like a blue arsed fly/headless chicken with working hard and intelligent runs with laziness.

virtually every time there has been action in and around the box babel has been there (think about it)

I'm not sure who that comment is directed at but it's pretty clear Babel doesn't make himself available for passes as consistently as Pennant has or Benayoun did last night..... he sits on his heels too often for my liking

I'm not talking about whether his runs are intelligent or not, I'm talking about how often he makes those runs...not enough in my book

if I'm wrong, and he is doing what you seem to think he is, why did most of our play on Sat go through Pennant?

[Pablo]

I'm not sure who that comment is directed at but it's pretty clear Babel doesn't make himself available for passes as consistently as Pennant has or Benayoun did last night..... he sits on his heels too often for my liking

I'm not talking about whether his runs are intelligent or not, I'm talking about how often he makes those runs...not enough in my book

if I'm wrong, and he is doing what you seem to think he is, why did most of our play on Sat go through Pennant?

It just takes time for a new player to settle in and demand the ball like that. It certainly took Pennant plenty of time but he is getting there now. You could see it happened to Leto last night too. Some of it is just the other players being used to the established players and familiarising themselves with the runs they make etc.

Lucas was exactly the same when came on last night. For the first 5-10 mins he was a bit shy in demanding the ball. Once he had a few touches though he was growing in confidence and started to make himself available more and more often.

Its all down to confidence and experience. The young players just need to integrate themselves into the side and it does take time.

[spider-neil]

I'm not sure who that comment is directed at but it's pretty clear Babel doesn't make himself available for passes as consistently as Pennant has or Benayoun did last night..... he sits on his heels too often for my liking

I'm not talking about whether his runs are intelligent or not, I'm talking about how often he makes those runs...not enough in my book

if I'm wrong, and he is doing what you seem to think he is, why did most of our play on Sat go through Pennant?

because currently pennant is tearing teams apart, when a player is in form they are the first person you look for, look at yossi yesterday virtually no play happened down the left as people were looking for yossi all the time.

when babel becomes more confident to take players on I'm sure he will see more of the ball, this is exactly what happened with pennant at the latter end of last season.

babel to me looks like a very intelligent player and if he feels he can't take on and beat someone he will pass it and if you ask me rather that than lose possession cheaply.