Ryan Babel: Confidence is low but Liverpool are on the right track

Feb 6 2008 by Chris Beesley, Liverpool Daily Post

RYAN BABEL has admitted that confidence is currently low at Anfield with a Liverpool slide down the table coinciding with continued off-the-field uncertainty but the Dutch forward hopes that the team are now back on the right track.

With £11.5million Babel part of Rafael Benitez’s summer spending spree of over £40m, which also included the signings of Fernando Torres, Yossi Benayoun and Lucas, Liverpool were expected to challenge for a first Premier League title this season.

However, Anfield’s wait for a 19th championship-winning side is now poised to go into a 19th year with Liverpool trailing Premier League leaders Arsenal by 17 points.

Instead, Benitez’s side have a battle on their hands to finish fourth and secure the final Champions League qualification spot alongside the likes of neighbours Everton, Aston Villa and Manchester City whose respective spending power has never been boosted by participation in European football’s most lucrative competition. But after failing to secure a victory in five Premier League matches since their last-gasp success at bottom club Derby County on Boxing Day, Liverpool returned to winning ways on Saturday with a 3-0 defeat of struggling Sunderland.

Babel admitted that he had become concerned by the team’s poor form but hopes the team can now start to rebuild confidence at Anfield.

He said: “Fortunately we saw off Sunderland on Saturday.

“We are delighted with the win and we have hopefully taken a first step towards regaining confidence, which is a bit low at the moment.

“We haven’t been doing well the past few weeks. Our captain Steven Gerrard already said that confidence is a bit low at Liverpool at the moment. I am happy we have returned to winning ways.”

Unlike Liverpool team-mate Dirk Kuyt who has been dropped from the Dutch national team for the first time by coach Marco van Basten, Babel is looking forward to this summer’s European Championship finals but the former Ajax man admits that recent events Anfield make it difficult to look beyond his immediate future.

He said: “The Euro 2008 campaign is not first and foremost on my mind.

“I focus on Liverpool, but it’s nice to be with the Dutch squad and I expect to be given playing time during the friendly with Croatia, as a number of players have pulled out of the Holland squad.”

Meanwhile, Rafael Benitez has paid tribute to Pepe Reina after the fellow Spaniard overhauled one of Liverpool’s all-time greats to set a new goalkeeping record.

Reina became the fastest goalkeeper in Anfield history to reach 50 clean sheets in the league after keeping out Sunderland on Saturday.

The feat took the former Barcelona and Villarreal shot stopper just 92 games – three fewer than Ray Clemence.

Benitez said: “I have been talking about how good Pepe is for a very long time. For him to keep 50 clean sheets since he joined the club is a terrific performance.

“And it is a goalkeeper of Ray Clemence’s quality that he has beaten. Not just any goalkeeper but one of the club’s greats in Clemence. That shows how good Reina has had to be.

“But it also underlines the standard of defending. A keeper cannot have 50 clean sheets if the players in front of him are not doing their job.”

He added: “Now this is something we must repeat, another 50 cleans sheets from Pepe in the same way would be ideal for us.

“It is much easier for our strikers to score goals if they know we do not have any problems in defence.”