All the people of Bangkok, it seemed, woke up on Wednesday, threw on their Liverpool jerseys, picked out their Liverpool scarves, and headed with a single-minded determination to the Rajamangala Stadium hours before Liverpool’s match with the Thai national team. I’m pretty sure if I had ventured out while the match was on, the city that always appeared to be on the move would have featured deserted streets, empty cars, restaurants with no business going, and pin-drop silence everywhere except in the immediate vicinity of Carra, Nando, Rafa and Javi. Swine flu may be the latest disease to cause paranoia in Bangkok, but for the moment, it was football fever running rampant. Hand sanitizers and face masks were shoved on by the security personnel at the entrance, and once you dodged that, it was time to find a way to get inside. Even at 4, four hours before kick-off, fans were crowded outside, trying to get in, and many hundreds had already taken their seats and begun the wait. The Kop stand filled up the quickest, with a sea of red with an asssortment of flags, banners and many exhortations requesting Xabi Alonso to continue his career at Anfield. They probably weren’t encouraged by his absence from the teamlist and the bench, but Rafa tried to put an end to the speculation by saying he and Benyoun were injured. It probably didn’t work, and I’m certain the rumours have got another piece of evidence.

I also had a long wait to get past, but looking around me at all the Liverpool love was great. The only thing that I could’ve done without were the two very enthusiastic Thai DJs spinning some terrible electro-techno-hiphop-mishmash excuse for music, over and over again. But those too were forgotten, as a professional opera-like rendition of You’ll Never Walk Alone was followed by a few Beatles numbers. Quite a nice backdrop to the warm-up going on on the field below.

The match itself, well, you know it by now 1-1, and two completely different Liverpool teams played both halves (with the exception of Babel, who played a bit of the second half). Babel scored early and threatened a couple more times, but it was the Torres effect that was fascinating to watch. He had just ten minutes to get Liverpool a winner, and man he tried. With his first touch, he tore open the defence and raced away to goal, but missed. He was in the mix again a few more times, and the liveliest on the pitch by far, compared to all who had been on the pitch since the opening whiste. If only he can stay relatively injury-free this season, Torres can easily get another bagful of goals. Babel could do with a bit more consistency, Carra was his usual rock-solid self, and even had a hand in the first of Liverpool’s pre-season goals, the other kids had their sloppy moments, but Insua wasn’t bad. Hopefully Skrtel and El Zhar will pick themselves up soon.

Now all we can do is wait for the real games to begin.

The papers today are filled with news that Ryan Babel has been told that he can leave Liverpool this summer. I am not too surprised about this as I felt that Babel would be one of the players we would have to let go inorder to fund the purchasing on new players.

I am sure you all agree with me that Babel has not really set the stage alight during his time at Anfield. He came with high hopes from Ajax considering that we spent 11 million pounds to sign him but I have not seen much to make me happy with him. He has had a few glimpses of brilliance but they are few and far between. Would I be sad to see Babel leave? Not really, just as long as we get a good fee for him. If we get anything above 8 million pounds for him I will be happy. He is a young player with bags of talent and I am sure he could turn into a great player one day but I don’t see it being at Liverpool. We will keep an eye on this story and see how it pans out over the next couple of weeks. What do you make of all of this?

Ryan Babel has come out and said he is not happy with his role at Liverpool of always having to come off the bench. Here we go again, another player who is complaining!! All too often today, players are not happy with being left out of the squad. Babel has only started 6 Premiership games this season and he feels he deserves more. You can understand where the Dutchman is coming from but does he really deserve to start more games for us?

I believe Babel has bags of talent and he is going to improve as he gets older. He is still relatively young and has a lot to learn. His displays this season on the left wing have been overshadowed by those of Albert Riera who for me is a better option on the wing than Babel. I have always said that I prefer to see Babel come off the bench as an impact player but clearly he does not like that role.

Would I be sad to see Babel go? Yes I would because I believe he is a guy who could get better and become a critical part of our team. Right now we need him as a squad player but he does not want that. There are times he has been called upon to lead the line upfront but he does not look like a natural goalscorer to me. He looks more effective when he cuts in from the left and crosses the ball or takes a shot.

I wonder how Rafa will react to this? Will he be tempted to offload Babel? Remember Rafa refused to let Babel go back to Ajax on loan in January so surely Rafa sees a future for Babel at Liverpool? But if Rafa can get back the £11.5m he spent on Babel then I think he may be tempted to cash in on him.

I must say I was a bit surprised to find out that Ryan Babel wanted to go out on loan because he was not getting enough first team opportunities at Liverpool. Fair and fine, he has not been playing a lot this season but that is largely due to the form of Riera who has been occupying the left hand side of midfield. It is only natural for every player wants to be part of the first team on a regular basis but Babel should understand that he is part of the squad and will be used when Rafa’s sees fit.
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First the bad news:

Fernando Torres is out for at least two weeks with a hamstring tear, the sort of injury that we all know can linger on throughout a season.

Ryan Babel has a left ankle sprtain, which leaves him doubtful for the weekend but shouldn’t keep him sidelined any further than that.  We should be thankful it wasn’t anything recurring from his earlier woes this past summer.

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While I agree with Ron that our right flank should contain Gerrard (his lack of a left foot forces him into width) I find our left to be rather more interesting now.

By adding Riera, Babel now finds himself with a compeititor in every position, rather than knowing even off the bench that he possesses the quality we need down that left flank.  He was one of the few players I felt who truly lacked any sort of meaningful compeition for his place.  Being young as he is, he was never going to get more than the minutes Rafa allowed him anyhow.  So why push harder?  Why force yourself to be confident on the pitch?  Why do anything outside your comfort zone if you know you’re going to get your proscribed minutes?

I know we needed a full time player out wide as I suspect Babel’s future is up front once he shows he is ready, but this still has the potential to bring the best out of the young Dutchman.  We have all seen the flashes of absolute brilliance from him, but I’m not sure that they are something he can bring on when he needs to.  What we’ve witnessed so far in my opinion is nothing more than his natural talents bursting through whatever reservations he himself may have.  With his goal this weekend against the Scum, we could have had no better matchwinner.

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The Olympic games may become to us was AFCON (Africa Cup of Nations) is to Chelsea. Already Lucas will be going to the Olympics with Brazil and so to Mascherano. Now it is thought that if Ryan Babel gets fit again after his injury before Euro 2008, he to could also be on his way to play for Holland in the Olympics.

I have no problem with players playing for their country but at times these international fixtures just come at the wrong time for clubs. Let us take Babel’s situation; he got injured whilst on international duty. Now he is almost fit again and he will have to be shipped off to the Olympics again before he even plays for us. Who knows what will happen to him at the Olympics, he could just get another injury. Read the rest of this entry »

Ryan Babel will miss Euro 2008 after tearing his ankle ligaments during training with Holland last week. This comes as a huge blow for the 21 year old who had been looking forward to the European Championships after having a good debut season for Liverpool. I was really looking forward to seeing him play in Euro 2008 as that would have given him some great experience which would in turn make him a better player. But now we just hope he has a speedy recovery and he is fit for the start of next season. Get well soon Ryan.