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

[captainfog]

it is certainly an uneven management style. It's not like everyone else has been awesome this season either. Borini puts in loads of 'effort' he's just not that good, and countless others have at times under performed. Balotelli has ability. I will be interested to see the Spurs formation in action again, easily his best game. Where he was not the main centre forward, but his movement off Sturridge meant he had lots of chances. Might have been a different story if one if them had gone in.

You're right that was his best game. A game in which he scored 0 goals, missed two sitters, and had one comedy long range effort.

[Buzzo]

You're right that was his best game. A game in which he scored 0 goals, missed two sitters, and had one comedy long range effort.

I'm sure 'you've got to be in there to miss them' applied at the time. He can't even get on the bench these days, fallen behind Lambo and Fabio FFS.

Maybe Brendan is trying to shame a performance out of big Mario?

[RichC]

I'm sure 'you've got to be in there to miss them' applied at the time. He can't even get on the bench these days, fallen behind Lambo and Fabio FFS.

Maybe Brendan is trying to shame a performance out of big Mario?

Could be the only way left to try and get him to play as we want.

[-V-]

If he's not pulling his weight in training and just ****ing about then Im glad Brendan is leaving him out. Prick needs to get the message that he needs to try harder. Such a waste of talent

[baitman]

It's not a tactic I can see motivating the player, if indeed that is the intention at all.

i think the intention is to motivate mario.

motivate him to pack his bags and find someone else to sponge a living off.

[Red_Polo]

i think the intention is to motivate mario. motivate him to pack his backs and find someone else to sponge a living off.

Yeah, that's what I'm intimating.

[frank the tank]

Footballers however, are a massively valuable asset that the club invests millions of pounds in. If you consistently put in half arsed effort in a normal everyday job you are likely to find yourself unemployed before long.

Some footballers know they can carry on putting in a half arsed effort because their employer can't afford to cut them loose and write off the millions of pounds tied up in their asset/player.

They also get paid a ****ing **** load of money so if they are going to be a lazy prick and take the piss out of the fans that pay their wages with ticket sales and merchandise purchases they should be called out for it publicly so those fans know exactly what they are like.

Shame the ****ers into pulling their fingers out.

This point should be remembered. The fact that Balotelli can't be arsed in training should be kept under wraps so that our already depreciating asset doesn't degrade into two thirds of **** all. The ball-ache about Balotelli could soon be that fact that he has gone beyond the point of no return.....then we have another Joe Cole scenario where we literally can't give the guy away and end up sending him on loan with us paying 90% of his wages. The political turmoil in Russia - coupled with the rock bottom price of oil - means that we don't even have an Anzhi to **** him off to!!

For me, Rodgers has agreed to the signing of Balotelli (not sure if it was a committee decision or what....but BR must have agreed to it) so Rodgers has to try harder to make it work.....even if that is just to keep his value at a half decent level. Hopefully this kick up the arse is exactly what Mario needs, he gets his head down and works hard. I am hoping that he will be in match day squads soon..... for me, if we need a goal with 10/15 minutes to go, then i would prefer to bring on Balotelli before either Borini or Lambert.

This whole season has further strenghtened Sturridges reputation and importance to the team though - and he has hardly kicked a ball!!! From an attacking perspective, LFC have been a bit of a car crash this year.

Also, i bet that ****in eijet that did the ice bucket challenge in front of Marios mini-van feels like a right retard now!!!

[Darkon]

This was posted on another forum

I understand the reasons he's not being picked in the team - at the moment, especially when Sturridge comes back, and considering the current system, I agree that he probably shouldn't be in the first choice team either (yet).

Balotelli is someone who if you use him correctly can add multiple dimensions to your attack. If he's able to drop off into that space just in front of the back line, not as a number ten per se but someone who can link up between the lines, enhance the control of the midfield, create chances, hold off defenders, use his touch and strength, shoot from range, create space for others, he can be a very, very good player. What Rodgers did was play him exactly how he shouldn't be played - leave him isolated of support, having to run channels etc. It would have been better even if he'd have shoved him out on the left - at least he'd have had some freedom to move inside into his favoured areas with a forward ahead of him.

I didn't really want to say much but it actually pissed me off at the time. He was taking all the blame when he was actually working fairly hard and had been left on his own in a team that wasn't doing anything well, including pressing and the latter was not down to him being supposedly poor at it.

If he's not working in training then okay. But he still offers far, far more than Borini and Lambert do as long as you don't make things difficult for him, as is what was pretty much happening earlier in the season. Can he play in a free-flowing team? Definitely as far as I'm concerned. In fact in a way his performances, and the rest of the attacking players' performances, would be enhanced by that, I think. Having him almost like a reference point just off the front would give others plenty of space and he'd be allowed to play his natural game with physically and positionally mobile players around him. Can he press? Well he's not a Luis Suarez but he's not lazy either. He just has particular way of going about it. He'll close down quite often, he'll track back if need be. He's not always on the move defensively and I think that's probably what Rodgers is asking for. He tends to do it more as an impulse when he's around the ball. But I think we could work around that in all honesty. We don't really press that aggressively anyway. We do in patches under certain triggers but we're hardly like Bayern Munich who are constantly pressing when they lose possession.

Obviously we don't know how he's working in training so I'll trust Rodgers on that but I really hope he gets more chances. I was really excited when he came in and I actually still am. His performances for Italy have often been very good, at times bordering on world class. For a while he was their key player, the player who they utterly relied on and he was absolutely superb across multiple areas in attack. His goalscoring record is actually pretty good considering he often has been used as a sub or out wide - he got 18 in 34 starts for Milan last season, 15 goals in 21 starts for Milan and City the season before and 18 in 22 starts for City the season before that. I don't see it happening right now but he deserves more chances in the future.

This is a good post, to me it seems more like poor casting for the role than the one hired per se.

[BobTheCharmer]

According to the BBC, Balotelli is going through a difficult time. Rodgers has said he will get as chance to earn his place.

[Buzzo]

According to the BBC, Balotelli is going through a difficult time. Rodgers has said he will get as chance to earn his place.

He's playing tomorrow isn't he.

[Gibbo]

And he's gonna score a hat-trick.

Imagine.

[Doc_Piptorious]

If Balotelli starts tomorrow then I hope he puts in the kind of performance that starts to ram all the doubts I have about him down my throat.

[danperkins]

If Balotelli starts tomorrow then I hope he puts in the kind of performance that starts to ram all the doubts I have about him down my throat.

We all do, but I just can't see it happening for him.

[Mark79]

If Balotelli starts tomorrow then I hope he puts in the kind of performance that starts to ram all the doubts I have about him down my throat.

Same here.

And then we can also hail Rodgers for getting a reaction out of him/slag Rodgers off for being a meanie to him.

[DannyMan2006]

I look at the interviews with Rodgers and I'm not a fan of the comments he comes out with. But then I sit and think and wonder what else he could say? He can't just keep saying he's injured when he's clearly not and training with the team.and it's not like he's saying anything bad, just that he needs to press more to get a starting place. We all know that already.

In fact, if there is one person in here who has criticised Rodgers for this, but not said exactly the same or far worse themselves, then I'd be amazed tbh. The signing of Mario Balotelli has been a disaster thus far. But we've had Rodgers for long enough as manager now to know that he doesn't give up on players. He is true to his word. If Mario actually puts effort in then he'll start games again.

I don't buy this bull**** that Mario can't press. He clearly can. He's not slow, he's strong, fit and he's capable. And if he does bother to put the effort in then there is no doubt he could be an absolute beats. It's up to him. The gamble was in the hope he knuckles down. If the penny drops, he'll be a monster.