Perhaps someone should mention to him that ridiculously spectacular once or twice a season goals wont silence critics half as well as team work and scoring regularly, even if they are tap ins
Shooting from forty yards is one thing. Scoring them is another. I won't mention the two, three or four players that are stood a yard in front of him when he attempts these shots meaning there is no chance of the ball getting near the net. Oh my bad, I just did
You're right. It's the sign of player desperate to prove a point and totally devoid of confidence. I'm not his biggest fan, but he's a better player than you've seen of him in a red shirt as he's been truly awful from first appearance to yesterday
I pleaded with you not to buy him, I really thought it would simply not turn out well. The man is a low prem top championship player at best. He´ll score a really good goal, everyone will go on & on about it & then he´ll not score for 8 games or so & in the process do some thing really stupid & drag the club through some bad press. With him it´s not Liverpool, Balotelli, football in the press it´s Liverpool, Balotelli, some scandal in the press. The bloke is a waste of your fine clubs money.
I think the criticism of Mario has been far too harsh. Yes, he's looked poor but why? Simply - he doesn't suit our system. IF Rodgers actually was tactically astute, he would have realised that we can't play the same style last season without Sturridge or Suarez or a similar style of player. So the problem we have is a) why sign him in the first place and b) why hasn't Rodgers set his team up to suit the strengths of Mario? a) It's clear that this is a committee signing - Rodgers has been very quick to criticise Mario. His comments about how Mario was a last resort were embarrassing and uncalled for. And now his recent comments really don't help. It's amazing how Rodgers hasn't called out Lovren - he's criticised the defence as a whole but he has not singled out Skrtel, or Lovren. A player who cost MORE than Mario. And what about Lallana - for all of the trickery and hard work, what has he actually done for £25m? b) We all obviously want to carry on playing the same style of football as last season - it's fast paced, dangerous and exciting. However, we have lost BOTH SAS. We have a target man in Mario who feeds off runners - and he's not had much of them. Rodgers needs to change the system to suit the players we have or take Mario out of the team and carry on as normal. Funny thing is, I'm not even a Mario fan. I've never rated him and I could never understand the hype around him. What I cannot understand is the media attention on him for everything he does, the fans are now jumping on the bandwagon and criticising him, and his manager pretty much wrote him off from day 1 - how anyone can excuse that last point is beyond me.
Did he? I watched that game and I remember him hitting a shot that went 20 yards wide and missing a header from 6 yards. You played well as a team that day, and maybe he worked a tad harder than he has in subsquent games, but I wouldn't say he was good personally.
We played well as a team but I don't recall Mario doing too much on the day. Since we'd played well though I gave him the benefit of doubt and will continue to do so (as far as the partnership goes) until we see Studge back alongside him for a few games.
Bang on Foxes. I can't work out how he ever got such a high profile and 'top class' reputation. He has no positive attributes in his game. He doesn't provide anything in the box, his shooting is poor, doesn't tackle or track back, poor at assists and passing, lazy, disappears in games... 90% of the time he plays average to below average at the level you mention. Have the things he's done in the past really been that special? They were the result of pure luck if they were.
That's one thing I will concede, let's see how he goes with Sturridge. But then how much does he have to do between now and Christmas to convince fans and the club that he's worth keeping??
He needs to put some effort in. Everyone can run and work hard for the team, he makes the decision not to do it and that's what annoys me. Can't see him suddenly having a chance of heart though.
You do realise that Sturridge isn't exactly a hard worker himself? There seems to be a common misconception that Sturridge is a hard presser, chases down everything etc. Balotelli has not done anything different to what Sturridge would have from a defensive POV. And another thing - people are expecting him to be pressing all the time. In fact, we're expecting the team to press for the 90 mins. It's almost impossible to do that - look at last season. We would blitz teams at the start and score an early goal. Then we would sit back and counter. That was the general style. We never pressed for large parts of the match. It's just another 'lazy' criticism aimed at Balotelli.
True but that's a different argument altogether. The way the media and some fans bang on, you'd swear Mario is completely static and does zero work. Watch him closely, and you'll see he does put a shift in, on par with Sturridge. It's just a shame he's sh*t in every other aspect.
I agree except the bit in bold. He makes runs which free's up space for other players and he fully knows that. Balotelli unfortuanetly doesn't get the concept of teamwork. Hopefully he's training hard to put it right, but we'll see
Working hard doesn't mean harassing the defenders. It means they give 100% to a game whether that be making runs, closing people down or just getting in position. Mario does none of these and no one can say with any conviction that he even attempts to give 100%, he doesn't!
He was good that one game linked with Studge! I remember thinking he looked promising that day- yeah, his shooting was as rank that day as it was in every other appearance; however, I remember him creating quite a few chances for others that day, and he was working hard that day (probably more motivated by being in a partnership). He did some fancy moves and whatnot- but his shooting was as rank as ever. Don't know if that was a one-off performance for Mario, or if he just plays a lot better with a competent partner.
He had one amazing season at City whilst still very young- and that performance has been fueling his hype ever since... beginning to run out of steam though- and Liverpool is his last chance to redeem himself at this level.
