Ryan Babel wants to establish himself at Liverpool as a striker long-term.
"I see myself as a striker long term," Babel told liverpoolfc.tv. "I started as a striker at Ajax at 11 and I live the chance to score goals and give assists. The boss told me he signed me as a winger, but he knows that I prefer to be a striker.
"It was good to score in midweek and it showed what I can do. I have confidence enough to say that if I work hard, I can be a better player than I am now.
"There was a time at Ajax when there was a lot of criticism of me, about my technique and my skills. People said I was not good enough to play in the first team and the crowd picked up on it and started looking at me more closely.
"When I lost the ball, for example, you would hear the crowd groan, so at that time I had a big call to make and decided to show them it was not true."
Such was his commitment and determination to succeed, the Dutch international hired a personal technique trainer, Chris Kronshorst, formerly of Porto, to help him improve his game.
"I wasn't playing well, the club weren't performing well and we were all under pressure all the time," added Babel.
"I thought I have to work on myself to make the team and myself successful again.
"I used to train a lot in private looking at a lot of things, like how to use your body in certain situations, and I got a lot of confidence from that. It helped me on the pitch and I'm still using the things that I learnt in those sessions now.
"Somehow what I was doing became public and Ajax found out and said I couldn't do it any more, but it definitely helped me."
"I see myself as a striker long term," Babel told liverpoolfc.tv. "I started as a striker at Ajax at 11 and I live the chance to score goals and give assists. The boss told me he signed me as a winger, but he knows that I prefer to be a striker.
"It was good to score in midweek and it showed what I can do. I have confidence enough to say that if I work hard, I can be a better player than I am now.
"There was a time at Ajax when there was a lot of criticism of me, about my technique and my skills. People said I was not good enough to play in the first team and the crowd picked up on it and started looking at me more closely.
"When I lost the ball, for example, you would hear the crowd groan, so at that time I had a big call to make and decided to show them it was not true."
Such was his commitment and determination to succeed, the Dutch international hired a personal technique trainer, Chris Kronshorst, formerly of Porto, to help him improve his game.
"I wasn't playing well, the club weren't performing well and we were all under pressure all the time," added Babel.
"I thought I have to work on myself to make the team and myself successful again.
"I used to train a lot in private looking at a lot of things, like how to use your body in certain situations, and I got a lot of confidence from that. It helped me on the pitch and I'm still using the things that I learnt in those sessions now.
"Somehow what I was doing became public and Ajax found out and said I couldn't do it any more, but it definitely helped me."
Comment