Liverpool FC Forum

When Balotelli burst on the scene as a teenager there was a lot of hype about him and deservedly so as he was showing some real signs of developing into a quality player at such a young age. Unfortunately he has never really pushed on from that and is bit of a playground player as in he can probably pull of some good moments but ultimately will not do it enough and his all round game is not good enough. I can see him having some cracking games for us but there won't be anywhere near enough of them and that's why I don't think he will be around for too long.

Balotelli received a fine and a one game ban.

Could have been much worse for him.
Its just a shame they didn't hand it out before last nights game.

I championed the gamble on Balotelli but short of an absolute miracle between now and the summer he wont be here next year.

A club signing all the way and you can understand why at the time but hasn't worked at all.

Would like to say he has 6 months to save his career but he's the type of lad that somebody will always take a chance on and he
will always earn good money.

I'll bet my left nut our transfer committee would destroy many cubs the way it operates, Balotelli plus the small army of flops we bought in.

LFC had joined a really special club, big spenders who make their own team worse by investing.

parchpea » Fri Dec 19, 2014 12:51 am wrote:I championed the gamble on Balotelli but short of an absolute miracle between now and the summer he wont be here next year.

A club signing all the way and you can understand why at the time but hasn't worked at all.

Would like to say he has 6 months to save his career but he's the type of lad that somebody will always take a chance on and he
will always earn good money.

We wont get what we paid for him though    If we try and force him out the door we will have to be prepared to take a significant cut on that £16 mil.
Honestly though if it were me, I would dig in and try and outlast the manager 

The media are incessant with Mario - why don't they pick on someone else?
It's got to be close to harassment.

I like his charisma when he comes on the field - you always know he might make something happen.
He's larger than life and I much prefer players like him to anonymous non-flair players.
Fill a team with players like Borini or fill a team with Balotellis - I know what I prefer.

Having said that, although it's looking brighter after Bournemouth, the problem is that Mario's style probably doesn't fit that.
So why did we get him anyway? Ditto Lambert.

tonna » Fri Dec 19, 2014 10:49 pm wrote:The media are incessant with Mario - why don't they pick on someone else?
It's got to be close to harassment.

I like his charisma when he comes on the field - you always know he might make something happen.
He's larger than life and I much prefer players like him to anonymous non-flair players.
Fill a team with players like Borini or fill a team with Balotellis - I know what I prefer.

Having said that, although it's looking brighter after Bournemouth, the problem is that Mario's style probably doesn't fit that.
So why did we get him anyway? Ditto Lambert.

I'd rather not fill my team with Balotellis. It will be a completely non functional team. Even a team of borini's will be at least functional... Balotelli can't pass for nuts...

tonna » Fri Dec 19, 2014 10:49 pm wrote:
I like his charisma when he comes on the field - you always know he might make something happen.
He's larger than life and I much prefer players like him to anonymous non-flair players.
Fill a team with players like Borini or fill a team with Balotellis - I know what I prefer.

What ? You'd prefer 11 show ponies !   

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/mario-balotelli-liverpool-fcs-burnley-8343493?


Rodgers, though, says Balotelli may struggle to fit in to the Reds’ new 3-4-2-1 system, which is built around fluid attacking movement and high-energy pressing.

“We’ve seen that it is not really his game,” Rodgers said. “Working with Mario, we’ve seen that he is someone who is better in and around the box. That level of pressing
and intensity is not part of his game.

No greater pointer than the above words  to his degree of inclusion in the future  , I wonder if he's had the same speech with Gerrard  who clearly is equally at odds with
a high energy pressing game 

RED BEERGOGGLES » Wed Dec 24, 2014 9:38 pm wrote:http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/mario-balotelli-liverpool-fcs-burnley-8343493?


Rodgers, though, says Balotelli may struggle to fit in to the Reds’ new 3-4-2-1 system, which is built around fluid attacking movement and high-energy pressing.

“We’ve seen that it is not really his game,” Rodgers said. “Working with Mario, we’ve seen that he is someone who is better in and around the box. That level of pressing
and intensity is not part of his game.

No greater pointer than the above words  to his degree of inclusion in the future  , I wonder if he's had the same speech with Gerrard  who clearly is equally at odds with
a high energy pressing game 

This is the reason why I don't (cannot) support Rodgers. He keeps throwing certain players (especially those not personally requested by him) under the bus. He does not seem to support quite a lot of our players. So why does he deserve our support ?

It is quite evident Rodgers has been on a mission to undermine the transfer committee, groundsman, players in the last week or so. He is basically trying to shift the blame for our poor performance to everyone else.

I still maintain that Balotelli can be as good as Zlatan Ibrahimović if he had a manager who can play to his strengths. And that will never happen in LFC as long as Rodgers is the head coach.

Your point about Gerrard is spot on. He cannot function in a pressing team. But we all know Rodgers will somehow try to fit him into the team.

So does this mean Balotelli will go in January?

Rodgers didn't sign him the club did and that's pretty obvious now.

Sterling up top and the little comments are shots across the bows of his employers who are sometimes recruiting
against his judgement, not always, but sometimes.

Irregardless of who signed balotelli the worrying part is that rodgers doesn't seem ar$ed to try and fit the lad in.

On paper Balotelli, Torres and Sturridge with Sterling in behind looks an incredible possibility going into the New Year.

That's just on paper but don't think it will happen or even work if it did.

Think Rodgers wanted Bony not Balotelli but at Liverpool the structure is not straightforward and wont be for any manager.