Babel and Rafa

[SB]

I totlly agree with the article above!
Babel can make the difference!

Wish we picked the side hey

[AFII]

I totlly agree with the article above!
Babel can make the difference!

He can make the difference if he bothered to turn up week in week out, he don't.

If he don't improve his mentality then it's bye, bye Babel. I won't even be surprised if Rafa sells him in January.

[Reacher]

Let the guy play his natural game and let's see what comes of it.

Spot on. Remember the champions league 2nd leg against Arsenal, Ryan tore them a new one in the second half.

show a bit of confidence in the lad and ill be sure he'll come good. we ****in need him to with Torres out.

[SB]

Spot on. Remember the champions league 2nd leg against Arsenal, Ryan tore them a new one in the second half.

show a bit of confidence in the lad and ill be sure he'll come good. we ****in need him to with Torres out.

If Rafa gave him the same run of games that Keane has had, I'm sure we'd have scored a few more goals

[dww]

Because as the article says Fredo, Rafa is trying to turn Babel into a workaholic like Dirky. Let the guy play his natural game and let's see what comes of it.

Can't do worse than Keane or N'Gog IMO.

I really don't think he is. He does however require him to fulfill some basic tactical aspects of the game which is not what Babel seems to want to do. Even the likes of Ronaldo do this sort of thing but Babel is so 'maverick' that he looses the teams shape and the rest of the team have to adapt to incorporate him. He isn't good enough (certainly at the minute) for that to be worth doing. He always plays his natural game - I've not seen a single piece of evidence on the pitch that even if Rafa has wanted to change him that it has worked.

That said he should probably be bought on earlier in some of these tight games where we have established dominance but not scored.

[AFII]

If Rafa gave him the same run of games that Keane has had, I'm sure we'd have scored a few more goals

The problem is that he isn't fit enough to last the full 90 minutes. Fitness is a big part of his problem.

[Craig_H]

I really don't think he is. He does however require him to fulfill some basic tactical aspects of the game which is not what Babel seems to want to do. Even the likes of Ronaldo do this sort of thing but Babel is so 'maverick' that he looses the teams shape and the rest of the team have to adapt to incorporate him. He isn't good enough (certainly at the minute) for that to be worth doing. He always plays his natural game - I've not seen a single piece of evidence on the pitch that even if Rafa has wanted to change him that it has worked.

That said he should probably be bought on earlier in some of these tight games where we have established dominance but not scored.

Ronaldo was tactically clueless and raw to start with too though mate. They kept faith with him, he learned and look at him now. Babel needs to be nurtured and given match time.

Babel's own side of the bargain though, must be to try and get a bit more game intelligence and maturity.

[SB]

The problem is that he isn't fit enough to last the full 90 minutes. Fitness is a big part of his problem.

And Keane can't score if he stayed and played two full matches but he's on the starting X1 almost every game.

I know RB isn't fit enough ATM but at least give him some game time to get match fitness.

[SB]

Ronaldo was tactically clueless and raw to start with too though mate. They kept faith with him, he learned and look at him now. Babel needs to be nurtured and given match time.

Babel's own side of the bargain though, must be to try and get a bit more game intelligence and maturity.

Agree but that's not going to happen on the bench though is it

[SB]

I really don't think he is. He does however require him to fulfill some basic tactical aspects of the game which is not what Babel seems to want to do. Even the likes of Ronaldo do this sort of thing but Babel is so 'maverick' that he looses the teams shape and the rest of the team have to adapt to incorporate him. He isn't good enough (certainly at the minute) for that to be worth doing. He always plays his natural game - I've not seen a single piece of evidence on the pitch that even if Rafa has wanted to change him that it has worked.

That said he should probably be bought on earlier in some of these tight games where we have established dominance but not scored.

Dave he is a striker being asked to play wide left and do defensive duties when not fit = not playing his natural game as an impact player/striker is what I'm saying

[dww]

Dave he is a striker being asked to play wide left and do defensive duties when not fit = not playing his natural game as an impact player/striker is what I'm saying

As far as I know he has always played left sided striker in a 4-3-3 for Ajax which is not so different from an attacking midfielder. I was as much referring to giving players an option for a pass as defending any way. The problem to my mind is that he does play like an impact player and he simply isn't good enough to justify that position in a top club at the minute. If he wants to be an impact player his current position on the bench is where he belongs - if he is willing to learn to be a player who contributes to the team then he can go far but if you look at him when he does play up top (I admit not a huge number of times) his movement is hopeless compared to the likes of Torres and even Keane and Kuyt in terms of making space and being available for a pass.

[dww]

Ronaldo was tactically clueless and raw to start with too though mate. They kept faith with him, he learned and look at him now. Babel needs to be nurtured and given match time.

Babel's own side of the bargain though, must be to try and get a bit more game intelligence and maturity.

The thing is though that Ronaldo learned quickly and you could see he was developing. Babel was older when he came and didn't develop much last season. I was saying this around this point last year and he picked up briefly but in the end it turned out he was finding better form rather than altering his game as he needs too.

There is still hope and if nothing else the Alonso saga shows that if a player ups their game Rafa is wiling to re-evaluate his opinion on them.

[barnes10]

paco was right. he wasnt the right buy...

[dww]

I kind of agree with that but at the same time he was exactly the sort of gamble we needed to try at the time and possibly still need to make now.

[rage]

If Rafa gave him the same run of games that Keane has had, I'm sure we'd have scored a few more goals

The problem is that he isn't fit enough to last the full 90 minutes. Fitness is a big part of his problem.

And Keane can't score if he stayed and played two full matches but he's on the starting X1 almost every game.

I know RB isn't fit enough ATM but at least give him some game time to get match fitness.

rafa has favourites. keane is one of them. gets an opportunity week after week and still fails. babel gets the odd 10 minutes and is somehow not doing enough. the article is spot on.