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

[Alex]

Where to start? ****ing hell.

He's incredibly selfish
He has a shoot on sight policy that's showing no signs of changing
He wants a million touches when all he needs is one
He massively slows our play down
He has terrible vision often passing to no one
He gives the ball away far too often
He's average in the air
He shows no signs of aggression
He barely ever makes a run in behind the defence
He's never in the box for crosses
Every shot he seems to take is so telegraphed it gets blocked

There's probably more I've missed. Forget about how good he's meant to be it's his playing style that's the issue. He's the exact opposite of what we need in that position unfortunately. He's the anti-Liverpool. The anti-Rodgers.

Yes we have bigger issues in the team, but for me this experiment is OVER. That was his last chance; a massive game to inspire something great out of him. It didn't. Get him out of the team immediately. Given the playing time Balotelli's had I'm sure Lambert or Borini would have done much, much better. We spun the wheel, we lost. Sell.

The ones I have highlighted are the worst for me at the moment.

I have defended him quite a lot, still will as he is a Liverpool player. But unless he sorts these issues out he wont ever work here. Hes the opposite of Suarez and Sturridge. Well, he is the opposite of all of our forward players at the moment.

[The Birdman]

I'd seriously cut our losses in Jan but I don't see it happening. Couldn't be more obvious it's not going to work. I'd love to know what went on with the Remy thing. Are our medical procedures really more stringent than Chelsea's, Newcastle's and QPR's? Seems pretty strange.

Our insurance policies I think.
As for Balotelli he was our best attacking player in the 1st half, it's just that doesn't suit the agenda that all the sheep have.

[BG1973]

Our insurance policies I think.
As for Balotelli he was our best attacking player in the 1st half, it's just that doesn't suit the agenda that all the sheep have.

Kind of agree.

He's an easy target.

He may not be suited to our style but some of the comments are unfair. I feel a bit sorry for him (as hard as it is to feel sorry for anyone so young with so many opportunities). I think he is trying hard, he's jus doesn't get it (yet and maybe never).

But then I'm soft as ****.

[Kenneth]

You mean our striker was our biggest attacking threat in the first half. Who'd have thunk it?

[ric.williams]

Balotelli has been hung out to dry, swapping shirts was brainless but he wasn't bad tonight at all but he's been held up as the sacrificial lamb. There were far worse culprits tonight than Balotelli

true, he has been much worse than he was tonight. Rodgers it appears will sub him for swapping shirts but not for playing ****e

[McDermotX]

You mean our striker was our biggest attacking threat in the first half. Who'd have thunk it?

Madness !


Think some are exaggerating anything he done last night in that 1st half TBH.........that's the flip side of the argument that people are laying into him unfairly.
Anything above the bare minimum and people notice.........that's extremely telling IMO.

[The Birdman]

Kind of agree.

He's an easy target.

He may not be suited to our style but some of the comments are unfair. I feel a bit sorry for him (as hard as it is to feel sorry for anyone so young with so many opportunities). I think he is trying hard, he's jus doesn't get it (yet and maybe never).

But then I'm soft as ****.

He's a very easy target because it means fans don't have to accept that Gerrard needs dropping, that Mingolet's confidence is shot, that Skrtel is ****ing woeful season after season, that we're relying on a 19 year old kid to bail us out every single week, that Coutinho flatters to deceive and is only useful as an impact sub.

It also means fans can ignore that we have no chance whatsoever of finishing top 4 with our current defensive set up, the stats since Christmas last year make scary reading.

But that's ok, blame the new striker who Rodgers is asking to play like our old one.
When we signed Aldo we didn't ask him to work like Rushy.

[Pablo]

He's a very easy target because it means fans don't have to accept that Gerrard needs dropping, that Mingolet's confidence is shot, that Skrtel is ****ing woeful season after season, that we're relying on a 19 year old kid to bail us out every single week, that Coutinho flatters to deceive and is only useful as an impact sub.

It also means fans can ignore that we have no chance whatsoever of finishing top 4 with our current defensive set up, the stats since Christmas last year make scary reading.

But that's ok, blame the new striker who Rodgers is asking to play like our old one.
When we signed Aldo we didn't ask him to work like Rushy.

Nah, he's an easy target because it's as clear as day he's a total mismatch for us. Surely you can see that?

Yes there's other more pressing problems, as I've alluded to, but they are complicated with no obvious solution.

The solution to the Balotelli problem is, in contrast, extremely straightforward. Drop him.

[McDermotX]

[G]

How he has a song and Sturridge doesn't is beyond me.

[G]

He's a very easy target because it means fans don't have to accept that Gerrard needs dropping, that Mingolet's confidence is shot, that Skrtel is ****ing woeful season after season, that we're relying on a 19 year old kid to bail us out every single week, that Coutinho flatters to deceive and is only useful as an impact sub.

It also means fans can ignore that we have no chance whatsoever of finishing top 4 with our current defensive set up, the stats since Christmas last year make scary reading.

But that's ok, blame the new striker who Rodgers is asking to play like our old one.
When we signed Aldo we didn't ask him to work like Rushy.

Nobody is ignoring any of that or not talking about it. They are all big issues and are being discussed in various threads. Balotelli is a massive problem too, hence when it's being discussed in the Balotelli thread.

[McDermotX]

http://www.football365.com/news/21554/9529746/Will-Panic-Buy-Balotelli-Be-Sold-Soon-

Carragher: Balo off next season

Balotelli joined the Reds from AC Milan for £16million over the summer but has offered little thus far to suggest he can make a lasting impression at Anfield.

He was hauled off at the interval during the Merseysiders' 3-0 humbling defeat to Real Madrid, suggesting manager Brendan Rodgers' patience is already wearing thin at the Italian's lacklustre displays.

Balotelli earned further ire by swapping shirts with Real defender Pepe at half-time and Carragher, speaking on Sky Sports, thinks Liverpool rushed in to sign the 24-year-old as a replacement for Luis Suarez and has suggested the striker could soon find himself surplus to requirements.

"I'd be surprised to see him here next season,'' said the former centre-half, who made over 500 appearances for Liverpool in 17 years.

Carragher added: "It was just a panic; they needed someone. They left it too late and they've bought different players in different positions instead of maybe going out, not spending the whole Suarez money on one player, but buying two or three big players.

"A lot of the players have come in and done a decent job here and there, but nobody's really done anything.

"They bring in Balotelli late on - it's obviously a panic.''

Other former Liverpool players in Jamie Redknapp and Graeme Souness have questioned why Balotelli was signed at all, given his track record of falling out with high-profile managers at his other clubs.

"I don't blame Mario Balotelli - I blame Brendan Rodgers for bringing him here,'' Redknapp said on Sky Sports 5. "How he thought he could turn around a player that (Jose) Mourinho, (Roberto) Mancini, (Cesare) Prandelli have all washed their hands of...

"There's a reason when you go to the supermarket and things are half price. Why on earth they went for him, I'll never know.

"They should have just left him alone. The fact he went and got him, it just doesn't make any sense to me.''

Souness, a former player and manager of Liverpool, backed up his fellow pundits, adding: "It was a really, really brave decision to take him into that football club, given the quality of managers and the quality of clubs that have said 'thanks but no thanks'.''

Curiously, I suspect I could dig up some quotes from Redknapp a couple months back singing his praises, albeit relatively conditionally without the vigour of the above.

[Pablo]

I'm done with him but I still understand the reasons we went for him. He was a gamble potentially worth taking at that price. Risk/reward.

I think the big fail was not realising his playing style was a mismatch for us. Our scouts should have raised that as a red flag and we should have realised this would likely backfire.

[Rich]

Questions should be raised of our scouting full stop.

[Alex]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2531074/Shirt-swapping-half-time-like-Samuel-Etoo-Mamadou-Sakho-ridiculous-JAMIE-REDKNAPP.html

No one seems to remember this.