Jimmydeicide wrote:You know why he doesnt track back to defend ? Because hes a forward.
You play too much football manager.
As intelligent as this argument has all the making of becoming, I can't help but reply. Jimmy, I hate to break it to you, but there are other places other than footy manager games, where you would find formations and line-ups. Rob's basement, for example.
Now, let's get back to your claim, that Babel doesn't defend because he is a forward. In order to explain I will, again, have to throw formations at you, so bear with me. Babel has spent the better part of the past two years playing as a winger in Benitez's 4-4-2. That is the LM (left midfield) position. Same as David Beckham occupied back in his days at Manchester and Madrid, just on the opposite side. Hardly an out and out forward postion, right? This role also requires a fair amount of defending, I hope you will agree. Sure he is a converted forward, but he is young and two years should be enough for anyone to learn and adjust. However, since his upside, obviously, is his attacking prowess I suggested that Benitez reverted to a formation that allows him to concetrate more on attacking and less on defending, that's where the 4-3-3 and 4-2-3-1 come into play. These two formations have also proved to be more successfull for Liverpool lately, mainly for the reasons stated above.
