Ryan Babel comes home

i think babel would have done much better under rodgers than under benitez.

vanDEEZ wrote:i think babel would have done much better under Rodgers than under benitez.

Possibly... It's a little hard to retrospectively say that a player would have succeeded under different management. In Babel's case, I'm not sure how much of his underwhelming return was down to not fitting the system and how much was not fitting into the League.

That said, I would agree that on paper he looks like a player that Rodgers would've loved and we sorely needed in the first half of the season. Moreover, his history with Ajax would suggest that he would slot right into the system/style Rodgers want's to use. Unfortunately, it wasn't meant to be, and you can hardly blame him for wanting to go somewhere where he will play more regularly.

vanDEEZ wrote:i think babel would have done much better under rodgers than under benitez.

The only reason why he'd be much better under Rodgers than Benitez is that Ryan would of seen more game time. I mean, compare the team that Rafael Benitez had to the one Rodgers currently posseses and you'll find that there's a massive difference in quality...

i honestly think that babel wouldn't have made it anywhere. he just has a terrible understanding of the game. maybe he is just stupid. he's basically a tall version of elia

People still think Babel is good?

justdoit_ wrote:People still think Babel is good?

Since when has anyone ever rated him? Bar Liverpool/Ajax fans. (Although not all Liverpool fans rated him.)

I never rated Babel and never will unless he pulls a hara kiri flip and turns into Cruyff.

Liverpool fans in general called for him to get playing time yet the reasons were beyond me. Poor footballing IQ, Shoot on sight, dribbled into blind alleys, predictable (like most Ajax graduates). He has his moments of brilliance, but so did David N'Gog.

Rather even have Elia then him.

That's just wrong... sorry arq.

First of all, he was A LOT better than N'gog. A hell lot better. "Poor footballing IQ"? Really? He combined with the likes of Alonso, Gerrard, Kuyt and Torres regularly... unless they're brainless on the pitch too, that's not true.

At the end of the day, Ryan didn't play for Liverpool under Rafa because he was weak at defending. And that's the ONLY thing Yossi had on top of Babel. We never had a LB under Rafa. We needed cover. Yossi did that.

Dribbled into blind alleys? That's also false...

He had a gun of a shoot and he was the only one that had balls to shoot. Far too many players were predictable. A lot of our players were goal shy at times. Kept trying to walk it in. Babel would test the keeper. And some of his goals were quality.