Liverpool FC Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread

Boggles wrote: »

An odd way to start your reply considering you basically echo my post completely :eek:

Rafa doesn't seem to like out and out attacking wide men, in fact what Rafa doesn't like he normally gets rid of, that was the point.
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~Rebel~ wrote: »

babel has the perfect attributes, tall and fast, and needs game time

jasonorr wrote: »

I wouldn't go that far!

See here.

With a little help from above, Babel aspires to central casting

Liverpool's thoughtful Dutch forward says he is in a hurry to succeed - and in his favourite role


A biting November's day on Merseyside. A kettle is boiling in the background and the windows are beginning to steam up as Ryan Babel takes his seat and offers a polite handshake. First impressions? That he seems remarkably unassuming for a star footballer at one of Europe's bigger clubs. But then there is the story of him berating a team-mate - "where's your touch?" - in one of his first training sessions at Liverpool so maybe there is more to him than meets the eye.

He is an intriguing character. Babel is 22 next month, but you could easily think he was younger. He has a boyish, slightly buck-toothed smile and you want to put an arm round him when he explains how, before moving to Liverpool, he had never lived away from his parents and how, 16 months in, he is still trying to find a church where he feels totally comfortable. Babel often carries a copy of the Bible and has a routine before every match where he finds a quiet spot for his prayers.

But Babel is streetwise. He had to be to survive in the Bijlmermeer, the unloved district of Amsterdam where he was brought up. Just click online and watch the videos of him rapping. Babel has a studio at home and has put out a number of records under the name Rio, including one collaboration with his Holland international team-mate Royston Drenthe. His lyrics could make Eminem blush - sample: "you can see this nigga with number 19/I can't even spend all my money/keep your daughter inside or you will be my family" - but the Dutch seem to like it. "The last one was called Eeyeeyo and went to number one in Holland over the summer," he says. "Music has always been an important part of my life."

The Biljmermeer, or colloquially Bijlmer, is a cluster of tower blocks close to the Amsterdam Arena and home to many of the city's 70,000 immigrants from the former Dutch colony of Surinam. "I don't want to use the word 'ghetto' but that is one way people describe it," says Babel. "I was lucky. My parents were very strict and had rules for me and, if ever I was playing outside, I always had a set time to come back in. But the Bijlmer had a lot of problems and I had other friends who chose the wrong road. There were a lot of drugs and crime and when you get into that scene it can be difficult to get back out."

This was also the place where El Al flight 1862, on the way from New York to Tel Aviv and having refuelled at Schiphol airport, crashed in 1992. "The plane came over our flat [he uses his hand to show how close it was] before crashing into the next high block. It could easily have been us." Thirty-nine people from his neighbourhood were killed, along with the three crew members on the plane and the only other person on board, a non-paying passenger. "It's a horrible memory. I was very young at the time [two months short of his sixth birthday] but I can still remember it. There was this almighty bang and when we ran out we could see all the flames and smoke. We were so close to it we had to leave our flat because it was not safe and we ended up at my grandma's. Then, when we were allowed to go back, I can just remember this terrible scene of complete devastation. It was like something out of a film."

His upbringing makes him more interested in real life than celebrity life. Babel is not just an accomplished footballer for Liverpool but a fine ambassador. He has been involved in an anti-racism workshop run by the Anthony Walker Foundation and this week devoted himself to another of the Premier League's Creating Chances events, at the launch of Liverpool's Respect 4 All centre. The project, funded in part by the Premier League Professional Footballers' Association, is for 12- to 16-year-olds with different types of disabilities.

Babel moved easily among the children, starting off with a game of wheelchair basketball before a target-practice routine with visually impaired children and a penalty shoot-out with youngsters with severe learning difficulties. Two hours of what would ordinarily be post-training rest time had elapsed by the time he had finished, but he was happy. "It's always a good feeling if you can make these kids happy. Not everyone has the life they expect but I still think they can make the best of it and, with this kind of centre, we want to help to inspire them."

Babel has sporting genes. His father, Guno, is a basketball coach. His mother, Asta, was an accomplished athlete and his sister, Janice, almost made it to the Olympics as a 100m and 200m sprinter. As fast as her brother? "Close," he smiles.

His own athleticism was first spotted by Ajax when he was 11, although it was not a straightforward process. "They used to have selection days for all the local kids and I went to these trials three times and got turned down every time," he recalls. "On the third time I was so upset because I thought I was not good enough. I was eight years old and I had the feeling, 'That's it, I don't want to play for Ajax any more!' But I kept doing well at my amateur club and, in the end, Ajax came to me."

No community on the planet, per capita, produces more top footballers than Surinam. In their day, Ruud Gullit, Frank Rijkaard, Clarence Seedorf, Edgar Davids and Patrick Kluivert - all of Surinamese heritage - could all fit in a world XI. Babel is seen as the latest in a long distinguished line. He made his debut for Ajax shortly after his 17th birthday and, at 18, became Holland's youngest international goalscorer since the 1930s.

He cost Liverpool £11.5m and, in his first season, won their young player of the season award. Yet there are glimpses of frustration. Babel made 20 of his 48 appearances last season from the bench and, since the start of this one, has found himself on the edges even more. Of his 14 appearances, 10 have been as a substitute, making it difficult for him to fulfil the great Marco van Basten's prophecy that he could be "the next Thierry Henry".

"I'm satisfied with my level of performance but the situation is clear - that I'm not going to be one of the regular 11 starters," says Babel. "It's difficult. I do get frustrated. I can tell myself that I'm still only 21 and at the start of my career. But it is making it hard for me because, as time goes on, they keep telling me that I'm young and that my time will come. Well, OK, but I'm not a player who wants to wait. I want to be involved now rather than in three or four years' time."

While Rafael Benítez has used Robbie Keane to partner Fernando Torres, Babel has mostly been employed on the wing. His pace could trouble any full-back, but Babel is a reluctant wide man. "I have always said that I want to play as a striker," he says. "Of course, it would not help me improve if I wasn't able to play, or train, in another position a couple of times. But all the time? I used to play as a striker in Holland. I grew up as a striker. That's the position I want to play.

"But I'm working on it. I look at myself before I blame others. I'm going to do something about it. It's not something I'm scared about." As the children at Respect 4 All know, Babel likes a central role.

Jazzy wrote: »

coated in more sugar then candy floss

Jazzy wrote: »

so there was no close or deep readin into that article by you? sound. proves a point really.

hes a good lad and one that i think is skilled and talented at liverpool and i really want him to be succesful. i love the type of play that he is and am hoping the best for him.
i was suggesting that the article is biased and isnt a real reflection on the current situation, merely an all ++ piece on a player that lets be fair, has had trouble establishing himself.


but who am i preaching to here? anything i write is pointless as its going to be washed away with paranoia and a repressive stance to the foundation of belief. LIVERPOOL LIVERPOOL LIVERPOOL YEAH!

Rafa Benitez today called on fans to be patient with Andrea Dossena as he gets to grips with English football.
The 27-year-old defender has enjoyed an up and down start to his Anfield career since switching from Serie A side Udinese in the summer.

But, with Fabio Aurelio forced onto the sidelines through injury once more, Dossena now has a chance to make the left-back slot his own.

Benitez is confident the Italian international can still prove a hit in English football.

"The main thing for me is that he is working very, very hard," the boss told Liverpoolfc.tv.

"The other day against Marseille he was trying to impress. He was going forward well and, okay, he made some mistakes in defence, but he also blocked some shots.

"He is working very hard but maybe he needs to be a little bit calmer and relaxed when he plays because he's a little bit anxious now."

Dossena has made 13 appearances this season - two fewer than defensive rival Aurelio.

However, the same period has seen him gain three more caps for Italy - proof if needed of his undoubted quality.

Benitez added: "It's difficult because Italian football is very tactical. Everyone is together and they don't play too many long balls - it's less physical than English football.

"So, he will need time - but the main thing for me is that he wants to improve, that's clear.

"He needs to know the system here and he will improve. You never know how long it will take but hopefully he'll be better in the next game."

Jazzy wrote: »

coated in more sugar then candy floss

Karmafaerie wrote: »

Yeah.
Evil Ryan Babel.

The bible carrying, church going fool.