Today's Banter: Ladies lose derby, Pennant excluded from England again, Babel wants striker role, & more

- Like the saying goes, 'It's only gonna get a whole lot worse before it's gonna get any better.' Those words seem to be a fair representation of what our beloved club is going through at the moment. Yesterday, just to add a glacier to the well put-out fire, the Ladies lost 2-1 to Everton in league play. Despite taking a 1-0 lead, our girls couldn't hold on as two strikes in two minutes in the second half were enough to lead the lady Toffees to the victory. Next up is a League Cup clash with Leeds United on Sunday in Skelmersdale.

- Steve McClaren snubbed Jermaine Pennant again for an England spot for the Three Lions Euro qualifiers later this month. I understand JP wants to play for his country, but honestly, there is just too much baggage going on in the England camp to make me give a rat's arse about his exclusion. Concentrate on your Liverpool game, lad. Unfortunately, Steven Gerrard will never be excluded from an England side.

- Ryan Babel, who just recently was found under a rock in the Sahara, thinks he is best suited as a central striker. He appears to be patient to get his opportunity to play there and is content playing a wing position. I'll put my shyness to the side here and say put him in the rotation in front of Crouch as soon as Harry Kewell gains fitness. Of course, who knows when that'll happen.

- I found this article about Rafa desiring a show of character for the Tottenham match a bit peculiar. He claims it's a call to have us improve ourselves from the dreadful Marseilles performance. I say it's a call to have all the rumored nonsense going on behind closed doors put to an end. There have been rumblings of discontent about certain players voicing their unhappiness with more than just the squad rotation. Let's just hope Rafa puts certain players aside and puts out a squad that's just happy to be on a great club come Sunday.

Babel thanks Rafa, receives praise from Dalglish

In an endearing piece in the Daily Mail today, summer acquisition and winger extraordinaire, Ryan Babel, has revealed that he owes a great deal of gratitude to Rafa Benitez for his tremendous start with the club.

Apparently when Babel was at Ajax, he would let outside interference (a.k.a the crowd) affect his play, so much so that he would become 'depressed on the pitch'. Benitez saw this while attending an Ajax away match during Babel's stay there and told the future star that the abuse ought to make him stronger and that the more the opposing fans swore at him, the more afraid of him they were.

Yeah, he better get used to it, especially with Goodison Park, Old Trafford, and Stamford Bridge all in his near future. If he can fuel from those fans' hate, the kid has the ability to win those matches for us almost singlehandedly.

Also in the Daily Mail, was an article about Dalglish singing Babel's praises. The Liverpool Legend spoke of the young Dutch International's "cracker of a goal" against Derby and how he thinks that could have been the straw that breaks the camel's back, giving Babel the final piece of confidence he needs to become a force in the Premiership. Of course, King Kenny doesn't know anything about football.