Thoughts on Babel last night?

[rage]

babel is at best raw. i really don't think we'll stick with him as a left winger and if he's continued to be played there we might as well sell him and buy a real left winger.

he was not our best player on wednesday. against a team of nobodys not once did he produce an end product with a quality ball or beat his man and then create something.

I remember when we bought him, didn't see the fans of the selling club being upset. Don't believe the hype imo

[bigfooty]

To be fair there was one bit of play in the last 10 or 15 minutes, he zipped down the left beating two guys and his cross I think came to Yossi at the back stick. King Luis would have taken it first time and smashed it home, Yossi miscontrolled and the ball went out off a defender for a corner.

I remember it cos it was the first time I've ever seen him drive past players like that on the outside AND get a cross in. Hopefully much more like that to come but, like you say, he is still very raw. And as someone else commented we should have spent the money on someone ready now, rather than in a year or two.

[Guest]

He was good on Wednesday and credit to him as he didn't have a full game for a full month beforehand. He clearly has talent but I'm not sure he's suited to playing on the left wing. He's more of a central striker for me and I think he may well end up playing there soon.

He also has the ability to spot an opening and isn't afraid to shoot. That's a good sign.

Our problem has been flaws on the wings, with Pennant not delivering the goods consistently. On the left we've got Leto, who again is raw, and Kewell consistently injured. I don't think Kewell has a future as winger though, as I'm not sure he still has the pace to go past players.

[rage]

leto will not make the grade, i'd much rather hammil play than leto.

[Guest]

leto will not make the grade, i'd much rather hammil play than leto.

I've not seen much of Hammil apart from brief cameos where he looked decent. He must demonstrate it consistently at this level though.

[dom9]

Who's John Barnes? Is he that fella off the dancing programme with Bruce Forsyth?

[dww]

I think he has done reasonably well at times but he is obviously still learning his trade. I have my reservations about whether he has the game intelligence to make it at the highest level but I think he has the talent otherwise. I think like Rosicky and Hleb at Arsenal he may need a bit of time to bed into the team/squad before he starts producing consistently.

I'm with AFII to some degree in that I think in the end Rafa wants to create a more fluid attacking unit with essentially one main striker and three other players whose position is mostly a guide to where they will defend. In that sort of context I think Babel will be useful in any of the three berths behind the striker. I don't think that sort of formations is all that far off what we played against Everton either.