Will Babel turn into the sensation that he can be???

well the sure has a lot of potential locked in him.. just that he lacks a bit of concentration and commitment.. him developing into wat he can will solve a huge problem of liverpool...

i think in a matter of a year or two he'll be as good as anybody

I also think so,he has got the pace,the skill,he just needs to get his work rate up and get his crosses up to scratch.He will be a great player,i got no doubts about that.

Can't disagree, Babel has so much talent bubbling inside of him.

I see him finishing, this season off strongly, and using it as an impetus for his big season next year.

I think he is finally realising his role...And how he can profit the team to using his abilities...

Keane going was great for Babel.

With the exception of the Everton FA Cup match at Anfield, I've noticed he has alot more confidence and he isnt afraid of the ball anymore.

Cant wait for these final few matches

he was fabulous against madrid.. he is showing a lot of confidence.. but there is a lot more hidden in him.. he's right though.. he's just 22.. age's on his side.. hecan be terrific player.. probably better than a certain devil no 7..
i seriously think he can better the guy

perhaps he has given up on becoming a rap music star. if he could focus on soccer. he has the potential. but sometimes his mind is elsewhere

He has the potential. He played really well last year, and there's no reason why he can't again.

He just probably lacks commitment and maybe makes wrong decisions at times. Maybe giving him a run of games would also help.

He could potentially be a great player, confidence is his problem though, descion making too. Im sure he'll come good though, he's starting to play good and his Pace will help him a lot in the future.

Needs to lose a bit of weight though!

I'd play him every week ahead of Reira, he is more of a threat, his power and pace are frightening all he needs is a bit of confidence and if he starts playing regularly he will get that.

Babel is really a great player in my opinion. His class was there for all to see when he assisted Gerrard to score the 3rd goal against Madrid. He looks really up to be the next 'Henry' at the moment, but I'm really afraid of some of his constant habits to be honest.

He just never seems to want to pass. When he receives the ball most of the other players would look out for a pass but what Babel does is to keep the ball on his feet and just run and run and run. And most of the time he lands into trouble and loses the ball, and this is what i find most annoying.

Also his confidence never really got going. He needs to make sure that he reproduces the form that he had last season.

Rafa, also has to start playing him more often.

I think he could well become a sensation.
He's still young and he looks like he can beat any man when he's running with the ball and full of confidence.
There's going to be some huge games between now and the end of the season and every player needs to perform 100% so i hope babel gets his chance to play because he's playing really confidently of late.

he has a lot of potential. showed some last season, but is totally waste this season.
but still i hope dearly that he comes out good.

I really hope so. These last few games he's been playing very well, but he's been hot and cold all season.
He frustrates me, because one game, he'll skip past any player as if they weren't there, and the next, he'll run time and time again into a defender.

He's definitely maturing as a player, his passing is improving, along with his decisions and ball retention.
I hope to see him played more in the run in, especially with Riera having hit the wall.

I reckon he will turn out good. He had a decent season last season, but has been pretty dire this season, only a couple of good performances. I reckon he'll improve, he is still only young!

I am very sure that he will deliver at the very highest level as he has too much in his locker.  He has weaknesses mainly his work rate and not opting to mix it up.  When he gets the ball more often than not he is surrounded by opposition players very hard to go through a crowd only Messi can do that.  I think it is important that there is always someone that is available for the simple pass when he has the ball and no one better than Alonso exactly lilke when he played with Sissoko.

I want to remind people that the game he looked best during, real madrid, was also in conjunction to the way spanish teams play. Their slower paced gamestyle fits him more than constant-pressure premiership. They gave him more space to work with, which lead to his ability to beat defenders more easily.

He's showing promise, but I want him to be a backup ST, and use dossenna for LM/LW backup if possible.

Babel could be a great player for us. everything has been said above, apart from he needs to take on defenders both sides instead of coming inside all the time. I  think thats why he did Ramos so easily for stevies goal against Madrid, coz he was expecting him to go inside. Just watch him and see.

I loved when the commentary on the real madid game the commentator said 'we havent seen much of Ryan Babel tonight' and with that he put  a brillaint ball right on to stevie right foot for his second.

So how does everyone feel about how Babel played today?

Is he going to be the sensation that he could be?

To be honest with you, it wouldn't surprise me if he leaves during the Summer.

I can't help feeling he's never going to fit in here properly.

Is is time for him to find pastures new?

He frustrates me. So much talent to be unlocked, but it goes to waste.

He wants to be a striker, that's his favourite position. My advice for him is to do a Stevie. He was played wide right for ages, he put his head down, impressed on the right of midfield and now he's playing where he wants to. In the centre of the park. Babel must do the same and show the same staunch commitment to the club, or else he'll be on his way out.

Babel on the left wing... lost cause

Babel up top..... Save us millions on buying cover for Nando

To be honest with you, it wouldn't surprise me if he leaves during the Summer.

I can't help feeling he's never going to fit in here properly.

Is is time for him to find pastures new?

He is such a frustrating player. So much potential yet hardly ever delivers.

Wouldn't suprise me at all if he leaves. Just pisses me off that as soon as he goes elsewhere, he'll be the best player he can be. You can just see it. :

Hmm the proplem now is that the potential seems to be showing up less and less..... thats not a positive sign at all

I think Babel will turn out to be a real matchwinner for us,this lad has pace,skill and intelligence ( you can see this by the runs he makes ) he only needs the time to connect as Yossi  has done this year and he could be the scourge of the premiership .he's also a very young player to hold on to imo

I think Babel will turn out to be a real matchwinner for us,this lad has pace,skill and intelligence ( you can see this by the runs he makes ) he only needs the time to connect as Yossi  has done this year and he could be the scourge of the premiership .he's also a very young player to hold on to imo

Got to call you up on the intelligence part.... Thing with babel is he has a special ability to choose the wrong opion nearly all the time... If he could get his head right, and not be so clumpsy then he would be great,, intelligence is what is holding his back imo

Great potential but end of his liverpool career i think is coming soon....

I would love to say he'll make it coz hes got the talent and power to cause nightmares for defences, but to me something is missing. Idont know if its down to his attitude or what. He just seems to dissapoint me a hell of a lot. Maybe thats down to me thinking he can do so much more for liverpool, buti dont think im being too critical on him. If he stays he has got to come up with the goods when given the chance.

Well I hope so.

It would save us splashing out another £20 odd million on a winger that actually is at their peak!

This player is a confidence player, he needs continuous games to reach his potential, ten in a row so he can gell with the team which he hasnt done yet, maybe support striker for torres, with gerrard on the right and kuyt on the bench.

His potential is absolutly massive, he has the unlock factor, he has flare, this is what we are lacking, he can go past people, but the lad still needs work.
He should not be sold.

Babel can do one.

You can harp on all you want about confidence.  But if he can't even get it on target when he's 8 yards out and we're 2-0 up then god help us.

Not only is he not good enough for our first team but I don't even think he could be part of a title-winning squad.

An enormous waste of money.

For me Babel won't turn into anything too special at Anfield for the following reasons.

- He'll never be ahead of Torres as first choice forward
- He'll never be ahead of Gerrard as first choice to just play off Torres
- He'll find it almost impossible to get ahead of Kuyt for the right wing
- He's about as much use as a chocolate tea-pot out on the left wing

So he isn't gonna be breaking into our first team on a regular basis for at least four years, by which time he'll be 26/27 and by that time he won't have time to reach his potential. While he's at Anfield he'll be a bit part player and an impact player (who very rarely makes an impact) so the sensible thing to do for club and player is sell him in the summer. He may well go on to become a world star at another club and people will bemoan "well aren't you glad we sold him now" but he'll never become a world star at Anfield because we've got better players in his positions who are already at their peak or getting towards it and the one position he's asked to fill, the left wing, he isn't good enough.

The only thing good about Babel is his pace and the power he can get in his shots.

Unfortunatly he cant even get his shots on target with little power let alone a lot of power. And secondly he never gets chance to use his pace because he always loses the ball as soon as he gets it.

He could be a very good player and at times he's shown signs of being a great signing, for example, his goal against Derby in the 6-0 win when he dummied two defenders a treat, and his back heel against Besiktas. But the problem with Babel is he hasn't got the balls to fight for his place and has no desire to prove himself, he is expecting to just walk into the team.

Babel is a fine example of too much muscle, too little brain.

United, Chelsea or Arsenal wouldn't have him.

Well he may be all of the above ,but the guy just went up a hell of a lot in my eyes ,just watched him on the tv with a group of disabled kids from liverpool ,he was brilliant with them and for that alone and all the smiles he put on their faces he deserves some credit .
Ok i know he missed a sitter yesterday but so has every other player ,i just think Rafa has it in him to get the lad going .

Well he may be all of the above ,but the guy just went up a hell of a lot in my eyes ,just watched him on the tv with a group of disabled kids from liverpool ,he was brilliant with them and for that alone and all the smiles he put on their faces he deserves some credit .

Fair play, nice one Babel.

Does his best work off the pitch obviously.

Didn't Wenger want him for ages but couldn't afford the price at the time, I think Babel is potentially a very good player, he is highly rated in Holland, didn't Van Basten say it was criminal recently how little Rafa was using him, was watching Sky a couple of weeks ago when Stevie was on the panel, they were going through Liverpools subs bench which included Lucas, Ngog, Babel and El Zhar Stevie was asked was there anyone on the bench that could change the game if needed, he said Babel and went on to say how much potential he had. Babel is obviously a confidence player, that was known in Holland where he always seemed to play better in home games, so he needs to play games more regularly, he needs to play 10 games in a row before we can properly judge him, he was Andy Grays player to watch this season but he hasn't really got the chance. Maybe we could send him on loan to get regular games and rebuild his confidence.

I wanted to shoot him yesterday.

We all want him to succeed and be that final polished diamond that we have been hoping for.

Just doesn't look like it's going to happen though.

Frustrating, not only that he missed that sitter but the fact that he looked lazy. He wasn't tracking back. At one stage he just stood there in the middle of the park and watched as they played it down the wing.

I so want him to succeed at Liverpool but every time I see him play I just feel that I won't be too disheartened if he left in the Summer.

doubt he will at liverpool.

regardless of technical ability he has, he just isn't a team player.

I don't know if the guy will be given any more time, it wasn't long ago that he wanted to go home to Holland, maybe Rafa will give him his wish.

In my opinion what's wrong with Babel at the minute is he is in a slump but he has completley the wrong idea on how to get out of it. Time and time again we see him come on and instead of playing the easy ball he tries a fancy pass or attempts to beat the man and gives the ball away. Its clear that he wants to improve and get out of his slump but maybe somebody should suggest to him that the best way to do this is not attempting to set the world alight, but by putting in two or three solid, functional performances. He needs a bit of mentoring from Kuyt on this score in my opinion.

He is pretty frustrating, I want the lad to do well here but he really doesn't help himself. He should have buried that chance yesterday.

I do agree with the points made about playing on the left wing though, I think players have him more or less sussed now out there, he needs to be more central if anything and let's face it, he's facing some pretty stiff opposition.

I'm kind of split on Babel. I don't know whether I want him to have another season to prove his worth or whether he should be sold to fund buying a proven talent perhaps.

For a player with the pace that he has, he just never seems able to go past his marker.  He sometimes seems frightened of them.  Maybe it's a confidence thing, i dont know.  The left side of midfield is one of our weaker spots, and he can't cement is place there, that says it all really.

A huge disappointment for me.

He is pretty frustrating, I want the lad to do well here but he really doesn't help himself. He should have buried that chance yesterday.

I do agree with the points made about playing on the left wing though, I think players have him more or less sussed now out there, he needs to be more central if anything and let's face it, he's facing some pretty stiff opposition.

I'm kind of split on Babel. I don't know whether I want him to have another season to prove his worth or whether he should be sold to fund buying a proven talent perhaps.

Time to count our losses, IMO. If we give him another season, his value will drop like a brick. We can sell him for about 10 Million now, or about 4 million next season if things carry on this way.

Its most definatly a confidence thing with Babel, he seems to be a rabbit in the headlights at times but he will be a special player as he and he has pace to burn and time on his side. Disapointing year for him this season though. Things will get better.   

I'm not sure he has the right attitude. Coming out moaning isn't what Liverpool fans want from our squad players. We want to see them working hard to improve and playing with a smile on their faces, even if the supporters might boo them from time to time. Buckling down and working hard to prove those same supporters wrong and mature into a first team player. As much as I've had my doubts about a certain Lucas Leiva, he is proving to one and all that he has the heart for the fight and is not a one-trick-pony. Babel, on the other hand, seems to me like one of those players that would be happy to play for an average club if he was getting a game every week no matter how he played. To be successful at Liverpool Football Club, you have to be looking to improve with every touch, every kick, every pass, every shot, every game. I think Babel is ready to give up. And if players gave up and moved on to an easier option when the going got tough, then none of us would ever be roaring Rush scored one, Rush scored two, Rush scored three and Rush scored four...

I sometimes wonder how Babel gets such criticism and Lucas so much praise, ya Babel has hinted about moves away but so has Lucas, Ya Lucas game has improved over the last couple of months but he has being getting games and the support of his manager something which Babel obviously hasn't. I think potentially Babel is a much better prospect than Lucas and think he has had more good matches for Liverpool than Lucas. Babel has being unlucky this season, after putting in an impressive performance against Real instead of being allowed to progress on this he found himself on the bench again the following week and it was weeks before he started again. He is a confidence player that needs our full support.

I sometimes wonder how Babel gets such criticism and Lucas so much praise, ya Babel has hinted about moves away but so has Lucas, Ya Lucas game has improved over the last couple of months but he has being getting games and the support of his manager something which Babel obviously hasn't. I think potentially Babel is a much better prospect than Lucas and think he has had more good matches for Liverpool than Lucas. Babel has being unlucky this season, after putting in an impressive performance against Real instead of being allowed to progress on this he found himself on the bench again the following week and it was weeks before he started again. He is a confidence player that needs our full support.

Perhaps Lucas has a better workrate in training which is why Rafa picks him more often than Babel.  Babel strikes me as very laid back and lazy whilst Lucas is Rafa's kind of player in that what he hasn't got in natural talent, he makes up for it by working hard and fitting into Rafa's team.  Babel has pace to burn and probably can be a world beater but is just too hit and a lot more miss for me and I'd cash in on him if it was my choice.  It would just be typical though of him going to another club and setting the world alight but I doubt he'll be doing that at Liverpool.

Because Lucas is actually striving to prove himself and really wants to be a success at the club and is showing the right attitude and is starting to hit pretty good form as of late. Babel is showing signs that he can't be bothered to fight for his place and wants to walk into the team and be guarenteed a place regardless of how he performs. All season Babel has looked disinterested and to be honest if he isn't prepared to show improvement then he can sod off because no one is bigger than the club and doesn't have to prove themselves. Lucas may not be the greatest player at the club or a key member but at least he is working hard to try and become so, Babel should take a leaf out of his book because when he gets booed or some stick he doesn't let it effect him. Babel just basically sticks 2 fingers up and doesn't care.

It seems to me that most of you have given up on babel,

i strongly disagree, this player has so much technical ability, he really really needs a long runout, it will change who he is, and he is Very good.

It seems to me that most of you have given up on babel,

I strongly disagree, this player has so much technical ability, he really really needs a long runout, it will change who he is, and he is Very good.

I'm hoping you're right Robby. He's one of those players that you know can play well but often doesn't.

Only time will tell, if he gets the chance of course.

Doesn't have the Liverpool attitude in my view, therefore he won't turn out to be the player he can be.

To quote Gerrard Houlier: "Liverpool players must play like a lion, give his all. There must be determination, commitment and resolve to be a Liverpool player."

Babel doesn't have those qualities IMO.

It seems to me that most of you have given up on babel,

I strongly disagree, this player has so much technical ability, he really really needs a long runout, it will change who he is, and he is Very good.

I agree with you, he has got a lot of technical ability and he probably does need a long run out in order to start showing the real signs of what he can do but up to now he hasn't shown the desire to give his all for the shirt and has done nothing to warrant a long run out when the likes of Yossi (who he would probably replace) has been playing so well and deserves to be in the team.

I hope that if he does stay this summer, we are all proved wrong because he could become a very, very good player. But he has to show the hunger and has to work to become what he already thinks he is.

Its true that attitude makes a player, and in a way attitude it derived from mood, which in turn is derived from confidence, so in babels case this equation would improve his attitude, so more play time would produce a better player.

Yossi also deserves more time i agree, suppose you can't give it to them all, and in my mind this just shows the quality of our current squad.

Injuries to key players make these fringe players invaluable, and so this is why we need to keep babel and yossi at LFC.

Power and pace but he seems to wear ten bob shaped boots!!!!

in short,,, NO. I dont think he has much about him, and whenever he gets the ball nothing much he does makes me sit up and think that anything will come of him... and i think someone here said they would play him over reira?!!! no in my opinion.!..
i would offload him asap and use the money for a worldclass striker.

Honestly I would like to keep him and Lucas.Because I think both of them given more time could turned out to be what they billed as when they first joined. But if Rafa doesn't sell either of them then I don't know where the money that he needs is gonna come from. After Stevie calling for more time to be given for Lucas I believe Babel probably will leave and I hate to say ...we might regret seeing him leave!

could we please play him on the right wing so we can have torres and Kuyt together up front with stevie g behind them
tho if we get Silva as apparently we are dont know what we would do with him