Ryan Babel lifts the lid on 'confusing' life at Liverpool FC under Rafael Benitez

[Vermilion]

Just another player trying to blame someone else for their own abysmal record at the club, what a surprise. When the facts are that...when he's given his chance...of which he's had many..he struts around the pitch seemingly without a care in the world. Babels problem is he's lazy and stupid, nothing more, if i remember correctly..some of the unsuccessful players at Chelsea under Maureen said similar things about him to justify their own ineptness.

[The Birdman]

I'm sorry but that is bollocks, no manager in charge of any team in the world stops their players from trying to get better.

What he may have been stopped from doing was extra training a day before a game for example but if he fancied doing 2 hours training instead of having a day off (for example) then that would have been encouraged

[dww]

I'm sorry but that is bollocks, no manager in charge of any team in the world stops their players from trying to get better.

What he may have been stopped from doing was extra training a day before a game for example but if he fancied doing 2 hours training instead of having a day off (for example) then that would have been encouraged

The thing is though - does simply more training necessarily make you better? You would think in certain areas repetition would be more or less all you need if you are good (see Beckham with free kicks) but doing more work on your own might well lead you to just re-enforce bad habits in a lot of other areas.

[Shaggy]

How does Wenger deal with lazy players? I ask because most Gooners I know chant "Babel would be world class under Wenger". My issue with Babel is his attitude, mostly. He only looks interested when he has the ball, not Rafa's kind of player at all.

Aside from his poor decison making. (that applies to Babel and Rafa at times).

That's a bit of a **** chant. What tune is it?

[calvoboy]

I've never been a Babel fan, but I think you get a different impression of these comments when seen in context.

He was being slagged on twitter by some people asking "why aren't you at training?" he responded by saying "we trained this morning" someone then replied saying "what no afternoon session?" to which he responded "no premiership clubs have two sessions a day during the season with a game each weekend".

Then someone said to him "shouldn't you be doing extra sessions anyway to prove you're worth a place in the first team". After which he said, "do you know what, I agree with you", then a couple of tweets wondering whether to say something or not. And then he posted the five tweets quoted in the article in the original post:

"I wasn't allowed to train extra under our former manager, even when I wasn't involved.

"I begged lots of times but it was simply not allowed and during the season you don't train very hard because you have lots games, so most sessions we had were without sweating.

"But if I wanted to do some extra, which I asked for every single day, I didn't have permission.

"It was confusing of course because of course you want to get better. I even tried to train extra by doing it secretly, but the assistant manager came to tell me to stop.

"And I had to get used to that because at Ajax we were staying for up to two hours longer on the pitch by ourselves. That was an amazing time with [Klaas-Jan] Huntelaar, [Wesley] Sneijder and Edgar Davids"

Viewed as a conversation with his followers it reads a bit differently than "Babel breaks his silence to slate Rafa", no?

In any case it's interesting if true. Makes me wonder what additional training he was trying to do though. He's talking about not sweating during training, and if he was asking to do extra running then I'm not surprised he was prevented, as the sports scientists work out optimal fitness programmes for all of the squad. If we was asking for extra practice on technical issues though such as his first touch, shooting or heading then I would be amazed if he was prevented from doing so.

[The Birdman]

The thing is though - does simply more training necessarily make you better? You would think in certain areas repetition would be more or less all you need if you are good (see Beckham with free kicks) but doing more work on your own might well lead you to just re-enforce bad habits in a lot of other areas.

If you don't have the mentaility to go with it then no you're right extra training alone won't improve you.
However in Babel's particular case 30 mins extra after every training session running at a full back (in the last couple of seasons that player could have been Kelly, helping him improve as well) and practising his step over at full speed to allow him to go outside and cross with his left foot would have made a massive difference.

Repetiton, repetition, repetition on the training ground becomes instinct during games that is 100% true regardless of the skill or discipline that individual player is practising

[hold51]

legend on twitter

crap on the pitch

if only he got it the other way round he might be worth the fee we paid for the fool!

[Icon]

That's a bit of a **** chant. What tune is it?

I tried several tunes.
The only one that worked was the -

"Christian Surnames Red and White Army"

Repeated for about 25mins

[DannyMan2006]

Babel has played less and less games every season. He looked to be a real prospect in that first season and was tipped by many to have a massive impact in his second season.

I think in the summer after his first year he went to the olympics which Rafa moaned about (rightly so) and ended up getting an injury and returning late. Ever since then Babel has never had a look in.

I remember whe he came on against Lyon in France and smashed in an absoloute cracker, in the short time he was on he looked ten times more likely to cause damage than any other player had done all night.

Next game he didn't even come off the bench. ****ing pathetic management.

[Mostar]

Babel has played less and less games every season. He looked to be a real prospect in that first season and was tipped by many to have a massive impact in his second season.

I think in the summer after his first year he went to the olympics which Rafa moaned about (rightly so) and ended up getting an injury and returning late. Ever since then Babel has never had a look in.

I remember whe he came on against Lyon in France and smashed in an absoloute cracker, in the short time he was on he looked ten times more likely to cause damage than any other player had done all night.

Next game he didn't even come off the bench. ****ing pathetic management.

Not big Babel's fan but that was some ****ing shot.

[dom9]

That is the thing about Babel.

He will pull something out of the bag when you least expect it.

Trouble is, you least expect it because he's utterly ****e for 99% of the time.

[DannyMan2006]

That is the thing about Babel.

He will pull something out of the bag when you least expect it.

Trouble is, you least expect it because he's utterly ****e for 99% of the time.

Hard to be concistant when you're not in the side on a concistant basis.

The evidence is this:

The first season he was here he was starting games and was getting better as time went on. Since that first season he's not been started for more than two games in a row iirc and he has not improved. Coincidence?

[Bender]

Hard to be concistant when you're not in the side on a concistant basis.

The evidence is this:

The first season he was here he was starting games and was getting better as time went on. Since that first season he's not been started for more than two games in a row iirc and he has not improved. Coincidence?

At least your spelling is consistent

[DannyMan2006]

At least your spelling is consistent

I've been spelling it that way for years, never knew it was wrong

[Bender]

I've been spelling it that way for years, never knew it was wrong