Images: EkstraBladet.dk.

Top of the morning to ya, Kickettes!

Hope you had a nice weekend filled with treats of the alcoholic and 'baller varieties.

Saturday

- Nicklas Bendtner brought his two favourite females a pet snake and his rumoured new girlfriend to the launch of "NB Jewellery" where his first collection, "N3," was presented.

Last night Manchester City were denied two penalties by Peter "Grandad" Walton.
So what? Referees are paid to make decisions.
But what is it that influences the decisions that Grandad makes?
In 21 matches refereeing Manchester United over eight seasons, the Reds have won 15, drawn 6 and lost 0.

The murky racism row to engulf the Premier League just got foggier with the uncovering of startling new evidence that points to not just Luis Suarez being racist, but the whole of the red half of Merseyside exhibiting a proclivity towards bigotry. Our BFZ Times' correspondent, under great risk to life and limb organized and executed the perfect undercover operation to unearth this mystery leading to great teeth gnashing at News International's headquarters in Wapping, London.

Here we take a look at some of the players that have been linked with winter moves to Liverpool.
1. Inigo Martinez – Real Sociedad
The Spanish youth international has scored two quite unbelievable goals from the halfway line this season. The catch? Well, he's a centre-back!
2. Fernando – Porto
Much has been made of Liverpool losing their influential holding player Lucas Leiva to injury.

After a promising first season at Liverpool, Ryan Babel found himself continually warming the bench during his time at Anfield, and the Dutch International - who currently plays for Hoffenheim in the Bundesliga - has now accused his former club of 'mismanagement'.In a frank interview with Sport1 Voetbalmagazine, Babel revealed that he was not impressed with the way he was managed at Liverpool:"

Babel on Luis, LFC and Coldplay

In what has become an annual festive event, Ryan Babel spent 90 minutes of his birthday chatting to LFC fans and reviewing some of the year's most notable music tracks.

View the full story here: Liverpool FC

A news article on 2011-12-20 12:37:30 from: Liverpool FC

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

'Luis Suarez is already a legend in Liverpool' former Reds winger Ryan Babel

The attacker, who now plies his trade in Germany with Hoffenheim, also revealed he still maintains a number of connections at Anfield, as well as hailing the Uruguayan

View the full story here: Goal

A news article on 2011-12-19 19:23:00 from: Goal

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

Live Babel Twitter chat

Ryan Babel may have swapped Liverpool for TSG 1899 Hoffenheim in January but the Dutch star has never made any secret of the affection he still holds for the Reds.

View the full story here: Liverpool FC

A news article on 2011-12-19 18:25:35 from: Liverpool FC

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

6pm: Live Babel Twitter chat

Ryan Babel may have swapped Liverpool for TSG 1899 Hoffenheim in January but the Dutch star has never made any secret of the affection he still holds for the Reds.

View the full story here: Liverpool FC

A news article on 2011-12-19 13:10:56 from: Liverpool FC

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

Mick McCarthy... bareback Ep.16 Yak Attack by Off The Post on Mixcloud Coming at you like Mick McCarthy riding a stallion bareback across an open field, the Off The Post Podcast is back and ready to gallop through the weekend's Premier League action, hopefully coming out the other side with something vaguely resembling coherent audio.

By Chris Wright

"Oi! Squarepants! Noooo!!!"

I'm pretty sure that's the first and last time I'm ever going to write those words in that order, but rest assured you read them correctly: ex-Liverpool winger Ryan Babel had a bit of a benny with an ex-convict Spongebob Squarepants at a children's party after Spongebob 'took his head off' and started blowing cigarette smoke in the kid's faces.

Ryan Babel in row with Spongebob Squarepants!

Former Liverpool striker Ryan Babel has revealed he was involved in furious bust-up... with Spongebob Squarepants.

View the full story here: The Mail

A news article on 2011-12-02 07:49:18 from: The Mail

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

Former Liverpool forward Ryan Babel in Spongebob Squarepants clash

The Hoffenheim player recounted the bizarre story of how he hired the character for a birthday party only to take issue with him for removing his costume and smoking

View the full story here: Goal

A news article on 2011-12-01 11:22:00 from: Goal

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

Hoffenheim man's sweary exchange with TV character Ex-Liverpool star Ryan Babel picked an unlikely fight with kids' cartoon character Spongebob Squarepants over his smoking habits. The Hoffenheim attacker explained on Twitter how he fell out with a children's entertainer dressed as the TV character this week.

After a period in the international wilderness, a consequence of indifferent form and bench duty at Liverpool, Ryan Babel is back in the Dutch national team, and he's determined to make it count.
In the latter stages of his Liverpool career, Babel spent a lot of time on the bench, and consequently lost his place in the Dutch team.

Former Liverpool winger Ryan Babel has revealed that he regrets his 'dangerous' use of Twitter during the latter stages of his career at Anfield.
Babel, who now plays his trade in Germany with Hoffenheim, admits that he is 'addicted to Twitter', and warned that becoming 'too emotional', can be 'very dangerous'.

Former Liverpool winger Ryan Babel has revealed that he regrets his 'dangerous' use of Twitter during the latter stages of his career at Anfield.
Babel, who now plys his trade in Holland with Hoffenheim, admits that he is 'addicted to Twitter', and warned that becoming 'too emotional', can be 'very dangerous'.

It's an understatement to suggest that Ryan Babel never quite realised his undoubted potential at Liverpool. For a variety of reasons - many of which were not his fault - the Dutchman's career never really took off. Babel now plys his trade in the Bundesliga with Hoffenheim in the Bundesliga, but as he revealed in a recent interview, Liverpool FC is still very special to him.

Nope, nothing to do with Ryan, Babel is an acronym for the island province of Bangka Belitung. Flushed with the success of a local movie, Laskar Pelangi, the islands have become a popular tourist destination for locals looking for a bit of peace and quiet basking in the glamour of fame.
The Depati Amir Stadium in Pangkal Pinang normally hosts local amateur team Persipas but this coming weekend will see the glamour of the Indonesia Super League descend with Deltras and Sriwijaya from nearby Palembang competing with a Babel Stars for the inaugural Babel Cup.

In seiner ersten Saison in Deutschland lief es für den Stürmer der TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, Ryan Babel, noch nicht so besonders gut. Am Ende hatte der holländische Nationalspieler in 15 Saisonspielen nur 1 mageres Törchen erzielt und wurde von vielen schon als Fehleinkauf belächelt. Aber ganz so schnell sollte man einen Spieler mit der Klasse [.

In seiner ersten Saison in Deutschland lief es für den Stürmer der TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, Ryan Babel, noch nicht so besonders gut. Am Ende hatte der holländische Nationalspieler in 15 Saisonspielen nur 1 mageres Törchen erzielt und wurde von vielen schon als Fehleinkauf belächelt. Aber ganz so schnell sollte man einen Spieler mit der Klasse [.

Babel feeling positive

Former Liverpool player Ryan Babel believes his career has benefited from moving to Hoffenheim.

View the full story here: Sky Sports

A news article on 2011-09-13 16:41:08 from: Sky Sports

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

By Alan Duffy

Self-induced humiliation is apparently a global phenomenon. After looking at the five most memorable English footballer pop disasters last week, we now turn our attention to the rest of the world, where, like at home, the footballing ego knows no bounds.

Liverpool flop Ryan Babel has blamed the Anfield club's training regime for his poor form in England.
The Dutch forward arrived on Merseyside in 2007 with a growing reputation and a hefty £12m price tag.
But the 24-year-old scored just 12 goals in his four years at Liverpool and was sold to Hoffenheim in January.

There was a full moon last night, which might go some way to explaining why every former Liverpool player within shouting distance of two turntables and a microphone decided it was time to talk about their former club. Either that or they turned into to werewolves—I have a hard time keeping stuff like that straight.

Former Liverpool winger Ryan Babel has criticised the effectiveness of the club's training methods, arguing that game-preparation in the Bundesliga is superior, which he believes had led to him being fitter than he ever was at Anfield.
In an interview with De Telegraaf, Babel observed:
"I think I've had really benefited from the move to the Bundesliga.

Martin Kelly believes defenders up and down the country will now be nervous whenever they look at a Liverpool teamsheet.
The Reds have four international strikers on their books once again having acquired the services of Craig Bellamy in the transfer window.
He will compete for places with Luis Suarez, Andy Carroll and Dirk Kuyt - and Kelly thinks the goals will flow no matter who is selected by Kenny Dalglish.

Liverpool's director of football Damien Comolli has praised Fenway Sports Group for their "brave" approach to the transfer window.
Liverpool's American owners provided significant cash for the signings of Jordan Henderson, Stewart Downing, Charlie Adam and Alexander Doni early in the summer.
They supplemented those additions by bringing in Jose Enrique and Sebastian Coates over the last fortnight before Craig Bellamy arrived on a deadline day which saw four players moved on.

Since returning to Liverpool, Kenny Dalglish has brought 9 players to the club for transfer fees of approximately £111m, and recouped £71m by offloading 14 players. After crunching the numbers, this means that Dalglish has only actually spent £36m, which consequently means we got Andy Carroll, Jordan Henderson and Stewart Downing for a mere £4m each.

The transfer day deadline was a flurry of activities and I loved it! Sitting down sifting through TFB4's twitter page, there was a feeling of major surprise signings and it did take place albeit in small measures. I compiled The Flat Back Four's top five most intriguing transfer signings.

Rafa Benitez undoubtedly signed some brilliant players during his time at Anfield, and the club is still benefiting from some of the players he signed. However, it's also true to say that Benitez wasted a lots of money on players who just weren't good enough for Liverpool. It's taken a long time to rid the club of these highly paid players, but with the departure of Philipp Degen today, the club is no longer lumbered with Benitez's deadwood.

Alex Livesey/Getty Images(Bleacher Report)Last January, Liverpool put a stamp of intent on their plans for the future. It truly was a case of "out with the old and in with the new."
After three-and-a-half seasons with the Reds, forward Ryan Babel took the opportunity to move on. He made 146 appearances for Liverpool scoring 22 goals.

Once the kit provider of Real Madrid, Spanish sportswear firm Kelme recently signed a deal to become the official kit provider of the Surinam national soccer team. Though a slew of Suriname-born players and Dutch-born players of Surinamese descent such as Ruud Gullit, Frank Rijkaard, Edgar Davids, Clarence Seedorf, Ryan Babel, Aron Winter, and Jimmy [.

Kenny Dalglish defends 'responsible' Liverpool's record spending spree

• Manager insists Liverpool have acted responsibly on transfers • Dalglish pays tribute to 'fantastically supportive' owners Kenny Dalglish has defended this summer's lavish recruitment drive at Liverpool by saying the club have acted "responsibly" in the transfer market and that the principal owner, John W Henry, has dispelled any doubt over the level of financial support from Fenway Sports Group.

Over the last week Liverpool FC revealed that new signings Jordan Henderson and Charlie Adam would be wearing the No.14 and No.26 shirts respectively for 2011/12 campaign. They have added to that update by confirming that Stewart Downing will wear the No.19 shirt formerly held by Ryan Babel.

Liverpool's American owners have given their full support for Kenny Dalglish to complete the biggest spending spree in the club's long history.
Jordan Henderson has already been signed in a £16million deal – and there could be another £62m splashed in the next few weeks.
US-based John W Henry and Tom Werner were delighted with Dalglish's performance in powering to a top-six finish after a disastrous start under Roy Hodgson.

Howard Webb will take charge of Sunday's potential title decider at Old Trafford. Now, before you sink your pain into some unlucky bloke's face, do we as Chelsea supporters even have reason to be upset?

Cordial debate

Webb is known for a pro-United bias.

Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish has insisted the club must continue spending this summer in order to continue their revival, but has assured the team's young players they will be given first team opportunities.
The Merseyside club invested £57.8 million in January on forward pairing Andy Carroll and Luis Suarez, having raised £56m from the sales of Fernando Torres and Ryan Babel.

Image Credit: Mike Hewitt/Getty Images Europe.

One thing readers can be assured of when it comes to the TTO 2.0 we hear your kudos just as loudly as your complaints. And when our HQ's honorary virtual intern*, Blake, bellowed about the lack of hairy thighs in our 2.0 logo (at left), we sought to give the guy what he wants.

Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish is expected to be offered the manager's position at Anfield on a permanent basis in the coming weeks and the Scot is determined to conduct a significant clear out at the end of the season. He then hopes to use funds raised by the sales, along with a transfer budget handed to him by the club's owners in order to dramatically improve his current squad.