da spicy bet： I was one of the patient ones. Despite the sluggish start, I was willing to take new players, new manager and tough fixtures (Arsenal, Man City and Man Utd already) into account. I wasn’t however ready for the Blackpool defeat, and am under the impression that this is surely a time for new ideas to be tried out , and fresh starts to be granted.
da dobrowin： Obviously we are not currently watching the vintage Liverpool. The exciting, even feared side of the 70s and 80s, or even the team of the 90s full of Fowler and McManaman, but the group of players on show today are still good players, but severely underperforming. Gerrard is trying as ever, but looks disillusioned with what is happening around him, and Fernando Torres is a ghost of the man that was ripping defenders to shreds with relentless ease.
Liverpool had enough chances to equalise on Sunday, but they should never have been in that position in the first place. They are making hard work of things they used to find very easy. Torres is unfit, and as a result cannot find any form; when he is not firing, the ammunition, or lack of, is handed over to the underrated David N’Gog (I say underrated, but that I doesn’t mean I believe he is a world beater). In this current adversity, there can sometimes be solace found in an unlikely source, and maybe that source is Ryan Babel.
It would be stupid to say that Babel can save Liverpool from their current form single handed, or even that his form will be electric from the moment he gets on the pitch, but with the miserly rewards Hodgson is reaping from his players, is there not some scope for experimentation? The raw skills that Babel has have been documented enough, everyone is aware that there is a potential that could, and probably should by now, be realised, but without ever having a regular run in the team in the four years that he has had at the club, he has little chance to impress.
By run, I’m not talking three or four games. Giving Babel ten or fifteen games may well be the making of him. Hodgson himself will be given time, because his side are hindered by what goes on above his head, and the American contingent have more pressing concerns, such as getting home alive each day. Currently, the likes of Jovanovic, Maxi Rodriguez, Joe Cole and Dirk Kuyt, and David N’Gog are all getting games ahead of Babel – who is still only 23 – and none are firing on enough cylinders to get the Liverpool engine purring.
Liverpool are struggling, it goes without saying, but this is still early. Roy Hodgson has great man-management, as well as having a clean slate with Babel. Having only played 13 minutes of Premier league football this season thus far, it may be the case that he isn’t doing enough in training to warrant more minutes on the pitch. Torres needs at least a couple of weeks rest, he limped off yesterday, and shouldn’t be rushed back. If Hodgson took Babel to one side, and promised him a run of games up front, and the chance to re-start his career, he may well be rewarded.
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