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

[G]

the problem here was that Brendans ego thought he could control and mould Mario into a better player

needs to learn a lesson

A view expressed by many fans too.

[wiw]

It's his attitude I hate. After that run from Johnson and the ball flashed across the goal, Mario is standing in the goal glaring at Johnson as if he's just insulted his entire family. They clearly had words afterwards as well. No encouragement, no nothing. I didn't mind Suarez doing it, because he can actually back it up, he demanded high standards from everyone and it drove us on. Mario just seems to create a toxic atmosphere among the other players. We need to jib him off or at best he should be 4th choice striker.

[kev776]

It's his attitude I hate. After that run from Johnson and the ball flashed across the goal, Mario is standing in the goal glaring at Johnson as if he's just insulted his entire family. They clearly had words afterwards as well. No encouragement, no nothing. I didn't mind Suarez doing it, because he can actually back it up, he demanded high standards from everyone and it drove us on. Mario just seems to create a toxic atmosphere among the other players. We need to jib him off or at best he should be 4th choice striker.

I believe Mario was telling Johnson that he is useless and a lazy ******* with a bad attitude.

[Scratch]

the problem here was that Brendans ego thought he could control and mould Mario into a better player

needs to learn a lesson

I would disagree, prior to signing Mario Rodgers was insistent that it wouldn't happen and that Mario was a good player, but not the type of player Liverpool needed.

After missing out on our top targets, I think it was more a case of "it's Mario or nothing, Brendan" so he took a punt and was let down by the player.

[Paul12]

The joke used to be that Jan Molby used to have to warm up so he could run to the touch line when substituted. Fortunately Mario walked so he didn't have to warm up even for that.

[Rich]

I reckon we'll manage to offload him in the summer for £10m or thereabouts. There'll be someone, somewhere that'll think they can get the best out of him.

[frank the tank]

i reckon he will go on loan and we will end up paying about 70% of his wages........maybe inter milan. he'll have a good season there and get into the italy squad and we will still sell him for only 5m.

We should never EVER sign an italian again. Theyve all been so ****e for us...

[Fan65]

Phenomenally talented individual .

I think you missed two words "Apparently a "

When has he shown any real talent?

At least Borini runs about a bit and Lambert looks concerned when he misstimes his lollops

[Bender]

http://http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sp...ague-goal.htmlTransfer fee: £16m

Weekly wages: £90,000

x 36 weeks at club = £3.24m

TOTAL SO FAR: £19.24m

In 16 Premier League appearances:

Goals - 1 or £19.24m per goal

Shots on target - 20 or £962,000 per shot

Shots off target - 16 or £1.2m per shot

Chances created - 10 or £1.924m per chance

Passes - 241 or £79,834 per pass

Stats courtesy of Opta

[Maxiedge]

^^ wow that is abysmal but I don't blame Balotelli. He is what he is. The club are to blame for sanctioning the transfer.

Also, how many games have there been with Balotelli and Sturridge fit together? I thought that was the plan start of the season...

[danperkins]

Anyone think he'd better in defence seen as he keeps dropping so deep and doesn't do any running?

No, he was in defence yesterday and was asleep.. played 3 players onside for their goal.

Seriously though he doesn't actually stay up top, it's infuriating.

[danperkins]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/foo...ague-goal.htmlTransfer fee: £16m

Weekly wages: £90,000

x 36 weeks at club = £3.24m

TOTAL SO FAR: £19.24m

In 16 Premier League appearances:

Goals - 1 or £19.24m per goal

Shots on target - 20 or £962,000 per shot

Shots off target - 16 or £1.2m per shot

Chances created - 10 or £1.924m per chance

Passes - 241 or £79,834 per pass

Stats courtesy of Opta

Bloody hell man, what a ****fest this signing has been.

[Alex]

How could we get better value out of Balotelli?

There must be a way of using him to play to his strengths, because at the moment all we seem to do is moan about him.

We know he has scored in the past and is not as bad as those stats suggest. Is it his mindset, ability, adaptability? Whats the problem with him. Because honestly, at the moment I wouldn't care if I never watched him play for us again.

[Exiled_red]

How could we get better value out of Balotelli?

There must be a way of using him to play to his strengths, because at the moment all we seem to do is moan about him.

We know he has scored in the past and is not as bad as those stats suggest. Is it his mindset, ability, adaptability? Whats the problem with him. Because honestly, at the moment I wouldn't care if I never watched him play for us again.

Well if he scores another goal that 19M will be halved instantly



To be honest the issue is the style (I think) we want to play doesn't suit the way Balotelli plays at all, if he is going to be the focal point of the attack we need to play to his strengths rather than trying to force him to play a different way. To be honest I don't like the idea of adapting the team to suit Balotelli but give the chronic lack of strikers and goals, it seems like it would have been the best short term solution to get us through this season.

[Alex]

Well if he scores another goal that 19M will be halved instantly



To be honest the issue is the style (I think) we want to play doesn't suit the way Balotelli plays at all, if he is going to be the focal point of the attack we need to play to his strengths rather than trying to force him to play a different way. To be honest I don't like the idea of adapting the team to suit Balotelli but give the chronic lack of strikers and goals, it seems like it would have been the best short term solution to get us through this season.

Well yeah, a goal would certainly help


We might as well try a different style for the last couple of games. Not much left to lose. He works really hard every now and again. He did at the weekend for example. But only for around 5 minutes. Then got ****ed off because he couldn't do whatever else he wanted.

I think we were spoilt to a degree by Suarez. I have not seen a player with his workrate and ability ever before. He worked his nuts off for the team and was good enough to also get in the positions when we had it to lead the attack.
Some games I am convinced he used to set his own goals up.