Could Babel be the answer on the right?

[New York Red]

I saw him there the other night and he's clearly right footed. Could our best front six be?

 

Torres--Keane

 

Riera--Gerrard--Babel

 

Marcherano

 

I've been concerned about the wide players for us, but Riera looks better and better. Babel great and can get so much better. We may have solved the issue already.

[floyd the barber]

no..why?

because kuyt has been my player of the season so far.........hes been friggin excellent and deserves his start.

 

Babel on the other hand flatters to decieve...he looks sensational at times, but mostly hes been poor......

 

I havent a clue where babel should play or where is best position is?!?!?! but i do know he hasnt been that good when hes started a game.

[cymrococh]

Rafa won't drop Kuyt.

 

EVER.

[fyds]

Kuyt just makes the other team's job so much harder whether he himself scores or not - he wears them down by chasing them down constantly and yet still stretches them in every direction while getting (mostly) decent balls into the box or danger area.

 

Said it before - if you're going to win titles you need at least one player like Kuyt who will do whatever you ask of him remorselessly.

[Red]

Agree with the guys above.

 

When I read the thread title the first thing I thought of was, "do we still have a question to answer?".

[hideNseek]

Kuyt just makes the other team's job so much harder whether he himself scores or not - he wears them down by chasing them down constantly and yet still stretches them in every direction while getting (mostly) decent balls into the box or danger area.

 

Said it before - if you're going to win titles you need at least one player like Kuyt who will do whatever you ask of him remorselessly.

TBF we've got 2 as Masch is the same.

[usualsuspect]

no..why?

because kuyt has been my player of the season so far.........hes been friggin excellent and deserves his start.

 

Babel on the other hand flatters to decieve...he looks sensational at times, but mostly hes been poor......

 

I havent a clue where babel should play or where is best position is?!?!?! but i do know he hasnt been that good when hes started a game.

There is a reason why he was shifted from striker to wide right you know...

Am sure if babel was given as many minutes on the pitch as Derek we would see more quality. I like Mr Kuyt's energy and harrying against the 'big' teams but he does not possess enough firepower going forward vs teams we need to break down.

[Magic8Ball]

I saw him there the other night and he's clearly right footed. Could our best front six be?

 

Torres--Keane

 

Riera--Gerrard--Babel

 

Marcherano

 

I've been concerned about the wide players for us, but Riera looks better and better. Babel great and can get so much better. We may have solved the issue already.

YES IF:

He matches Kuyts work rate and positioning - Babel has the greater talent

He continues to score 10+ goals a season from the RH position

He continues to improve (so that he can play well all through a game)

He's not needed on the left

 

the above formation or

 

--------Torres

Riera--Keane--Babel

Marcherano---Gerrard

 

or

 

 

Riera--Torres--Babel

-Keane ---Gerrard

-----Masherano

 

etc

Edited October 3, 2008 by Magic8Ball

[anny road]

if kuyt is out of the side you will see a massive drop in the work rate and more space given to the opposition

 

he is at the moment almost the 1st name down

[fred milne]

Babel looks better on the left to me. I think thats how Ajax used him too.

 

His natural game is to cut inside and shoot rather than hitting the by-line and whipping in crosses. As long as he has an overlapping LB behind him, I'd leave him where he is.

 

In recent years, we've seen quite a few players being used on the "wrong side" in this way: Overmars, Pires, Robben, Messi, Ronaldinho, Van Persie etc.

[Gray - YPC]

Kuyt has been excellent this season.

 

I'd hazard a guess he's been pretty much directly involved in about 1/3 of our goals.

[anny road]

i agree Gray

 

the lead up to Keane's goal on Weds typified his season

[Ripley]

I saw him there the other night and he's clearly right footed. Could our best front six be?

 

Torres--Keane

 

Riera--Gerrard--Babel

 

Marcherano

 

I've been concerned about the wide players for us, but Riera looks better and better. Babel great and can get so much better. We may have solved the issue already.

Dear God.

 

Just about every time a formation or "front six" post appears, it excludes Kuyt.

 

Just about every time a formation or "front six" team sheet is written by Rafa it includes Kuyt.

 

I wonder how he got to be manager and any fool can post on an internet forum.

Edited October 3, 2008 by Ripley

[fred]

Babel looks better on the left to me. I think thats how Ajax used him too.

 

His natural game is to cut inside and shoot rather than hitting the by-line and whipping in crosses. As long as he has an overlapping LB behind him, I'd leave him where he is.

 

In recent years, we've seen quite a few players being used on the "wrong side" in this way: Overmars, Pires, Robben, Messi, Ronaldinho, Van Persie etc.

 

And there you have it in a nutshell. Babel does not belong on the right.

[Andy @ Allerton]

I saw him there the other night and he's clearly right footed. Could our best front six be?

 

Torres--Keane

 

Riera--Gerrard--Babel

 

Marcherano

 

I've been concerned about the wide players for us, but Riera looks better and better. Babel great and can get so much better. We may have solved the issue already.

 

 

Why remove our best player of the season so far?

[Ben 23]

if kuyt is out of the side you will see a massive drop in the work rate and more space given to the opposition

 

And also more quality, better football and more goals. We won't get to see a man run around really slowly, deceptively looking as if he's covering a lot of ground for 90 minutes, while giving the ball away every time he is in position though. Either/or really.

[Bailo]

And also more quality, better football and more goals. We won't get to see a man run around really slowly, deceptively looking as if he's covering a lot of ground for 90 minutes, while giving the ball away every time he is in position though. Either/or really.

Oh look everyone. It's Ben 23 and his Kuyt-hate. Did you know he doesn't like Kuyt? He keeps it hidden well, I'll give him that.

[Spiblish]

And also more quality, better football and more goals. We won't get to see a man run around really slowly, deceptively looking as if he's covering a lot of ground for 90 minutes, while giving the ball away every time he is in position though. Either/or really.

The same man who covered over 10K on wednesday - that was deceptive - only Xabi covered more ground - so in fact 2 players with no pace covered loads of ground!!!

 

How many teams have managed to attack us down the right flank this season - answer NONE - reason we defend from teh front. Dirk is quality, lets just close this thread please!

[Tones]

Babel is more suited to the left, which makes you wonder why we were so in need of a LM. Kuyt is so valuable to the team so i would keep him there on the right. I would like to see Babel get a bit more playing time though.

[Eskimo]

I'm not a huge Kuyt fan but I can appreciate the work he does for the TEAM and as has been mentioned you need water carriers as well as star players to be successful. As for Babel I just get the impression that his attitude is all wrong, he has quality no doubt, but IMO something is not right maybe its that Dutch temperament thing I don't know.

 

Plus I'm not sure I buy into the play Kuyt against the bigger teams, play Babel against the lesser teams theory. The smaller team tend to work their socks off to compensate for their lack of quality and I don't see enough fighting spirit in Babel to be able to cope with that, Kuyt on the other hand is willing to get his hand dirty. Think Babel is a good option once the game is stretched due to his pace but for me he has to buck up his ideas to nail a starting place.

[fred milne]

Babel is more suited to the left, which makes you wonder why we were so in need of a LM.

Because at least for now Rafa has doubts over his ability to have an impact on games when he starts and the only cover/competition we had was Benayoun once we allowed Kewell and Riise to go?

[usualsuspect]

The same man who covered over 10K on wednesday - that was deceptive - only Xabi covered more ground - so in fact 2 players with no pace covered loads of ground!!!

 

How many teams have managed to attack us down the right flank this season - answer NONE - reason we defend from teh front. Dirk is quality, lets just close this thread please!

I quite understand the amount of ground he covers considering he loses possession so many times and has to chase the ball.

Also quite interesting how you focus on how many teams have "managed to attack us" on the right as a measure of how good a right sided offensive player is. Sums it up really. By no means is it not necessary to help teh defence out but not at the expense of going forward and retaining possession.

[anny road]

I quite understand the amount of ground he covers considering he loses possession so many times and has to chase the ball.

Also quite interesting how you focus on how many teams have "managed to attack us" on the right as a measure of how good a right sided offensive player is. Sums it up really. By no means is it not necessary to help teh defence out but not at the expense of going forward and retaining possession.

 

 

god our manager must be stupid

[Guest Shanks]

Kuyt's a big game player, but I'd tend to throw Babel in against the s**** teams like Stoke the other week.

[Hassony]

Kuyt's a big game player, but I'd tend to throw Babel in against the s**** teams like Stoke the other week.

 

I am hoping that Babel can develop into the type of players that kills weak oppositions, unfortunatly he doesn't seem do it when he starts (crewe and Havant)