I had a good old laugh this morning when I was reading what Ryan Babel posted on Twitter. It seems like Babel is the most vocal Liverpool player on Twitter as he always has something to say. His autobiography is going to be a good read one day. But back to the matter on hand today: Babel twitted that when Rafa was at Liverpool he refused for him to take extra training sessions.
“Let me tell you something that might surprise you, I wasn’t allowed to train extra under our former manager even when I wasn’t involved,” Babel said.
“I begged lots of times but it was simply not allowed and during the season you don’t train very hard because you have lots games so most sessions we had were without sweating
“But if I wanted to do some extra which I asked for every single day I didn’t have the permission.”
Now could all this be the reason why Babel has not reached his full potential at Liverpool? Is Babel trying to tell us that the reason he has been a flop at Liverpool is because he was not allowed to train extra?
I am not defending Rafa or Babel here as I feel both were wrong. I am sure Rafa had his reasons why he did not want players to train extra, maybe he was afraid that they would get injured if they were pushed harder in training? But then again as Babel is saying, if you are not in the first team and getting game-time then you may as well train extra at Melwood.
But then in Babel’s case, surely if you wanted to train extra then you could do so in your own back yard, in the gym or in the park?
I hope that now Babel is getting all the training he wants under Roy Hodgson and he will finally deliver for Liverpool. I would not bet on it…
Well Ryan can train as hard as he likes, both managers past and present did not trust Babel to deliver and do not give him consecutive games. To me the clues have come in his first season, the goals he scored for us signaled a great future but the next season he never got a chance, We have dropped out of the champions league and are on a recovery mission because of the safety first and smothering tactics of the first manager and this one is also not daring enough, Its time for, Ryan Babel, Dani Pacheco and maybe David Amoo to be introduced to the action, hence bringing some more flair and creativity, and the logic that sent Alberto Aquillani on loan is also strange.
YNWA
Why is Babel a flop? Why is Babel “inconsistent”?
Because he never gets a “consistent” run of games
Why has Babel come out with this now? Benitez has been gone for 6 months now. Other players aired their grievances back in June! but Babel, with so much to say, has only just got round to mentioning this now? Could he be getting his excuses in ready for the January window?
To be honest watching how this story came about I personally think he did nothing wrong..
I follow him on twitter and saw “live” how his comments (although genuine quotes) have been sensationalised into an “attack on Benitez”…
A few fans were having a dig claiming he should be at training. He politely over a few honest responses explained why he wasn’t and how he actually wanted to train more but wasn’t allowed under the former manager..
At no point did I think he was having a pop at Raffa. He was just too honest with the fans..
The original journo who broke the story actually thanked Ryan for finally giving him something to work with instead of the normal music stuff he talked about. I personally thought that was a piss take really…
Anyway.. One good season and two shite ones?? I really think this lad could still be something special for us, I’m just not sure Roy likes him..
One more season with a good run and I’m sure he’ll do the business..
Babel had previously said that he wouldn’t be talking about football in his Twitter anymore, after it got him in trouble when he said he’d been left out of the squad for no reason (think it was againt Stoke, but I could be wrong).
I bet that he wishes that he had stuck to his policy now. Just delete the “haters” and move on with your life Babel
Ryan is special. He has been wasted by Benitez and Roy is following in his predecessors pure judgement. The Aquilani thing is a puzzle. The only mistake Benitez made was to sign an injured play maker when we really needed one on the field. Then Roy ships him out when he is so ready to turn our fortunes around. To me that was the most silly mistake a manager can do under the circumstances.