Posted this on rawk, thought I'd put it here as well;
Thought yesterday's match showed us a lot about Ryan Babel, from both sides of the argumentative coin. I do and did defend him for his abject and unimpressive performances (how ever short and far between), and despite definitely being rusty, the one thing that deeply disappointed me was- it seemed he didn't care.
You need only look at Torres, Arbeloa, Skrtel, and Agger who have all been out with injuries and have returned, though rusty, giving it their all. Can the same be said for Babel when he has (though, I understand it hasn't been often) been given his chances?
He's got skill and talent, but he is quite clearly lacking the brain for the job. His mentality seems to be to 'shrug it off' when thinks aren't going well for him. It has begun to make me think that perhaps his heart just isn't in Liverpool Football Club, and the loan request is proof of that in my eyes.
Sure, you could look at it as 'ambition', perhaps all he really cares about in the end is playing his football, but the loan request was something that showed he was just looking for the easy way out, rather than staying and fighting for a place in our sustained title challenge. Yesterday there were several instances where he wasn't even bothering chasing after the ball, and I just cannot understand that. He'd finally been given an opportunity, and despite his first touch being heavy and him not being quite match ready on the whole, he even lacked in effort. Bash Keane for his poor form all you like but the one thing you can't say against him (even if he shows it negatively in his moaning) is that he doesn't care.
At this point, I wonder; What do we do with him now?