Weekend Football Thread *spoilers*

jakeke said:
Same with Benayoun. I think Benitez just hates attacking, exciting players as they don't really fit his defensive gameplan
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Read that in the S*n or Andy Gray told you that?

2 seasons ago we scored more than any other English side in all comps, same again last season as well as being top scorers in the league and with our defensive record this season that gameplan can't be working too well.

It's amazing how despite the way we've played and the amount of goals we've scored in the past 2 and a bit seasons, we still get called defensive.
 
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I think that my post above shows the amount of chances Babel has had and it isn't that many. What kind of manager takes a player off every time he's scored. 10 goals and 10 subs, is Rafa thick?

Also the majority of his chances there have come from the bench and you can't exactly stake a claim when the manager only thinks you're worth 15-20 minutes of football against Portsmouth or Stoke. That's the problem with Rafa, he doesn't give everybody a fair chance. He has his favourites, and everyone else just gets a cameo role.
 
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BaZ87 said:
Read that in the S*n or Andy Gray told you that?

2 seasons ago we scored more than any other English side in all comps, same again last season as well as being top scorers in the league and with our defensive record this season that gameplan can't be working too well.

It's amazing how despite the way we've played and the amount of goals we've scored in the past 2 and a bit seasons, we still get called defensive.
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No, just from watching Liverpool. Maybe I used the wrong word, boring or defensive, I'm not sure which. It's nothing personal and most people probably find Liverpool exciting and free flowing, it's just not my type of football that he plays, I've never enjoyed the long ball though.
 
K1LLSW1TCH said:
I think that my post above shows the amount of chances Babel has had and it isn't that many. What kind of manager takes a player off every time he's scored. 10 goals and 10 subs, is Rafa thick?
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Maybe you should understand the stats that you are posting otherwise you might sound thick ;)

Babel wasn't subbed in the games which he scored, he was a substitute in the game after he scored. Without actually watching Babel play, which you clearly haven't, it would seem strange but you ask any Liverpool supporter about Babel's performances in his first season and they'll tell you the exact same thing; great as a sub, totally useless when starting.

More or less all Babel's goals and all his decent performances came as a sub in that first season. Since then he's dropped the Jekyll and Hide act, he's **** no matter if he's starting or coming off the bench.

I'd happily see him join Arsenal and watch Wenger turn him into another Walcott, Eduardo, Pennant, Vela and all those other world beaters ;)

K1LLSW1TCH said:
Also the majority of his chances there have come from the bench and you can't exactly stake a claim when the manager only thinks you're worth 15-20 minutes of football against Portsmouth or Stoke. That's the problem with Rafa, he doesn't give everybody a fair chance. He has his favourites, and everyone else just gets a cameo role.
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As you posted, he started 29 games in his first season, including a extended run in the side towards the back end of the season and failed to prove himself. Unfortunately if you don't play well and other players competing with you for your position are playing well then you're not going to get many chances. If Babel wanted to get more chances then he needed to take the ones he got, like Benayoun did.
 
Babel is a bit like Walcott in the sense that he's a good sub but not a good starter. I do think both will obviously improve very much over the coming years though.
 
Ooops! Looks like I got it the wrong way around the first time. Sorry, now I *do* sound thick! :(

I still stick to my point that Babel should have been given a better chance than he already has done. If anybody watched him play in the Dutch league he was very very good. Now, either he's suddenly changed or something at Liverpool has changed his mentality. And while our youth players might not yet be world beaters I should probably remind you that Arsenals youth players are among the best in the world, and when people think of Arsene Wenger they think of youth, and they think of great football.

When people think of Rafa Benitez, they think of a beard, rosy cheeks and a complete bias toward his favourite players.

*And maybe a Euro cup as well. :p
 
jakeke said:
Babel is a bit like Walcott in the sense that he's a good sub but not a good starter. I do think both will obviously improve very much over the coming years though.
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You don't have that high an opinion of Walcott if you're comparing him to Babel. They may both be positionally and tactically retarded but I don't think you can call Walcott a lazy piece of ****.

Babel honestly makes Harry Kewell look like a workhorse,
 
BaZ87 said:
You don't have that high an opinion of Walcott if you're comparing him to Babel. They may both be positionally and tactically retarded but I don't think you can call Walcott a lazy piece of ****.

Babel honestly makes Harry Kewell look like a workhorse,
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Walcott rarely bothers closing down, is awful going back and rarely if every tries to "do" his man, he normally gets the ball decides running into the big open space is too much effort and passes backwards. SWP and Lennon while crap defensively they still try, both make blocks in their own box and run the entire length of the pitch after an attack to get back, while SWP rarely beats his man at least he tries when he gets the ball. Then again Walcott is stick thin and injury prone as Anderton was, he just looks scared to go shoulder to shoulder to anyone so constantly chooses the safe option.

THe only thing I can't understand is Jakelele saying he's a good sub, he's had maybe 3 good Arsenal games since he joined, he's not a good sub and he's not good when he starts.
 
BaZ87 said:
You don't have that high an opinion of Walcott if you're comparing him to Babel. They may both be positionally and tactically retarded but I don't think you can call Walcott a lazy piece of ****.

Babel honestly makes Harry Kewell look like a workhorse,
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I only meant in the sense that they're both good subs but not great starters, apart from that they're not too alike thankfully
 
I agree with Baz :o

I've followed Babel for a while! He's got potentional and looks like he could be a good player, but I don't blame Rafa for how **** Babel is.

You can only give a player so much, they have to do the rest themselves. Babel isn't progressing because he's a **** off the pitch and isn't dedicated to football. You can take a horse to water ect ect.
 
jakeke said:
Babel is not a good player, but he has all the ingredients to be a good player and under a manager with more ability with younger players he may be good

Also, in regard to the above post, as an Arsenal fan I think Song is one of the most important players at the club at the moment and I'm dreading the time when he leaves for the ACoN. He has been in brilliant form this year and I don't know which games people who complain about him have been watching this year. He's always in the right place, makes so many crucial tackles week after week after week and is so strong, shrugs soo many players off the ball. There's one thing I'm critical of him about and that's his speed. Other than that though, I think he's a brilliant player and I implore anybody to name a 21 year old DM playing to his standard every week at this kind of level.

As is common with many football fans (and an area where Song suffers) is that people often comment on him without giving him enough viewing, and because he's Song and not Mascherano/Essien he gets lots of criticism for some odd reason, for me he's been far better than Masch this season and up there with Essien. On current form you'd have to spend £20m to find a better player than Song (look at Melo, nearly £20m and he's been garbage at Juve, phew) who is technically good enough to suit this team
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I think with Song he still makes some sloppy passes and also gets muscled off the ball a lot. I do like him but I still dont think he is ready yet for the big games. I would gladly swap him for essien. I dont think he is in the £20m bracket of a player but I think he will come good in one or two seasons time

I cant remember the last time I thought we would get something out of a game when we play the big teams. We had a 19 match unbeaten run against Chelski a few years back now we dont even look like we can compete when Drogba plays.

I think our problem will be getting all our players to stay on for another year. I can honestly see fabregas leaving next summer and then we take a step back again.

We always seem to get our players up to full potential then a bigger team comes and grabs them. I know we have some good players coming up the ranks like Ramsey and Wilshere but we take a good few steps back every time we sell players.

I think AW needs to buy a big name midfielder to show the others that he means business with winning things then let the rest come through.

I do echo your thoughts on injuries we seem to be prone to them over the last few years and if we avoided them we would have an immense attacking force.
 
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I still don't think Babel has been managed properly. How can anyone explain how he was such a great player in Holland and then when Rafa buys him things start to go downhill. I'm sorry but I can't remember any young players in the last few years that Rafa has bothered to properly nurture.

Anyway, I won't bother mentioning / replying to any Babel related posts now as I can see that 3 or 4 people obviously know *much* more than me about Babel and it's obvious they've spent a while reading up and watching videos of him at Liverpool and then comparing him at Ajax. Good that. :rolleyes:
 
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