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

[fidget]

He isn't ****ing ****. What we have seen at times from him is ****ing ****. Could he have done more? Yes. But just as he was having a run where he was effecting games in a positive manner, we get penaltygate and he is back out of the squad. In a team playing with wide men and less importance placed on pressing, he would look much better. That's why rather than put the blame all on Mario, I think its more to do with signing him in the first place. Lambert is a good solid pro, yet in our system he's worse than hopeless. At some point the way we set up has to be looked at.

Excellent post.

[Exiled_red]

He isn't ****ing ****. What we have seen at times from him is ****ing ****. Could he have done more? Yes. But just as he was having a run where he was effecting games in a positive manner, we get penaltygate and he is back out of the squad. In a team playing with wide men and less importance placed on pressing, he would look much better. That's why rather than put the blame all on Mario, I think its more to do with signing him in the first place. Lambert is a good solid pro, yet in our system he's worse than hopeless. At some point the way we set up has to be looked at.

I've said this a number of times, but I think we often buy players based on ability/potential without looking at whether they would fit into the side or style of play or even the position we want them to play.

[RichC]

I'd almost forgotten we had Lambert ! Agree about the Balotelli signing, looking retrospectively why sign him other than a bit of a last minute panic.

However it seems that yet another chance has been given and he's managed to waste it. He's a talented footballer but just doesn't have the tools mentally or willing to adapt and apply himself properly

[kev776]

Wrong. The majority view here was that it was a gamble worth taking at £16m. Very few people called it in advance. Remarkable really.

I called it in advance and so did others.

[Roboklopp]

Yeah, me & Mr M. Once it was clear we were signing him I did try get behind him tho. But wasn't really convinced.

Let's face it, we've had one performance of merit from him all season.

[kev776]

It is not that he plays bad for us, that is how he always plays. Once every blue moon he does something decent, not worth 90k of our money.

I'm still shocked we signed him, he is a Chelsea type of player, not Liverpool.

[Roboklopp]

If only it were 90K!

But yeah I know what you mean. We were clearly hoping for a bit of that magic ingredient & unpredictability from him post-Suarez. The vital thing we chose to overlook tho is that as well as having less than half the talent, he has less than 10% the application.

[Big Dave]

I've said this a number of times, but I think we often buy players based on ability/potential without looking at whether they would fit into the side or style of play or even the position we want them to play.

It might help mind if we had a clear idea on a system before going into a season that we can buy the players for! We seem to have messed about for a few months the last 2 seasons before finding a system that does suit us. I'd not be a bit surprised if we start next season with a new system again, which means farting about until Christmas until we can settle on something that works

[The_weatherman]

It might help mind if we had a clear idea on a system before going into a season that we can buy the players for! We seem to have messed about for a few months the last 2 seasons before finding a system that does suit us. I'd not be a bit surprised if we start next season with a new system again, which means farting about until Christmas until we can settle on something that works

I'm a bit worried that this system malarky will make it more complicated to recruit in the summer. I say we go back to a flat four from now on. If we are to commit to 3-4-3 we need a different recruitment strategy, and I'm not sure this is the horse we should be betting on in the long term. I'd rather see us commit to a flat four and get the players that fit the system, preferable if Rodgers could decide over the next 7 league games what to use next season so we can use the pre-season to prepare and buy the players we need before the season starts.

[Doc_Piptorious]

It is not that he plays bad for us, that is how he always plays. Once every blue moon he does something decent, not worth 90k of our money.

I'm still shocked we signed him, he is a Chelsea type of player, not Liverpool.

Not in a million years is he a Chelsea type player, especially Chelsea under Mourinho.

If our pressing game does not suit him, then the shifts he would be expected to put in under Jose as a lone striker would kill him.


Whilst I think Balotelli has been a complete and utter waste of money for Liverpool, I cannot but help agree with some of what Bob has said about him.

I don't think putting him in a team with wide men and him having to do less pressing would suddenly make him look better, but I do agree that we are not playing to Balotelli's strengths when we use him and trying to fit him into a pressing game is never going to work as Balotelli can be quite limited imo in terms of his game intelligence and flexibility of role.

But put him in a set up where he has a strike partner or at the very least one to two players coming from deep to link with him on a regular basis, and I suspect a different Balotelli would be seen in terms of goal and assist return. He would still appear to be a bit feckless but goals would follow to a greater degree than his pretty pitiful number to date.

Am basing my comments on how he was used for Milan, Italy and at times for City. In those teams other players provided the movement around Balotelli, and he often had a strike partner beside him who was shouldering the greater share of the workload, but what you got from Balotelli then was a goal return that usually ranged between 1 in 3 to 1 in 2 over the course of his time with the team.

Is Balotelli worth all the changes that would have to be made to get the best out of him and for others to up their workload to accomodate him?

Most season the answer from me to that would be a resounding no. No way is a 1 in 3 guy worth that much disruption season in season out, but is that sort of guy worth the changes in the short term during a period in which goals have dried up for the team and the main striker is out injured? The answer to that may well be yes from time to time.

[Roboklopp]

Many of his goals were from pens too.

[Doc_Piptorious]

Many of his goals were from pens too.

True, but penaltys do not count any less, and Balotelli is a top notch penalty taker.

[Roboklopp]

But we already have/ had one of them in our aging god Stevie.

[Doc_Piptorious]

But we already have/ had one of them in our aging god Stevie.

The Stevie who still have two more games to go on his ban?


I am no fan of Balotelli and do not rate him too highly as a player, but like Lambert and Balotelli I do not understand why Rodgers has used them as he has done given our problems up front without Sturridge.


Sterling has not worked out as a lone striker so with three other strikers on the books and a lack of goals in the team, it seems kind of obvious to try some combination of our three remaining strikers to see if we could create some form of attacking threat for the remaining games in the season.

Personally I would have dropped Sterling of late, and if Sturridge is deemed unfit, then start with Borini and Lambert up front, Coutinho behind them, and have the usually wing back system and two midfielders for the rest of the team.

An alternative would be to have Balotelli start in that line up instead of Lambert but at least it would give us something different in attack for a few games whilst we have players injured/unfit/out of form/suspended.

[Fierce]

He isn't ****ing ****. What we have seen at times from him is ****ing ****. Could he have done more? Yes. But just as he was having a run where he was effecting games in a positive manner, we get penaltygate and he is back out of the squad. In a team playing with wide men and less importance placed on pressing, he would look much better. That's why rather than put the blame all on Mario, I think its more to do with signing him in the first place. Lambert is a good solid pro, yet in our system he's worse than hopeless. At some point the way we set up has to be looked at.