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

[alonso14]

He seemed to play well yesterday. He might be missing a few chances but we would be more worried if he wasn't getting them. We should persevere with Mario because if he manages to sort himself out he could be unbelievable.

We will see a different Mario when Daniel sturridge comes back. I think the two of them could form a really good partnership.

[danperkins]

He seemed to play well yesterday. He might be missing a few chances but we would be more worried if he wasn't getting them. We should persevere with Mario because if he manages to sort himself out he could be unbelievable.

We will see a different Mario when Daniel sturridge comes back. I think the two of them could form a really good partnership.

Think we're all praying that will be the case.

[Vermilion]

Mirror ****ing **** stirrers.

scum.

[Roboklopp]

Porkins.

Not sure he could ever be "unbelievable" tbh...

[alonso14]

Think we're all praying that will be the case.

We all just need to pray a little harder.

[Shaggy]

http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/oct/25/mario-balotelli-liverpool-brendan-rodgers

Mario Balotelli’s flaws at Liverpool lead Brendan Rodgers up blind alley

The Liverpool manager strays from Anfield’s old ways in trying to solve a problem like Mario Balotelli, and could learn a lesson from Rafael Benítez or, for that matter, a story about Roy Keane

Mick McCarthy tells a story going back to his time at Sunderland and that difficult period after the chilly fingers of relegation had settled around their neck when they were trying to deal with all the stuff that comes with dropping out of the Premier League. In Sunderland’s case it involved 80 people being laid off. The letters terminating their contracts went out in one batch and that day McCarthy was sitting in his office, feeling absolutely awful, when he heard a roar outside. It was his captain, Michael Gray, pulling up in a spanking new Ferrari.

It is the kind of story that would not look out of place in Mario Balotelli’s portfolio and no doubt it will pain all those pros who are not totally wrapped up in the football bubble and probably grow weary of being lumped into the world that I heard Roy Keane call a “cartoon” during two hours with an audience at Lancashire County Cricket Club earlier this week.

Keane was taking exception to his own caricature – the “madman”, permanently on the point of explosion, little black puffs of toxic smoke coming from his ears – and the way it missed the other layers to his personality, and maybe he had a point judging by a little story that does not actually make it into his new autobiography.


It goes back to his days at Nottingham Forest when he shared digs with Gary Charles. Both had great futures ahead of them. Both played in the 1991 FA Cup final, when Charles had an unwitting role in one of Paul Gascoigne’s more self-destructive moments, and it is fair to say they liked a night out. Brian Clough once described Charles, an elegant right-back, as covering the ground like a “gazelle”. He won two England caps at the age of 21 and probably should have finished his career with an attic’s worth. Except it never turned out that way.

In 1992, now at Derby County, Charles was driving a car in an accident that killed a teenage cyclist. The experience of seeing the boy’s face on the point of impact and the family’s grieving had the profound effect you can imagine. His career continued at Aston Villa, Benfica and West Ham, but he was spiralling into alcoholism and along the way there were some pretty ghastly episodes that could fill his own book. His life become one long mess of prison, court appearances and drinking to the point that he was eventually told he was going to end up killing himself.

Then a letter arrived for him at Rutland Prison and it was Keane reminiscing about the good times and what good friends they had been. Keane told him he wanted to help and “but for the grace of God, what’s happened to you could have been me” and he was true to his word. When Charles was released, he moved in with the Keane family. Keane took him to training at Sunderland and let him take a few drills himself. Charles is now signed up for his coaching badges and working as a part-time scout. Keane’s part in that rehabilitation would probably be unreported were it not for the former BBC journalist Simon Austin, a friend of Charles, writing a blog about it, on the simple basis he “thought it was a story worth telling”.

This is not an attempt to deify Keane – introduced on stage with a roll call of his honours followed by the tribute “and, latterly, scaring Adrian Chiles” – but it is a reminder sometimes how we should not just automatically think the worst of people because of what they have done.

This is where Balotelli comes back in, too, after a week that is probably best epitomised by the back-page headline in the Liverpool Echo – APOLOGISE – to single him out the morning after Real Madrid and Cristiano Ronaldo had left their calling card at Anfield.

Balotelli is not an easy man to defend sometimes. His offending is of the serial type and, let’s be blunt about this, if thoughtlessness were a crime, Mario would be No1 on the sport’s most wanted list. He can give his entire industry a bad name in the worst moments and, looking back, I still think Roberto Mancini, his former manager at Manchester City, might actually have been serious when he dropped into conversation that Balotelli should move in with him and his family. Balotelli had just returned to city-centre living after a relocation to one of Cheshire’s millionaire villages ended with his rented house nearly burning down. Mancini’s opinion was that Balotelli needed 24/7 supervision. “I would keep him in the cellar,” he said.

Yet Balotelli does not need to issue an official apology to Liverpool. He needs to start scoring and reinventing himself and, more than anything, to show that he is a better player than he has shown so far.

Against Madrid, he misread the etiquette at Anfield, that’s all. He didn’t think – classic Balotelli – but it is still bemusing to see his half-time shirt-swap with Pepe being described as the “most heinous” of all his misdemeanours and the disproportionate coverage that has followed. Seriously, it is not even in the top 100.

It was certainly bemusement on Carlo Ancelotti’s face when he was informed in Anfield’s press room that Brendan Rodgers was planning to discipline his player. Ancelotti had already been asked by Sky Italia whether “we’ve completely lost Balotelli” and his eyebrow went north to that one as well. Balotelli, he said, was “the player in the first half who attacked the space the most and tried to create problems for us”. Gazzetta dello Sport’s verdict was: “Help! is the right Beatles song for Mario. This time, however, he wasn’t the worst.” He was given five out of 10, which was a lot more sensible than the zero rating in a couple of Spanish newspapers.

Balotelli plainly does need help. He looks embarrassed and at least that shows a level of professional pride. None of us can be sure whether or not he has the personality to put it right but maybe Liverpool are not going about it the right way either if we compare what happened to Peter Crouch when he started his Anfield career.

Crouch went four months without scoring and flicking through the relevant chapter – “Eighteen Bloody Games” – in his autobiography the thing that leaps out is how extraordinarily grateful he is to Rafael Benítez for his constant support. Game No15 was against Portsmouth, one of Crouch’s old clubs, and he fluffed a penalty in front of the Kop. Crouch put on a front but inside he was “broken up”. He remembers the criticism from outside Anfield was “too personal, over the top, unpleasant” and not wanting to leave his flat because he thought people were laughing at him. Yet Benítez always backed him. “That meant so much to me,” Crouch wrote.

Balotelli has not had the same kind of care and it is strange to see when one of the great things about Liverpool is that they are usually so protective of their own. So many of Rodgers’s press conferences have chopped the Italian down and it is almost as if Liverpool are genuinely taken aback that he is so high-maintenance. Yet when the deal was being put in place Kenny Dalglish took a call from one his contacts – someone high up in football and with experience of Balotelli – telling him that Liverpool should run a mile. Balotelli was not worth the hassle, he was told. Sign him and you will regret it.

Balotelli will certainly know what Keane means when he talks of a “cartoon” persona. One of the more publicity-ravenous bookmakers had a stand outside Anfield before the game against Hull offering a swap-shop if anyone wanted to get rid of their Balotelli shirts. It was a cheap stunt but the truth, equally, is that nobody – maybe even the man himself – will be wearing that shirt with great pride right now.

[captainfog]

This stood out:

Yet when the deal was being put in place Kenny Dalglish took a call from one his contacts – someone high up in football and with experience of Balotelli – telling him that Liverpool should run a mile. Balotelli was not worth the hassle, he was told. Sign him and you will regret it.

[Kenneth]

So many words, so little point.

[captainfog]

So many words, so little point.

Just about sums up Balo.

[Kenneth]

You think? It seems like yet more of the pointless hot air that journalists are so keen to blow of the subject.

[alonso14]

Our problems aren't caused by Mario balotelli. How is he to blame for the defensive problems in that every long ball into the box causes panic stations, why is he to blame for the lack of goal threat from the middle of the pitch - how many goals have Henderson, Allen, Gerrard and Can scored? our four creative players sterling, coutinho, lallana and markovic probably have 5 goals between them.

Why is everyone pointing the finger at Mario balotelli and why is the club not really defending him. He is the easy target and certain people at the club are more than happy for Mario to be the scapegoat when he's not to blame for most of the problems.

All people are doing is deflecting the problems onto one player. Mario sometimes makes it hard for himself but Is it really marios fault that were completely rubbish ?

[Slinky Skills]

Because he's a lazy selfish cunt that's why. And as for the the club not defending him, that's all Rodgers has done since he's signed and he's been ****ing atrocious so far.

[alonso14]

Because he's a lazy selfish cunt that's why. And as for the the club not defending him, that's all Rodgers has done since he's signed and he's been ****ing atrocious so far.

So because hes a lazy selfish cunt we cant defend set pieces.

I'm not saying Mario is entirely blameless but equally there are bigger problems elsewhere that aren't his fault.

[G]

I've said this once before but this is the Balotelli thread. It's where we come to discuss him. He is a problem for us. Yes he's one of many but he is a problem. I don't think anybody is blaming all our ills on him, Gerrard has plenty of critics in his thread, Lovren and Skrtel have been torn to pieces many times in their threads and the manager is having some of it too in his.

We have many problems and Mario is one of them.

[Slinky Skills]

So because hes a lazy selfish cunt we cant defend set pieces.

I'm not saying Mario is entirely blameless but equally there are bigger problems elsewhere that aren't his fault.

No, of course not. As a team we're wank but he's been particularly crap. He has shown some signs of improving over the past 2 games but he needs to do more.

As G pointed out, this is a thread about him not the team.