[quote author=SummerOnions link=topic=28950.msg731227#msg731227 date=1227391928]
[quote author=Farkmaster link=topic=28950.msg731224#msg731224 date=1227391831]
It's remarkable how Rafa has all the time in the world for youth at central midfield, when it isn't making an impact, but he can't risk time for Babel, who he spent a LOT of money on.
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He seems to dislike Babel's inefficiency to track back, which is why he favours Kuyt and Riera
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Yea, I get that, but why indulge NGog EVER in attack if you have a player who clearly behaves like a striker, who has shown they can score goals, quality goals, and needs game time. Let's be honest, Babel doesn't like tackling, he's quite soft in that respect, he won't go after even a 70/30 ball, he's just not fucking interested and he's shit at it. Because he's a striker.
The last couple times Babel has been put on he's clearly been told to drop deep, and collect the ball, rather than being in the box, even if he's played as a forward rather than a winger.
Why does Lucas after a couple of times looking like shit out left get all this time in his favored position, looking out of phase with this spacetime, while Babel who has had inconsistent results, cannot be tried as a striker, when we have Keane who is blatantly in some of the worst form of his career, and we need a fucking goal.
I don't think Babel will neccesarily turn out to be anything special, but I think the risk vs reward on him, when what we generally need is a goal, is better than with Lucas.