Mario Balotelli

[JermainePennant]

I remember his agent saying he wanted to come to lfc because he didn't want to have the burden all the pressure yet it seems to be turning out that way.

 

The whole of the attack has been shite and I think its unfair the press are putting it all on him considering he has just signed for the club.Sturridge will make a difference anyone who knows football should understand that, with sturridge taking up positions in the box Mario will get more space to do things behind him.

[KopOut]

He is certainly not playing like last year at the moment,

 

And also I am sure we play to feet as part of our set up.

 

The problem for me is that Balotelli isn't a striker you play up front on our own. You play him with a n other. Lambert sould have been brought in to play with him imo. Our set up is wrong, it has to be the diamond.

 

We are also playing very deep a lot of the time with Gerrard playing pretty much alongside Lovren and Skrtel/Sakho at times when coming to collect the ball. Also the final ball by the majority of our players has been nothign short of shiter than shite.

 

The main problem is the set up, not Mario Balotelli.

You mean a bit like Suarez and Carroll?

[Saintslfc13]

I agree with some of your points, but not all. I agree 100% about Gerrard and his new role as DM – it’s not working. I agree we look much better playing the diamond than 4-3-3 or any other setup. I agree Balotelli will be much better with a strike partner. However, Balotelli and Lambert together=too little movement. IMO Balotelli needs a strike partner who’s moving and searchin space behind the defence. Balotelli/Sturridge might be a good combo later on.

 

There are different approaches to the attacking part of the game. I personally like the BR way of last year, who doesn’t?, with no target point, only running forwards charging in behind their defence. I don’t like this play to feet as you suggest is our set up now. Other teams have had great success setting up their attacks differently, I guess there’s more than one right answer to how one should attack. I just loved the way we did it last year.

 

I believe the way we attacked last year is still the best way to do it and that we can achieve good things playing the same way even without the genius called Suarez. If that's going to happen we either dump Mario or he changes his game,

 

Maybe it's for a different thread but if I was Rodgers I'd have been starting Sterling up front next to Mario with either Coutinho or Lallana behind him and the other opposite Hendo in the diamond, Gerrard shielding defense. Alternatively we could put either Lucas of Gerrard opposite Hendo with the other shielding and only use one of Coutinho or Lallana. Markovic would come off the bench either as a Striker or in the hole.

 

Mario is the big strong Striker who is told to hold up the ball and play off of his partner, Sterling is the, at this point anyway, poor man's Luis Suarez. Instruct him to do his best to emulate what Suarez gave us in that role. Unpredictability, graft, and hopefully with time goals. Coutinho arguably could be given a run up there as well if Sterling for whatever reason is deemed better suited to play in the hole than him (I don't think so personally which is why I said Sterling first). I think Sterling is better finisher than Coutinho though even if there isn't much in it. In any case neither provides the same strength, finishing, and probably dribbling ability as Suarez (though Coutinho might come closer than Sterling in dribbling) but I think they would both have the workrate and unpredictability down if they were instructed to attempt to emulate that.

[Josef Svejk]

So Brendon has publicly criticised him when he's been far from our worst player...

 

I've been critical of Balotelli, but I agree with this.

[Anubis]

On the basis he played well with Sturridge against Spurs, I want to see them have a run of games together before I start passing judgement on him.

[JohnnyH]

Didn't Rodgers say he was working hard but just needs to add more goals? 1 in 7 is not what you expect from a striker. All fair comments I would have said and hardly harsh criticism. Rodgers is an excellent man manager and would know how to deal with I would think.

 

It's interesting being on the inside looking out now on the Balotelli debate. People just can't help focusing on him. The press have prejudged his season by the looks of things, and judging by social media, lots of our fans have also. He's worked hard in games yet I see comments on here and social media saying "lazy bastard" when he clearly hasn't been. People don't form their own opinions half as much as they should. There was a very good paragraph by a journalist last night basically pointing out how poorer the vast majority of our players are at the moment and that Balotelli is not the issue.

[Phoenix]

Still thinks he's play at around 60%.

 

He doesnt have the other 40%.

[Saucepan]

I keep thinking there's some kind of "Balotelli code", some not yet discovered secret to get him to play like the player we all know he has the potential of being.

The technique is there, the physique is there and he even has the pace. The great mystery is putting it all togeather and make it (or him) work.

[El Rojo]

He doesnt have the other 40%.

 

He uses up the other 40% mumbling to himself after he's been caught offside.

[magicrat]

Think people are overcomplicating the Balotelli discussion to be honest, it's not really about formations or strike partnerships, it's about - and this is widely accepted by fans of all his clubs - the fact he'll give you one good game in seven.

 

Last season we did so well because of our consistency, every match we were out of the blocks and playing to our maximum. Our system is so fragile that we can't win game any other way, we can't grind out results, we can only batter sides - with Balotelli we can't do that IMO, you watch him in hope rather than expectation, and that's no good, it is if he's a third supersub perhaps, but not as your main striker.

 

Some sanity.  Endless discussion on whether or not we are playing or supporting him in the best way doesn't alter the fact that he doesn't stick the fucking ball in the net when he has the chance.  I would rather he scored 10 off his shin that one jaw dropper form 30 yards.

He wasn't , isn't or will be the answer to our striking deficiencies in the wake of Suarez's departure and I agree with the poster that sad he will be gone before Origi and the cavalry come over the hill. Balotelli will be a very small footnote in the history of LFC 

[Duff Man]

I didn't watch much of him at Citeh or Milan so hopefully there's more to come but on the evidence so far he appears to be a bit dim and a bit shit. He also looks as if he's constantly on the verge of losing it. Worrying, really.

[Dave D]

I've said he should be sold, doesn't fit the system, can't understand why we signed him...

 

And yet I've just put him in my fantasy team.

 

That's got to be a huge boost for the lad. Or a huge mistake by me.

[AL66GOLF]

45 is his IQ also

[clangers]

Increasingly silly and rather desperate purchase. If the player we need isn't available in the market then we shouldn't be buying. That's £16 million plus wages we could have set aside for another window we've spent on a player even our manager isn't convinced by.

 

If this is the 'strategy' we've been following it does rather call into question our recent spending,

[Dan]

Increasingly silly and rather desperate purchase. If the player we need isn't available in the market then we shouldn't be buying. That's £16 million plus wages we could have set aside for another window we've spent on a player even our manager isn't convinced by.

 

If this is the 'strategy' we've been following it does rather call into question our recent spending,

and yet if we didnt sign him there would have been uproar that we would now only have Lambert and Borini. Balotelli can only improve! 

[magicrat]

and yet if we didnt sign him there would have been uproar that we would now only have Lambert and Borini. Balotelli can only improve! 

 

That's a moot point, He has plenty of potential for being a rail crash. 

Personally i would rather not have signed him and said so at the time . Sometimes doing nothing is the least worse option. I also thought and still do not buying Remy was stupid

[Byrnie]

 

 

Balotelli can only improve!

Can he? He hasn't done any improving in the last 3 years.

[Dr Nowt]

Didn't Rodgers say he was working hard but just needs to add more goals? 1 in 7 is not what you expect from a striker. All fair comments I would have said and hardly harsh criticism. Rodgers is an excellent man manager and would know how to deal with I would think.

 

It's interesting being on the inside looking out now on the Balotelli debate. People just can't help focusing on him. The press have prejudged his season by the looks of things, and judging by social media, lots of our fans have also. He's worked hard in games yet I see comments on here and social media saying "lazy bastard" when he clearly hasn't been. People don't form their own opinions half as much as they should. There was a very good paragraph by a journalist last night basically pointing out how poorer the vast majority of our players are at the moment and that Balotelli is not the issue.

Was that the Rory Smith ESPN piece on him? Very good that was.

[Original202]

Increasingly silly and rather desperate purchase. If the player we need isn't available in the market then we shouldn't be buying. That's £16 million plus wages we could have set aside for another window we've spent on a player even our manager isn't convinced by.

 

If this is the 'strategy' we've been following it does rather call into question our recent spending,

 

This seems to have been our strategy for about 10 years.

 

The next step is to loan the player out for a season or two and then sell them for about a third of what we originally paid for them.

[Wicket]

He's never been and never will be a lone front man, yet with the exception of the Tottenham game he's been played as one, and now he's being widely written off as a flop and seemingly being thrown under the bus a bit by BR by being dropped after the comments about him being a last resort buy.

 

Very odd, we've been incapable of keeping clean sheets all season, the midfield is still bypassed with alarming regularity yet he's the one who has been dropped.

 

Yes, he should probably have scored a couple more but I think he is far from the main reason behind this shite form for the entire team, if anything it's been a perfect storm, losing Suarez, buying a shed load of new players, injuries in pre season to Lallana and Markovic not helping their integration, lengthy injuries to Sturridge, Can and Allen in the international break. Flanagan not playing a single minute since last season has meant Manquillo has played more than probably envisaged. I could go on but anything that could go wrong seemingly has done thus far, a lot of it definitely avoidable but not necessarily the fault of individual players such as Balotelli.

[Spy Bee]

 

Can he? He hasn't done any improving in the last 3 years.

But he wasn't working under Rodgers, who has a proven track record of making players with natural talent good players.

 

he's frustrating the shite out of me, but I think Brendan can bring out the player hidden within the enigma.

[Byrnie]

But he wasn't working under Rodgers, who has a proven track record of making players with natural talent good players.

 

he's frustrating the shite out of me, but I think Brendan can bring out the player hidden within the enigma.

I really hope you're right, mate. I just cannot see it happening for him here. I think his natural talent is overstated. I think he seriously lacks the intelligence to make the most of his assets.

 

I hope I'm completely wrong about him. I just don't think he has it.

 

 

[Grinch]

Difference between him and Lambert is night and day.  Might or mightn't be good enough but with Sturridge injured he's the best fit striker at the club.

[James Dean]

People are and have been waiting for something that isn't there imo. His antics camouflage the fact that he's a decent bordering on good footballer. And that's that.

[Adebisi]

Left out of the Italy squad again too.