I’m torn with Ryan Babel. He is such a frustrating player it’s hard not to be. There is no doubt that this guy has got talent, his goal in Lyon only a few weeks ago shows that he is more than capable of becoming a really great player. But the problem has been they are only flashes of brilliance that we have been seeing. There is no doubt that Rafa Benitez is partly to blame for this as Babel has not been allowed to play three games in a row, a point that Babel did not take too much time to make while on international duty:

“To be a supersub is mentally hard, it is clear I have enough qualities to be in the starting XI of Liverpool. But when you never get a real chance, it’s difficult. The Liverpool fans are happy with me as a substitute, but I didn’t get a chance yet as starter. I have never played three matches in a row from the start.”

This maybe all well and good in Babel’s world but the fact is many Liverpool fans are not happy with his performances, even as a substitute. What I, and many others see, is a man, who no doubt needs to be given a greater chance as he keeps on pointing out, but also that when he does play he takes it by the scruff of the neck and makes sure Benitez cannot leave him out. This has not happened so far in his Liverpool career. He has scored three goals in nine substitute appearances this season, but when he has started, for example on the opening day of the season against Tottenham Hotspur, he had been very poor and Benitez had to take him off an hour into the match.

It is an extremely frustrating situation, the fact he was backed to start in this game and failed to produce seemed to suggest to me there is a lack of effort or desire. That he expects to be in the first team on merit of his abilities and that he doesn’t have to prove himself. This is why Benitez may not start him regularly and why Babel is progressively becoming impatient about his time on the Liverpool subs bench. He says he has been promised more first team action by Benitez and I hope this is true for we might once and for all find out what Ryan Babel is made of in a Liverpool shirt.

There is no doubt that constantly being picked on the bench will dent a player’s confidence and sometimes this is evident in Babel’s play. One moment he may make an excellent run, pass a few players and put in an excellent cross, while on other occasions he runs into dead ends, loses the ball or scuffs a shot or cross with his far weaker left foot. These instances though could more than likely be attributed to Babel just plainly being inconsistent, a worry that Benitez clearly has with the Dutch winger or otherwise he would have started more than just the two solitary games in his third season at Anfield.

If he is to become a great player he has to not only shown consistency but a driving desire to become a better, a quality that Benitez demands of all his players, and something that seems to be lacking with Babel. Uncertainty does however remain about where Babel should play in the Liverpool team, another factor that counts against the Dutchman. Right, left winger and or a striker, which one is Babel’s best position? With our dearth of striking talent at the moment it may be time for Benitez to select him up front and after 5 losses in 12 games, and with a lack of money to spend; his reinvention could be like signing am entirely new player. Anything is better than Andriy Voronin.