Thoughts on Babel last night?

[rushscored4]

But we already have that in Riise, don't we?

When he's fit I think Aurelio would offer the best option amongst the senior players although I've been very impressed with Insua in the reserves and I am looking forward to seeing him again against Newcastle tonight.

[DeeGame]

He reminds me of Bambi for some reason

[The Birdman]

Riise is a poor excuse for a Liverpool player, anyone who thinks he is effective when shooting 10 times a game peppering the fans 4 tiers up behind either goal from 30 yards instead of passing to someone else is sadly mistaken.
Squad player to cover LB or LM yes, playing 10 games a season yes, Liverpool quality to be a week in week out regular absolutely not.
Riise is one of those players who looks good to the Championship Manager generation, looks spectacular actually achieves very little

[machiavelli]

Indeed. I posted last night, I think it was last night...,that he seemed to me more a 'Wenger'-type player. Being right footed that's precisely where Arsenal would play him.

A mate of mine is a arsenal fan and he was going on all last year about babel and how he is a perfect arsenal player and how wenger was going to make him into the next henry. Then when we signed him he couldnt believe it...he kept saying that babel wasnt a benitez player, he was a wenger player.

Hopefully rafa can bring this player on to what alot of people in holland think he can be!

[Frank Leroux]

Yeah, if you have a right footed left midfielder you need an excellent overlapping left back who is preferably left footed so the opposing team's right back is turned inside and out (literally)...

...And just teasing this out a little further....a fit Kewell (if that's not an Oxymoron nowadays) on the right with Onuah (sp? Man City right back) on the right, perhaps?

I know I shouldn't be dreaming like this but there's a lot of shouting on the Forum these days....

[Frank Leroux]

A mate of mine is a arsenal fan and he was going on all last year about babel and how he is a perfect arsenal player and how wenger was going to make him into the next henry. Then when we signed him he couldnt believe it...he kept saying that babel wasnt a benitez player, he was a wenger player.

Hopefully rafa can bring this player on to what alot of people in holland think he can be!

I have to say, and I'm leaving myself open to a crucifixtion here, that at times, last night, Babel had a look on his face which was wondering 'what is goin' on here?'. I feel he's been thrown into a team in a malaise at the moment - which will do him no good...

[PLY]

Babel cutting inside with a Philip Lahm overlapping is a nice thought....no?

Would that be the right-footed Philip Lahm we're talking about?

[Frank Leroux]

Would that be the right-footed Philip Lahm we're talking about?

Eh, yeh. That's right...

I'm posting too much....

[Nicey]

I could see there is potential there for him to be a true talent

[Redlife]

I thought he did fine, and he'll get better the more he plays.



There were a few times last night when he had nothing but the fullback and a load of space in front of him, and he turned and passed inside when he should have ran the defender. But after doing that a few times, he seemed to recognize that the opportunity was there and so he took the man on and went past him like he wasn't there.



Massive real potential.

[kopash]

maybe I'm missing something but I thought hs touch at times has been very poor this season. Also the lack of willingness to do a Marc Overmars and basically kick the ball ahead of the defender and run after it tight on the touchline is frustrating given his assets. He should be skinning his man every time he gets it

[homer1]

He lost the ball a few times but in fairness usually it was whilst he was having a go at their defenders. What I liked was he was direct and you could see he wanted to go for goal as soon as he received the ball

The lad is strong as an ox, raw granted, but I would love to see him up front with Torres. For all their hard work and effort I don't see Crouch, Kuyt or Voronin scaring defenders - I think Babel would ..... he could be an awesome player for us but I still don't see him as a winger

[CharlieMansonsSquint]

I thought he did fine, and he'll get better the more he plays.



There were a few times last night when he had nothing but the fullback and a load of space in front of him, and he turned and passed inside when he should have ran the defender. But after doing that a few times, he seemed to recognize that the opportunity was there and so he took the man on and went past him like he wasn't there.



Massive real potential.

Agree.

But here's the big problem with him in particular, is that he more than any other suffers from constantly being rotated in and our of the team.

I really think - though he has a lot of natural ability - that he's a confidence player. So how is he going to improve if he plays 3 games out of 5? He might play really well 2 games in a row then be rotated out again. How's he going to improve and learn if he isn't playing half the time?

I really don't care what Rafa thinks about rotating, it's not helping in this lads case.

And I just get the gut feeling that he'll be benched against Arsenal this weekend. It puts him right back to square one, again.

[Sir Bob]

Agree.

But here's the big problem with him in particular, is that he more than any other suffers from constantly being rotated in and our of the team.

I really think - though he has a lot of natural ability - that he's a confidence player. So how is he going to improve if he plays 3 games out of 5? He might play really well 2 games in a row then be rotated out again. How's he going to improve and learn if he isn't playing half the time?

I really don't care what Rafa thinks about rotating, it's not helping in this lads case.

And I just get the gut feeling that he'll be benched against Arsenal this weekend. It puts him right back to square one, again.

Great post mate.
I feel really sorry for Babel, Yossi and to a lesser extent Voronin. how as new players are they supposed to bed in when they play 2 or 3 games in 5. Not only that when they do play, its often with different players than their last outing.

Babel looks promising and as Hollands top rated young player, must be more than decent but we won't see the best of him for at least another 2 seasons.

[einar]

Agree.

But here's the big problem with him in particular, is that he more than any other suffers from constantly being rotated in and our of the team.

I really think - though he has a lot of natural ability - that he's a confidence player. So how is he going to improve if he plays 3 games out of 5? He might play really well 2 games in a row then be rotated out again. How's he going to improve and learn if he isn't playing half the time?

I really don't care what Rafa thinks about rotating, it's not helping in this lads case.

And I just get the gut feeling that he'll be benched against Arsenal this weekend. It puts him right back to square one, again.

I have two questions for you.

How many games do players have to play together every week to gel together?

Why would a player loose confidence if he is told he is only dropped to keep him fit for the whole season?

I am not having a go at you or anything, just wondering what your opinion on this is.