John Barnes has backed Ryan Babel to take the Barclays Premier League by storm next season. The Dutch star capped an impressive start to pre-season with a goal in Wednesday's 1-1 draw with Thailand and the Reds legend believes Babel has all the attributes to have a big say in Liverpool's quest for title number 19. "Ryan is a fantastic player," Barnes told Liverpoolfc.tv. "What we need to do is find how to get the best out of him because getting the right environment which suits the players is the most important thing. "He is a great player and if we can find the right blend and formation for him to show us what he can do I believe he can be one of the best players in the Premier League. "You look at what Liverpool achieved coming so close last year and it just goes to show what a great job Rafa has done at the club. We want to have a serious challenge year in year out and hopefully this next season will be the one." Barnes was also keen to praise Benitez's decision to add Kenny Dalglish to his staff and believes the Scot's return is great news for everyone at the club. "It's fantastic. Kenny is Liverpool through and through and he has so much to offer the club in so many different ways," he said. "It will give everyone at the club a boost, not least the fans. More importantly I think Liverpool feel they can get great value out of Kenny and he wouldn't be here otherwise." ---------- Great to see Digger still referring to 'we'. It looks like Rafa is going to keep Babel. He has all the attributes to be a quality player. At times in his first season some of runs reminded me of the legend himself Digger. The only problem I see is him getting into the side. Riera is in Spanish team and is defo ahead of him on the left. Kuyt is nailed on for the right with Stevie in middle behind Torres.
Its good to see Im not dillusional.. Babel, from all of the players in our squad who are NOT superstars, is the one I foesee as becoming one. Everyone can see he's got the talent, the ability, the potential.. But we also see his attitude leaves alot to be desired. But Digger does say that playing Babel in his right position is the way we'll get this talent to shine through... the only problem is where do you play him?? Against the weaker sides, Kuyt should be rested and Babel should play... Left or right doesn't matter... I think thats the way forward for Ryan
hope your right mate He is one player who i believe has alot of talent but has been frustrating to watch at times. His attitude at times last season was terrible. Both he and yossi had a moan last year. Yossi got his head down worked hard and got into the team. I do agree that Babel needs games to improve and if he can get his head down concentrate on his football it will do him the world of good.
Agree Babel has potential but where is his position? Left Right Striker the 'Stevie Role'?? Think he could play in any of the above and if Rafa can get him in the right mind frame he could be a very useful and versatile asset in the squad
I think thats the million dollar question. Babel thinks his best position is up front but we play our best football with torres on his own up front. I think it could be a interesting season for babel I think if he knuckles down in training and gives rafa something to think about he could have a really good year because i still think he could be a legend.
against them teams at anfield that park the bus sometimes i would like to see babel up front with torres and stevie drop back into centre mid alongside xabi or masch. i think babel when he plays up front could do what he wants drift into the wide postions and drag defenders around leaving room for torres,yossi and stevie to exploit.
I always thought Babel would be great on the left or right side of a 4-3-3 like Barcelona play. I hope he stays because I think he's class. Rafa has huge faith in him anyway
Have always stuck up for Babel even though his attitude lets him down at times.There is no doubting he has the potential.I genuinely believe he could become lethal for our attacking...you can see the fear he puts in defenders when he releases his pace. Hopefully it will just be a matter of time before he makes his big step up.
I believe with a bit more intelligence in his play he will become world class. His ability is there for all to see. I hope he gets enough of a chance to prove himself this year. him and johnson on the right side together. theres some pace there.
For me he's got this season to prove himself tops- otherwise I would get rid. I would love it if he proves me wrong but I can't see him making it with us based on his performances so far.
id give him until the transfer window in January but I think he needs to play as a striker. He hasnt done well on the left, use his pace and put the ball infront of him to run onto cos he hasnt got the ability to take players on like yossi and riera.
Babel needs one thing, minutes on the pitch,. cant be judged, scratch that, shouldn't be judged until then,. but he's got a big reputation to live up to, so he'll prove himself to everyone one way or another, but only after he gets his chance.
in actual fact i think we have the personel to play a 4-3-3 masch gerrard alonso Kuyt/Yossi Torres Babel/Riera
i dont think his first touch is good enough to play up top - and thats not somethig that u can rectify in one preseason. i hope i'm proved wrong and that yee're faith in him comes to fruition but i have my doubts. the amount of times he's given a pass only for his touch to let him down is criminal. sometimes his pace compensates but at the top top level you dont always get a second touch. comparing him to henry is ludicrous. Henry's first touch was exquisite, its something u either have or dont have and its an essestial prequisite to be a world class striker - all, and I mean ALL top class forwards have it, i'm very sceptical about his. i know he's a decent finisher but there's more to playing up top than that. his crossing is hit and miss so there's a long way to go to convince this ol' cynic that babel has what it takes. fervently hope i'm wrong tho
+1 He has a long way to go and i dont think he has the mentality to work on these aspects of his game. Has he really progressed all that much? i think this is his last season to show he can do it or else he will be off
I can't see Rafa going for it though. Leaves too much space infront of the fullbacks, and as good as Masch is, it would be too much for him to cover it all. It could work against the "smaller" teams.
I'll be honest I thought he was gone this Summer and I wasn't alone in that. I'm a bit surprised at the glowing backing hes getting here. Yeah he had a promising debut season and showed great potential but I'm not sure I've seen a player going backwards as fast as he did last year. When Riera came in like a breath of fresh air he really showed him up as did Yossi attitude wise putting his head down and came through fantastically for us and himself. Gerrard made comment on the same. He simply doesn't have the touch for up front but yeah put the ball in front of him in space and he has the pace and enough ball control to be dangerous, even fearsome. Yeah his final ball isn't the best and his decision making and positioning well put it this way he must be hard to mark because if he doesn't know what he's going to do the defending full back certainly won't. Those things can be learnt and improved though. But if he uses his main two attributes (great pace and decent ball control........dribbling wise not the same as first touch) like he should that will get him a long way. At the end of the day if his attitude doesn't improve nothing else will. I don't agree that he hasn't been given a chance. That sounds like the auld Keane excuse. He blatantly hasn't taken any of his chances when others have. He needs to buck up for the team. Should we lose points in giving him his 'decent' chance when he's just not performing to the right level. Rafa has a great trait of admitting to his mistakes or unashamedly using players as stop gaps. Once they're no good to him or haven't proven themselves to be as good as he hoped (himself often having to buy cheap and improve players) he gets rid whether thats 12 or 6 months. Its no wonder Darby and Spearing are so delighted at getting contracts as more than anything its a vote of confidence from a very hard to please coach (I abs love the way he's saying to Madrid why would I want your cast offs who weren't even on the team that we took apart). Point is the fact that Babel is still there says a lot. I could be cynical and say thats because Babel has devalued so much it wasn't worth getting rid but I'll optimistically look forward to him not proving me wrong but fulfilling the potential that we all know he has. Attitude is the first thing though and I heard it was up his arse off the pitch last year too. Hopefully he's grown up a little and I'll be the first to cheer him on.