Phil Babb - Exclusive Interview with OLBG

Q&A With Liverpool and Rep of Ireland Star Phil Babb

Will Liverpool's title chances be over if they're beaten by Man City? Will they still be alive if a draw happens?

I think the general consensus would be probably, and that's to do with Manchester City's form because you can't see them losing or drawing many games this season with the way they're playing.

So, regardless of how Liverpool do if they get on a run, to claw back points is difficult.

Liverpool were 13 points behind last season and to even be winning the league at some stage on the last day of the season was an achievement in itself.

I'm a glass-half-full kind of guy, even if Liverpool lost this game, then I think there are still a lot of points to play for and anything can happen.

We don't know how the World Cup is going to disrupt players form or mentality when they come back which could have a big impact on the title race.

If defeated, what does that mean for Jurgen Klopp? Could you see any reason for the board to act?

I would say no because he has enough credit in the bank. What he's done, how he's revolutionised that team and created a mentality in the city.

The style of football he's brought, not only in the Premier League but in the European competitions as well.

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I think he would look at himself and think am I the man for the job and can I improve this; I certainly think he can.

I don't think the board will do any knee-jerk reaction because there's too many points to play for and too many cup competitions to play for.

Liverpool can still come home with a handful of silverware, and it would still be a successful season if you don't win the Premier League.

I don't think anyone other than people in the media want to sensationalise stuff and drive that narrative that Klopp could be under pressure. He's got enough in the bank to try and turn things around.

If you really want to micro-manage last season to this season so far, then you could argue that no other team in world football played as many games as Liverpool.

Fighting on all four fronts, getting to the finals in all three cup competitions, taking it down to the wire in the Premier League.

That's a lot of football and maybe that's having some sort of toll on the team this season.

Could you see the struggles of Liverpool we're witnessing now in preseason? Looking back, is there anything in preseason you noticed that is creating the issues we're seeing now?

I honestly think you can't look too much into pre-season and I think we all know that.

Injuries to key players, slow starts from players and new signings, the usual things that happen after a summer off have come to the forefront.

I can't remember Liverpool playing so abjectly for many seasons, even before Jurgen Klopp's time. Liverpool never really starts the season slowly.

I can't say it's down to Sadio Mane not being there anymore, it's still a very good squad and Luis Diaz has been brilliant on that left-hand side.

I really don't know what's happened for this slow start, it's just a perfect storm of key players losing form, injuries, possible mental fatigue and other teams playing exceptionally well. Even if you look at the first game of the season at Fulham, Liverpool scraped a draw there.

That's not me disrespecting Fulham because they were excellent that day and they should have won the game, so in fact Liverpool did well to come away with a point! I think that may have set the tone; other teams may be thinking that they can get at Liverpool.

Look at Brighton at Anfield, they were absolutely incredible, and it shows that teams are upping their game. Teams obviously aren't in the same stratosphere as Liverpool or Manchester City, but other teams are recruiting well and improving. They're starting to catch up and that old line of there are no easy game in the Premier League is becoming truer this season. 

Van Dijk has taken a lot of flak this season. Is it justified?

It's justified if you say that Virgil Van Dijk isn't playing at a 9/10 every week. But his 7/10 is someone else's 9/10. He's set the bar so high in that position in the past, even before he was at Liverpool whilst he was playing for Southampton. He was excelling in an average team, with no disrespect to Southampton.

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So, I'd have to agree that he's not hitting the heights that we've seen in previous seasons.

Since he's come back from injury, he's played a lot of games because he's a Rolls Royce, he doesn't get any muscular injuries either but there might be some mental scar issue.

That's just because he's been playing at such a high level for so many years, it just could be down to mental fatigue. I've seen some uncharacteristic mistakes from him this season which I would never have thought I would see Van Dijk do. That's not a criticism, it just makes you wonder whether he needs a break.

When I look back to the 90s when I was playing, when Sir Alex Ferguson saw that in his players, he would let key players go on holiday for two weeks. He allowed his players to take themselves away because the pressures and demands of league football are tough and people don't see the mental strain that players go through.

Obviously, Van Dijk is too important for Liverpool to let him have two weeks off and more so this season with the number of games. But the way Fergie handled that back in the day was brilliant and maybe managers might need to address that going forward.

As a centre-half, what do you make of the current midfield, has the absence of Fabinho particularly hurt Van Dijk not having that ball-winning energy ahead of him?

Fabinho is a fantastic player and it's great when Liverpool have him firing on all cylinders when he mops stuff up. In the modern game you need a Fabinho, you need that holding midfielder to be dynamic in that Kante sort of role. I don't think the back four has been exposed centrally, the centre halves are more than adequate.

I think teams are seeing that because Liverpool push their fullbacks so high, that's there is space left to be exploited. That's why Trent Alexander-Arnold is coming under a lot of flak himself not just Van Dijk or any of the other defenders.

Trent plays so forward and he's advanced so there is space there and when teams transition so quickly into that space then that's where it's creating problems. It's being targeted and teams will be looking to do that every single game. There's pressure on him and the media have caught onto his performances defensively because Jurgen Klopp has to answer questions on it. He's a fantastic player, but it's the noise around him affecting his performance.

Personally, how would you take on Haaland this weekend? Nesta says it's about sticking close and blocking his runs. Can Van Dijk do that?

If I knew that, I'd be sitting on the bench next to Jurgen Klopp! He's a phenomenal player who just goes from strength to strength. He's so powerful, he's got the pace, the power, the touch and the eye for goal.

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You look in world football now and he has to be the complete player right now because he can do no wrong.

He's only going to get better, and I don't think you can stop him, but what you can do is stop the supply. It's one of those things, people will say what if he gets the ball on the halfway line, turns and runs at you then you can't stop it. Well, stop the ball getting to him wherever that may be on the pitch, that is one of the best defensive. Keep possession would be the other thing, don't let Manchester City have the ball which is obviously difficult.

One thing for sure, it's one of the hardest jobs in football at the moment to stop him from scoring.

Kylian Mbappe reportedly wants to leave PSG in January – are there any Premier League sides who would be able to make that deal possible?

I think there are sides with deep pockets, but it's a tough one to read into.

There might be a bit of kidology, he has just signed a bumper contract recently where he gets the decision making on player recruitment and whatever else came with it.

It's unprecedented in football terms, but if he is set on going and if he wants to come to the Premier League, then there are only three teams you can put in the hat. There are Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea. I'd count out Manchester United at the moment just because they're rebuilding. Liverpool can't compete with Manchester City and Chelsea when it comes to wage packages. But we know Kylian Mbappe is a fan of Liverpool, so let's see what happens in January.

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Should Liverpool be going into a deal considering Mbappe’s admiration of the club in the past?

A player of that quality you have to be interested in for sure. I don't know if the numbers would work which is the other side of the coin.

You'd have to decide where to play him as well, Liverpool have just brought Darwin Nunez in to play through the middle. The front three of Luis Diaz, Nunez and Mo Salah going forward looks fantastic. I think Liverpool have more of an eye on getting in a creative midfielder and I would think that would be their main priority. But I'm sure a club of Liverpool's stature would be remiss to not get involved in that conversation if it ever came up.

During your playing days, it was always Manchester United running away with the silverware - how does this Man City team compare to that team of the 90s?

Well, it was an exceptional team that's for sure and playing against them was always difficult.

They had some supreme players and Sir Alex Ferguson had a well-oiled machine going on for virtually two decades. This Manchester City team is also exceptional and it's very difficult to compare until they get into double figures of Premier League titles and until they secure that European silverware. On paper, and as long as they keep Pep Guardiola, then you would say that the sky is the limit for this Manchester City team. But football is cyclical isn't it? Liverpool were dominant in the 80s, Manchester United had their time in the 90s and the 2000s. After that it's changed, but we've seen teams like Arsenal and Chelsea come into that conversation at times.

Now it's Manchester City and Liverpool, Liverpool finally got their hands on that title, and they've been fantastic in the Champions League in getting to three finals. Manchester City are a real force in the Premier League, but they're not unbeatable in the title race. But you can't really compare them because of the achievements of that side under Fergie, but let's see how long Pep stays for and how far they can go.

One thing this City side do lack, though, is the European status of past English giants. Is Haaland the final piece to the jigsaw puzzle?

It's possible but you've got to remember how many goals they scored last year without Haaland and they won the Premier League title so they did alright. The question is obviously are his Champions League goals going to make the difference? It's a possibility. But what I think he's done is raise other players games, when you look at Jack Grealish and Phil Foden this season, they're exciting.

The other players are excited to play with Haaland and they've all raised their game to be on his level. They've got this brand-new world superstar in their squad and they get to play alongside him. I think that lift throughout the team could be the difference, not just Haaland's goals but his stature in world football.

From a Liverpool perspective, what can Jurgen Klopp and the board do to avoid a situation like the 90s where one team dominates most of the trophies year upon year?

It depends on what you class as domination, if it's the Premier League title then maybe, but Liverpool got into three cup finals last season.

That silverware is a good season for most clubs, it's just about keeping on their tails. I think Jurgen Klopp has just got to keep doing what he's been doing.

The recruitment at Liverpool has been fantastic over the past seven years and that still needs to continue. The pattern and style of play, we know it can go toe-to-toe with Manchester City and it'll be a fascinating game this weekend.

But it's not just Liverpool who need to keep tabs on Manchester City. You need to look at what Chelsea have done and what Mikel Arteta is currently doing with that young team.

He's building for the future, but all of a sudden, they've matured this season and they look fantastic.

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That sort of forward thinking is crucial because there's no doubt Manchester City are already thinking about recruitment for next summer. Are they going to add another superstar? Could they potentially add Kylian Mbappe to the mix? If they get him as well alongside Haaland, Foden and De Bruyne, then you just have to say wow.

Putting a neutral hat on, what a great team that would be to watch and it would look like a Fifa team when you put them together in an all-star XI. It's a difficult challenge, but Liverpool can't look at Manchester City and think they need to get close to them.

Liverpool just needs to look at themselves and what is going to take Liverpool to the next level and if they do that, then they'll continue to win major honours. 

Cristiano Ronaldo reached 700 goals this week. Can you tell us a little about seeing a young Cristiano coming through at Sporting CP? Did he make an impression on you at the time? Was there anything you saw then that suggested he would go onto have the career he did?

I remember the season when he joined us into the first team squad and in particular, I remember the first training session because I gave him a little clump in training.

He was trying a couple of stepovers and as a 30-year-old at the time who had been around the block I had to put a foot in. He was this little skinny lad who had a blonde mop just kept running at me, so I had to give him a old school, dark arts tackle and left a bit on him. I like to think it changed his career forever after that! But you could see he had the tricks and the skills to be a good player, but there was another young player at the time called Ricardo Quaresma who was playing regularly in our first team.

Cristiano Ronaldo was on the bench and out of the two of them you would have said Quaresma was the better player. He had everything, the physical strength of a man at 16 years old, the touch and the pace which was why he ended up moving eventually to Real Madrid. He's had a good career in the end.

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But you couldn't really see it with Ronaldo and that's why when people ask me who's the greatest of all time, I say it's him. That's because he's had to work at it. From a physical point of view, he’s gone from seven stone wet through to a sporting Adonis. He's worked at that, that's not a natural given talent to say what Lionel Messi has.

Messi's centre of gravity and fast feet were God given, or whatever you want to call it. People said Messi was brilliant and unstoppable when he first broke through, but Ronaldo wasn't that. Technique, skills, sprint work, physique and staying late; all those things he has worked at and done it in different countries.

For me, that makes him the GOAT in my eyes which might open up a can of worms But when you see where he's come from to what he's achieved has been an incredible journey.

Thoughts on Ireland's Euro 2024 draw. Can they realistically qualify automatically for the tournament?

To be honest I think it's a really tough draw with France and Holland. You would say that they're the two group favourites and it will take some doing to qualify automatically. I don't think the boys will ever give up and we certainly owe France for the Thierry Henry handball. But I think it'll be difficult and all we can hope for is the seeds qualify automatically and then maybe there's a route in through the nations league.

It'll be a good test for Ireland that's for sure, but it's really an unfortunate group for us.

Thoughts on Stephen Kenny's reign in charge of Ireland so far. Has it been successful or a failure?

I think it's still up for debate, there isn't a black and white answer for it. What he's trying to create and the brand of football is a breath of fresh air. The results haven't been good enough that's for sure, but there's been an effort to inject youth into the setup.

From a political point of view, having a League of Ireland manager take the national job opens doors for other managers. It's not a case of the FAI just recruiting overseas managers because of their CVs, we're looking within ourselves now. That's the positive out of it, but we want to qualify for the major tournaments, and we want to see our national side win. It's not happening, but I think the jury is still out.

One minute the press loves him, the next they don't and it's the same with the fans, so right now I'm definitely sitting on the fence.

How do you reflect on your own Ireland international career?

I loved it. I remember when I was at Millwall, the dream was to play for Ireland as a 16-year-old kid. To get 35 caps, play at a World Cup and play alongside Paul McGrath who was my hero and to play under Jack Charlton was just incredible.

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Would I have liked more caps? Of course, I would. Should I have got some more? Who knows I didn't pick the team. But I couldn't have fonder memories of wearing that green shirt.

Are there any young Irish players who stand out for you at the moment?

It's great to have Michael Obafemi back in the mix, he's still only 22 years old so he has time on his side. He's a good player, he was out in the wilderness a bit for a few seasons under Stephen Kenny, so it's good to see him get himself back into the setup.

There's a young striker at Brighton, Evan Ferguson who is a very good player and he would be one to keep an eye on. Armstrong Oko-Flex, who has one of the best names ever by the way, he's a winger from West Ham who's currently on loan at Swansea City. He could be one for the future, he's only 20 years old but he could be someone exciting in the future.

And of course, there's the women's team as well, there's a few coming through in the women's game so maybe there's hope on the horizon for Ireland.

Coventry had a strong season last year and weren’t far off the playoffs, but what has gone wrong so far this campaign?

Well, I think we shouldn't look too deeply into it, obviously sitting bottom of the table doesn't look good. But out of their opening 10 fixtures, six have been away and they still have three games in hand on teams above them. If they were to win them, then they'd be comfortably mid-table at this stage. So, it looks doom and gloom, but I don't think it is if you look into it a bit deeper under the surface.

I still think they'll go on a run with those games in hand and start to claw their way back up the table. But with the whole stadium issue looming over them, it obviously can't be good for anyone.

Amad Diallo hasn’t lived up to expectations since joining Manchester United with a disappointing loan spell at Rangers and only one start for Sunderland at the minute – what does he need to do to get his career on track?

First of all, he's a fantastic player who has a lot of skill and pace. I think the fact that Antony has come in and done well on that right-hand side for Manchester United doesn't help. It's the position Amad Diallo wants to be in where he can chop in on his left foot. But I can't stress how important he has to grasp this loan move.

He's going to be playing in a wet and windy winter where he'll be coming to some horrible places in the Championship on a Tuesday night. But it will toughen him up because it's a tough playground; he will learn quicker and improve his final product.

I've heard Tony Mowbray talk about him, the sky is the limit for this talent, but he has to find a way of producing whether that's goals or assists. He has to have that end product as well as the flicks and tricks.

I think that's what is missing from him, but he'll learn a lot and come the end of the season he will have bulked up and realised how difficult it is to play English football regardless of the level.

What have you made of Sunderland’s season so far? A managerial change and currently sat in mid table in their first season back in the Championship.

I think it's always high expectations at Sunderland, even from when I was playing there. We have some good players in the Premier League with the likes of Niall Quinn, Kevin Phillips and Claudio Reyna. The fans are a demanding lot and I mean that in the nicest way.

It's a big club, big stadium and a big fan base so the expectations are high.

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We're only at the start of the season and it's not looking too bad, but in these leagues, there are a lot of games.

It takes a good run of six or seven and your season starts to look completely different. We've seen Steve Bruce was another casualty the other day and it shows how tough it can be if you can't go on a run. Boards want results very quickly and fans expect good performances.

Managers need time and big clubs like Sunderland need to cut the cloth accordingly when other teams around them have got deeper pockets and better players.

I think just managing expectation is the most important thing for Sunderland right now. I can't say I see anything going wrong so far, they just need a bit of time because they'll be back one day.

Bradford have been tipped to bounce back to League One in the three seasons they’ve been in League Two – does Mark Hughes make the difference in those ambitions?

Well, it's a fantastic appointment even if it was left field when the announcement came through and kudos to Mark Hughes for taking the job on. I loved Bradford City whilst I was a player there towards the end of the 80s, so I'd like to see them doing well.

As a player and a manager, he's usually done well wherever he's been, I think it helps that Bradford get the biggest crowds in League Two. It'll bring in some funds should he want to bring in some better players or improve his squad.

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It's a great fan base, I think they should 14,500 season tickets which is by far the highest in the league. It's so difficult down there in that league, anyone can beat anyone wherever you are in the table.

It will be difficult with the pressure on them to get out of that league being one of the biggest clubs in that division. That doesn't guarantee you success as a football club, there are plenty of teams in similar positions.

But I hope they do well, and I hope Mark Hughes manages to bounce Bradford up through the leagues. Maybe he is the answer they've been looking for since they went down to League Two.