Based on that hilarious photo of referee Howard Webb that Ryan Babel posted on his Twitter, we now know one thing for sure – Babel sure photoshops better than he plays football.

After Liverpool’s hugely unlucky 1-0 defeat by Manchester United in the FA Cup (they conceded a 2nd minute penalty and had Steven Gerrard sent off before the half-hour mark), Babel posted on his Twitter account a photoshopped pic of Howard Webb in a Manchester United jersey, along with the words:

And they call him one of the best referees? That’s a joke. SMH (shake my head)

That's much better photoshopping than I'll ever manage...

I’d have to say I found it pretty funny, especially how he managed to add Webb’s huge guns to the arms on that United jersey. I wonder whose body he used though…

But still, the Football Association is about to sanction Babel for his Twitter outburst; and before you call the FA a bunch of humourless pricks, bear in mind that they can’t have players publicly dissing referees like Babel did. The sanctions will be less to do with his work of art, than the words he used to describe him.

Yes, the penalty was a bad decision, and the red card was a bit harsh, but all refs have off-days. Webb is still a mighty fine referee, and one wrong decision and another debatable one doesn’t suddenly make him a “joke”.

The joke it seems, is Babel, who could probably spend less time Twittering and more time training. He spent the next few hours (after his Howard Webb post) Tweeting some lame-ass crap about the “#TwitPolice” coming to put him in “TwitterJail”, asking if he anybody would visit him, or if he could wear his own clothes there. SO funny.

It was a quite embarassing attempt at making the FA look like they were over-reacting to an innocent joke, and painting a picture of himself as some kind of martyr. I’m sorry, but calling referees a “joke” on Twitter isn’t a joke, even if you might have a valid point. Few managers around the world would stand for that kind of unprofessionalism, and I’m sure Kenny Dalglish wouldn’t have taken a light view of it either, especially for such an underperforming player. You’d think he’d learned his lesson from the time he was forced to apologise to Rafa Benitez after complaining about his lack of first-team opportunities on Twitter.

And that’s the sad part. He’s spent FOUR years in Liverpool without ever looking like becoming a first-team regular. He’s definitely got the goods, but I guess it’s not surprising with all his juvenile messing around on Twitter (not to mention his “rapping”) that he has never managed enough consistency and maturity on the pitch to fulfill his potential.