Ryan Babel is trying Rafa Benitez's patience
WHEN Dutch football magazine Sportsweek reported this week that Ryan Babel is running out of patience with life at Anfield, one can only hope he was misquoted, misinterpreted or misrepresented.
Because if anyone's patience is being tested it is that of his manager, his team-mates and the Liverpool fans who are all still waiting for signs Babel is about to start fulfilling his clearly rich potential.
The former Ajax man has now been at Anfield for 18 months and in that time he has shown enough flashes of natural talent and ability to suggest he could become one of football's biggest stars.
Crucial goals scored against Manchester United in the league this campaign and Arsenal in last season's Champions League also indicate Babel is far from being intimidated by the big occasion.
His qualities are there for all to see and with the physique of a middleweight boxer and the pace of an Olympic sprinter he should be making life a misery for Premier League defences on a weekly basis.
The fact he isn't and that the amount of time he is being given on the pitch is vastly reduced compared to this time last season tells us that Babel is some way off from being the player which so many people in football believe he can be.
Babel first came to international prominence at the European under-21 Championships which were held in his native Holland in summer 2007.
Scouts drooled over his unerring ability to beat his marker and his eye for a goal, and many observers marked him out as the best player at the tournament by some distance.
In the England ranks at that competition was Ashley Young, who did not live up to Babel's exacting standards despite doing a decent enough job for his country.
Roles have been reversed since then though, with Young becoming one of the Premier League's most exciting players while Babel has spent so much time on Liverpool's bench that he will soon be carrying tweezers in his kit bag in case of splinters.
It could be argued that Babel needs more playing time, but that is difficult when Rafa Benitez is trying to plot a title challenge with players he knows he can rely on.
Babel is almost 22 but we still don't know what he will produce from one game to the next.
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Will it be the player who terrorised Arsenal after coming off the bench in a Champions League quarter-final and the one who did the same against United at Anfield a couple of months back?
Or will it be the one who offered nothing after coming off the bench against Fulham last weekend and the one who was ineffective at home to Portsmouth and anonymous in Carling Cup ties against Spurs and Crewe?
His Liverpool career so far was actually summed up in a single moment when Pompey visited Anfield. Babel bamboozled his marker with the kind of trick that brings crowds to their feet only to give the ball away with his very next touch.
The potential was there but the end product wasn't.
A generation ago, Babel's struggles would have seen him consigned to the reserves for a few months to iron out the creases in his game.
But with second string football no longer viewed as an ideal convalescence for out of touch senior stars, he is going to have to prove his worth within the confines of the first team set-up.
Babel is still more than capable of becoming a top class player but he is certainly not making life easy for himself.
And if he did tell Sportsweek that he has "shown enough patience" at Anfield, someone should remind him of the fact that his chances of holding down a starting place in the side were diminished from the moment he went to the Olympic Games with Holland at the same time his club's Premier League campaign was getting underway.
Patience is a virtue and it is one which Liverpool have afforded to Ryan Babel since he joined the club two summers ago.
Now he is honour-bound to do the same for them.
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true bill
I'm surprised to see such an illogical and misconceived commentary. Babel has shown extreme patience and (as you yourself admit) has often looked extremely useful in the very small amounts of playing time Rafa has afforded him invariably playing him in the wrong position of left sided midfielder. Babel isn't a left sided midfielder any more than Thierry Henry and isn't even left footed....and yet even at a time when we already have a good left winger (Riera), Torres seems permanently injured, Keane can't score to save his life and we are desperately crying out for more pace up front Rafa still can't see the obvious possibility of letting Babel play his natural position for even ten minutes. Babel frequently looks far more effective that Kuyt who has no pace whatsover and yet Kuyt gets a guaranteed start (and finish) in every game no matter how woeful he is. You also imply Babel played badly against Spurs but the reality is he was one of the very few players who really tried hard in that game (go back and look at the tape). He took a lot of responsibility on his shoulders even though surrounded by the woeful Ngog, Dossena, Degen and Co.
I'm surprised to see such an illogical and misconceived commentary. Babel has shown extreme patience and (as you yourself admit) has often looked extremely useful in the very small amounts of playing time Rafa has afforded him invariably playing him in the wrong position of left sided midfielder. Babel isn't a left sided midfielder any more than Thierry Henry and isn't even left footed....and yet even at a time when we already have a good left winger (Riera), Torres seems permanently injured, Keane can't score to save his life and we are desperately crying out for more pace up front Rafa still can't see the obvious possibility of letting Babel play his natural position for even ten minutes. Babel frequently looks far more effective that Kuyt who has no pace whatsover and yet Kuyt gets a guaranteed start (and finish) in every game no matter how woeful he is. You also imply Babel played badly against Spurs but the reality is he was one of the very few players who really tried hard in that game (go back and look at the tape). He took a lot of responsibility on his shoulders even though surrounded by the woeful Ngog, Dossena, Degen and Co.
I absolutely aggree with Jim,on every word. You can imagine Babel playing the number of games Kean or Kuyt has played, then you could judge him. Kuyt dosn't have to prove anything, he playes almost every game, no matter if he playes good or bad. Why don't play Babel instead of Keane, an give him the same patience, it could hardly be worse, could it?
Very poor article all round really. Weak arguments and full of contradictions.
Clearly written by someone who just wants to fill up some column inches and can't find a genuine story!
Should start Babel instead of Keane
babbel is quality and should be on instead of kuyt cause kuyt is still useless and pointless and he always will be if benitez lets babbel leave this club he should be strung up and lynched
i also agree with jim in what he said about ryan babel. the boy is quality, and if rafa aint careful we might loose him soon.how on earth can ngog be first choice to someone with the quality of a ryan babel? its just unbelieveable.rafa is also talking about tired legs and players playing too many games, but he still refuses to drop or not to make it sound too harsh, just rest him.we've definately got to do better against blackburn on saturday."COME ON YOU MIGHTY REDS", if you ask me we can definately win the league this season, we've got the players the manager just needs to pick the right team.
error in earlier message posted,kuyt's the player rafa refuses to rest or drop
Babel has to start playing or we run the risk of loosing him. He is quality, everyone can see that. I would drop keane for him any day of the week. I am a Rafa fan but in my opinion i believe with Keane, he is just trying to justify the big price tag he carries when we signed him. Babel will give you power, pace and score the goals. Keane does not have any of those attributes!. If Babel starts at Blackburn, i predict a brace!