Mario Balotelli

[Lario]

Only as good as your last game, so at the minute, he's flying.

 

I'm still willing to give him time, especially now there seem to be a change in him. He seems slightly leaner too.

If Rodgers can sort the fucker's head out, he'll be a beast.

[deiseach]

Didn't have the privilege of the ITV coverage

 

This is the first time those words have ever been placed in the same sentence.

[xerxes]

Only as good as your last game, so at the minute, he's flying.

 

I'm still willing to give him time, especially now there seem to be a change in him. He seems slightly leaner too.

If Rodgers can sort the fucker's head out, he'll be a beast.

His pedigree and ability have never been in doubt, and his experience at the highest level is about the best in the squad.

 

The problem has always been his attitude.

 

We have some big games coming up, hopefully Mario can rise to the occasions and lead the way, but he was hopeless when it counted at Chelsea in the LC semi

[Redder Lurtz]

2 winners in 3 games and an assist for the winner in t'other.

 

But the media cant resist trying to beat him up. The penalty thing is a non-story - we need decision makers on the pitch - anyone else would be lauded.

 

SG needs to keep out of the media till he has gone.

 

Agreed. Best one I've heard today is "Gerrard brands Balotelli as 'disrespectful'"

 

Fuck sake. It was a chuck away comment and predictably enough the media are having a field day with it. Gerrard should have known better than to come out with the comment but there's really fuck all in it, bar Monkey Head and Strachan having a shouting match about it, the daft cunts.

[Bjornebye]

Stay in school and use your brain. Be a doctor, be a lawyer, carry a leather briefcase. Forget about sports as a profession. Sports make ya grunt and smell. See, be a thinker, not a stinker.

[Babb'sBurstNad]

The worst part of this whole episode was finding out I agreed with Peter Reid.

[A_S]

I'd rather someone want the ball in that situation than not, regardless of how it comes about. And still people have a pop....for scoring the fucking winner!!!!

[Xherdan]

Agree that this is a non-story. He scored and that vindicates the decision made on the pitch. There is a case of having a conversation in Melwood about who should be taking pens in what situations however. Clearly if Gerrard is on the pitch he should be taking them. If Gerrard isnt there and Mario is then it should be him IMO. 39/41 is a fucking good ratio and that shouldn't be ignored just because its Mario Balotelli.

 

On another note, Stevie really shouldnt have been giving his opinion to ITV. That was an internal thing and should remain so. However, its Steven Gerrard so i forgive him instantly, as I would if he fucked my wife.

[Bjornebye]

You thought I was tough? This chump will kill you!

[Ne Moe Imya]

I still want him gone in the summer as i just feel he's not someone you can rely on to play well and put a shift in over a long period of time.

 

In saying that he is playing much better now and chipping in with helping create and score goals.

With Coutinho looking like he needs a break id start Mario and Sturridge up front against Southampton and Sterling just behind.

 

Basically how I feel about everything as well.  I'm happy for this brief resurgence from him as 1)it's helping us to win games right now (obviously) and 2)it means we might get most our money back in the summer when we hopefully go to sell him.

 

I just don't think he's consistent enough to depend on, long-term, so I'm hoping we find a buyer and get rid.  I don't want to be going into a crucial cup game next season and see him in the lineup, that's for sure.

[Lario]

So if he maintains his current attitude, and scores 10 or more goals between now and the end of the season, you'd still want him sold?

[ritchie]

Called it a twat of a signing from day one because he was clearly a poor fit but the lad can't win.

 

He was to blame for everything in the first half of the season even when he was dropped for Ricky Lambert and we started playing worse. Comes back and improves once he's got Sturridge up with him (he can't play up on his own effectively), scored a massively important winning goal last week and gets slated for not looking happy in scoring it, or for not being arsed. This week in a vital European game we get a penalty at the end and Mario - an expert penalty taker - is desperate to take a pressure kick to win us the game in a team with no other players with a track record from the spot. With a cool head he slots it home and we win.

 

Rather than rare praise he gets accused by his own captain of being disrespectful. Poor signing or not, we really have gone out of our way for this lad to fail.

[Mark M]

What he's doing recently is working hard when he comes in the pitch and he's improved the last few games in a major way.

 

Earlier in the season though regardless of playing with a strike partner or not he wasn't putting a shift in and theres no excuse for that.

He was playing for himself shooting from every distance and angle possible when there was better options.

His performance against Madrid at home was a disgrace he didn't even break a sweat.

 

Now he's putting a shift in (which is the minimum I expect from any player) and I hope he keeps it up.

He deserves to start on Sunday for me and I hope he scores and wins us the game. But I'm not having the reason he was poor for us at the start of the seaosn was to do with formations or strike partners it was down to a lack of him giving a bollox and trying.

[King Emlyn]

He's definitely a player when he's focused the problem is keeping him focused and keeping him working hard. If he had the right work ethic he'd be some player.

[King Emlyn]

Agree with Ritchie as well, he can't win, doesn't really matter what he does he's gonna get panned.

[sir roger]

Putting last night's soap opera to one side, I am just pleased that we have a couple of forwards in a bit of form & likely to cause the opposition problems after the wasteland of the first half of the season.

[Phoenix]

If he scores 10-15 goals for the rest of the season then no one will have any problem with him. All this he can't win is rubbish

 

It was a crappy thing for him for him do yesterday but Henderson shouldn't have been put in that position.

[Jairzinho]

If he scores 10-15 goals for the rest of the season then no one will have any problem with him. All this he can't win is rubbish

 

It was a crappy thing for him for him do yesterday but Henderson shouldn't have been put in that position.

 

Correct. He was absolutely fucking shit up until about a fortnight ago, that's why he got stick.

[Section_31]

If he scores 10-15 goals for the rest of the season then no one will have any problem with him. All this he can't win is rubbish

 

It was a crappy thing for him for him do yesterday but Henderson shouldn't have been put in that position.

Agree completely. The reason he's taken shite is because he was a lazy bastard. Simple as.

[King Emlyn]

The laziness can't be fixed either, it's his nature.

[King Emlyn]

If he scores 10-15 goals for the rest of the season then no one will have any problem with him. All this he can't win is rubbish

 

It was a crappy thing for him for him do yesterday but Henderson shouldn't have been put in that position.

Can't agree with the no one bit, there will always be a sizeable minority waiting for the slightest deviation to pounce on him, he's just one of those personalities imo

[Jairzinho]

He's been far less lazy in his recent cameos. Suggesting it is a choice he makes.

[J-V]

He's been far less lazy in his recent cameos. Suggesting it is a choice he makes.

 

Don't talk sense.

[Phoenix]

Can't agree with the no one bit, there will always be a sizeable minority waiting for the slightest deviation to pounce on him, he's just one of those personalities imo

 

Sizeable minority disappears into a tiny percentage (who will moan whatever and not limited to Balotelli), when the player is performing. 

 

He has had two or three good games? Hardly enough performances to turn opinion.

 

It's when his "personality" starts to effect the team and his own performances when it becomes an issue. 

[Ginny]

It's like that film Trading Places where they take Eddie Murphy off the street and turn him into a rich man. If someone is around a certain environment and people for a length of time then they will adopt their behaviours.

 

I'm hoping the liverpool way and team spirit is changing him finally