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

[Tee]

Thank **** it was only 16 mill. Gamble taken hasnt paid off, sell and move on

[danperkins]

You ll be hard pushed to see a worse individual performance ever! Although Enrique was close.

[meffin]

Hes terrible.

Didn't want him before, and still don't. That open goal miss was criminal, he shouldn't start a game again for us. Borini is better

[baronvonskidmark]

I can't see what he offers.

He doesn't hold the ball up, doesn't continually harass defenders, isn't a clinical striker in and around the box, doesn't offer a lot of assists, is pretty stationary most of the time, his finishing is actually really poor and he is not great in the air.

Apart from that he's ok.

[ChesterDave]

We sold Andy Carroll for less than we bought Mario

[RichC]

You ll be hard pushed to see a worse individual performance ever! Although Enrique was close.

I think Lovren, Skrtel and Enrique were far worse than Mario today.

Every time the ball was anywhere near our area it was headless chicken panic attacks amongst those 3 and at least Mario got himself into the right positions from time to time those 3 were awful for pretty much the entire 90 minutes.

[Le Chef]

A few things before he's pubically shot down

He's admitted he's better in a front two - Struggles as a one

Barring the miss today, he put effort in and tried.

Worst players on the pitch today than MArio

[RichC]

A few things before he's pubically shot down

He's admitted he's better in a front two - Struggles as a one

Barring the miss today, he put effort in and tried.

Worst players on the pitch today than MArio

[MrMichael]

There might have been worse players, but not by a lot. For someone who is supposed to be a finisher his efforts today were pathetic, with someone decent we'd have won that game easily despite playing badly imo.

Honestly, this "better with a partner" thing is just the latest in a line of excuses for him that just don't cut it. While it might make him slightly more effective within the team system.... and let's face it,he couldn't be worse... it won't actually change him as a player. He doesn't need a different style of play, or a manager that understands him, and he isn't tired either, he just isn't any good. Play him with the best partner possible and he will still stroll around aimlessly, fail to make incisive runs at the right time, and slash the ball into the stands 10 times a game when there are a ton of better options.

I have never seen a more wasteful player in a red shirt ever. When Sturridge is fit he shouldn't play with Balotelli, he should play instead and our actually good players like Sterling, Lallana and Coutinho might actually have someone to pass to whose ability matches their vision.

[vlahka]

Wasnt happy when we signed him at all. He's not the player we needed. One of the reasons for this is our style of play last season focused entirely on teamwork and playing off each other. His style is greedy. And I dont mean greedy like say sturridge greedy, but the parents that gave birth to that greed and then ate it soon after. He wont ever fit for us.

[BigChief]

How would having a strike partner stop you from missing open goals?

One against Everton that cost us 2 points. And one today that could have cost another 2 points. Playing with Balotelli is like playing with 10 men. (With Lovren its with 9 but that's for another thread). He should just not be playing like MrM said.

[Red_Polo]

Everyone always says he looks disinterested. Every game I've seen him play since he played for Inter he looks like that. I'm not really sure how players appear to 'look' is relevant when signing a player.

He isn't doing well at the moment, but we knew what we were getting. If anything he has been more of a 'team player' for us than we he's generally been with other teams. Other than the missed chances, nothing that he's done since he's signed has surprised me.

Good post - there are plenty of valid criticisms of him, it's very odd some people choose to attack his work ethic / greed / demeanour instead. It's his movement and decision making that have been most notably poor to me.

[Exiled_red]

The main problem I have with him is that he slows our play down too much, we can't play the fast flowing football that we did last season with him involved

[danperkins]

Aye so many flowing moves break down when he gets to ball. His link play is not there and he puts the head down and has so many aimless shots. You would think one screamer would have gone in at this stage statically but no.

He is so easy to mark. So stagnant and completely the opposite to the way we play.

[kubrickscube]

Surely after today, lambert should be playing in the week?