Mario Balotelli [On the Road to Ballon d'or)

[BobTheCharmer]

If he scored a league goal he'd shock everyone. I can't wait to see his end of season highlights with goals against the mighty Ludogorets and Swansea.

He's started 8 league games. Quite a few players can go this long without a goal.

[TheElephantMan]

Balotelli has made Borini look like a striker. That's the most positive thing I can say about him.

[BobTheCharmer]

Balotelli has made Borini look like a striker. That's the most positive thing I can say about him.

I think you're getting carried away. He's becoming worse with every passing hour.

[TheElephantMan]

He's started 8 league games. Quite a few players can go this long without a goal.

Yeah there are loads of great strikers with such rubbish stats. This is a messageboard and it's about opinions. I think Balotelli is absolutely ****e and I'm fairly confident most Liverpool supporters would agree. He was a risk that didn't work.

[TheElephantMan]

I think you're getting carried away. He's becoming worse with every passing hour.

We need Sturridge back and we need another striker. We don't have a fit goalscoring striker at the club. It's something that needs addressing and yet there are just a few days of the transfer window left. This transfer window has been underwhelming.

[Gazzla]

Regardless of how people perceived Balotelli tonight, he was nowhere near as bad as the truly atrocious Lambert

[DannyMan2006]

Regardless of how people perceived Balotelli tonight, he was nowhere near as bad as the truly atrocious Lambert

I just knew that when Mario chose to shoot instead of pass to Rickie, when wide left after Courtois didn't get it, Rickie would do exactly the same. So it proved late on. Useless partnership, let me never see it again.

[baitman]

the best we can hope for is to recover about 8m for him.

someone get west ham and stoke on the phone.

[TheElephantMan]

Lambert seems like a nice bloke, but I can't take him seriously. Balotelli was supposed to bring something positive to the club, Lambert is just a local lad who got his dream move and really shouldn't be anywhere near the first team.

[Gazzla]

I'm at a loss tonight as to why we left Lallana on the bench and brought the immobile Lambert on especially as he seemed to spend the majority of the time stood out on the right wing.

Make no mistake, take sentiment out of it and he's a Championship journeyman and not a player we should be looking to even as a substitute he provides nothing, whether that's the player or we're not utilising him correctly I don't know but just as a basic footballer he looks horribly out of his depth

[DannyMan2006]

Lambert seems like a nice bloke, but I can't take him seriously. Balotelli was supposed to bring something positive to the club, Lambert is just a local lad who got his dream move and really shouldn't be anywhere near the first team.

Lambert should be the last ditch sub when we need a big man to offer something different.

The only issue is we already have another big man in Mario. What we needed instead of Mario was a Sturridge clone.

[-V-]

He's incredibly frustrating because you just know he has talent but isn't producing it. He has shown it in the past. I would sell Borini and Lambert before him purely because I think Balo could do well as Danny's partner

[TheElephantMan]

We had a few big men up front (Crouch and then Carroll) and they weren't really suited to our style of play. It's useful to have a plan B, but I don't really think Lambert or Balotelli are exactly in the same class as Crouch or Carroll. They're ineffective. I can see why we signed them, but we needed a quality striker who fits in with our style of play. We ****ed up in that respect during the summer and we haven't rectified the issue during this window. If Sturridge picks up another injury we can forget about challenging for a CL spot.

[DannyMan2006]

This would all be find if Balotelli was actually a slow & lumbering player like Carroll. He's not. He just plays like one.

Capable of being a monster. Wasn't match fit tonight, but showed flashes like when he barged through two chav players. Combined better than in the past with team mates. Just not on the same page yet.

[-V-]

I think Brendan will b counting on Sturridge building a friendship with Balo off the park. Balo is thick and immature, he needs someone to inspire him so maybe Sturridge can get him going