Mario Balotelli

[Major Tom]

When you watch Madrid or Barcelona on Sky, a lot of them swap shirts at half time.  I think it's pretty much the norm, I bet a shit load of people do it but out of sight. 

 

Exactly. Farcical how much is being made of it.

 

Barney Ronay sums it up nicely in his first two para's here.

[xerxes]

He's a back up striker at best. He's not able to lead the line and even when he plays in a 2 up front he still makes the wrong decisions and slows down play. He'll not get 10 goals for us this season.

Is our team so good that we can describe a four times league title and CL winner, as well as proven international, "a back up striker at best"?

 

Maybe, after a handful of games, in a side that is not firing on all cylinders, we are still to see the best of him?

 

I remember a young goal scorer with plenty of talent who bounced around a few top clubs before settling down here after doubts about his attitude and application, his name? Stuart Sturridge.

[Major Tom]

Is our team so good that we can describe a four times league title and CL winner, as well as proven international, "a back up striker at best"?

 

 

Do you actually watch games, xerxes? Or just decide who's good by what they've won?

 

Anyone with eyes can see Balotelli hasn't been up to it, so far. Irrespective of what he won years ago.

 

Odd.

[thompsonsnose]

I don't give a fuck about the shirts. Its just a lazy journos wet dream.

Balotelli is not gonna thrive as a "1", so why did Rodgers buy him?

We all knew that would be the case.

Better off with Lambert holding it up as the "1".

Or play both of em.

And it won't really change when Sturridge comes back, co he will play there on his own. Again so why buy him? To play as a replacement lone striker. Fuzzy thinking.

Should have kept Origi here. Bet Rodgers wishes he'd done that now.

Balotelli is a constant hair trigger, but he's not been played in the right way, and we have given him an excuse to get the hump. Its taken very little though i have to say.

I'm not sticking up for him, but he needs to be used in the right way, if you're to get ANYTHING AT ALL out of him, and i don't think we've done that really.

He needs fucking off now though. Not worth the hassle. Too late.

[VladimirIlyich]

We havent got the time to give the turd time to come good, he is ruining the way we play and is just not suited.

 

If buying Balotelli was a committee decision its easier for Rodgers to insist he goes. If it was Rodgers decision then we have to hope he has the balls to hold his hands up, admit it was a mistake and get rid in January.

What I find strange is that Rodgers refused to come here if he had to answer to a Director of Football and yet some are saying he doesnt have a say in some of our transfers as they are decided by a committee.

Anybody else see the paradox here?

[xerxes]

Do you actually watch games, xerxes? Or just decide who's good by what they've won?Anyone with eyes can see Balotelli hasn't been up to it, so far. Irrespective of what he won years ago.

I do. And I don't bin one player after seven or eight games who has shown he can perform at the highest level - unlike several other first teamers.

 

I agree he has not shone so far, and nor have several others. At the end of the season we shall know more.

[Major Tom]

I do. And I don't bin one player after seven or eight games who has shown he can perform at the highest level - unlike several other first teamers.

 

I agree he has not shone so far, and nor have several others. At the end of the season we shall know more.

 

Don't know why I bother!

[xerxes]

Don't know why I bother!

I agree.

 

It's not like you to join the howling mob at the first scent of weakness.

[Bjornebye]

Pepe did it on purpose because he knew it would cause shit and he knew balotelli would be thick enough to do it.

 

This car story is pathetic , if he did kick off at someone taking pictures of his car then he is a prick and shouldnt drive round in supercars like that. The reality is, they probably wound him up and have made a big deal over it to get money the manc twats

[ratcatcher]

What I find strange is that Rodgers refused to come here if he had to answer to a Director of Football and yet some are saying he doesnt have a say in some of our transfers as they are decided by a committee.

Anybody else see the paradox here?

 

No because a DoF has a far wider remit than just transfers plus he actually sits on the committee. Alternatively, maybe rodgers compromised on the transfer committee at an early stage of the negotiations?

 

The transfer committee didnt suddenly spring into existence after he took the job.

 

When all said and done, we dont know exactly how the committee work. He says he has the final say. That suggests maybe the transfer targets are not solely identified by him?

[Boss]

It's not that he's a bad player, although he has been terrible so far. I'd back him to turn it around if he was making the right runs and creating chances for himself and his teammates, or if he was just unlucky. There is no luck in this though, he doesn't get into the positions he needs to be to score the goal, that's the problem.

 

He doesn't understand when others are in a better position and when to pass, he doesn't understand when to make the run off the last man, he just doesn't get it. When the low ball comes in, he goes far post.

 

Take Sterling for instance, that is a player that gets it, perfectly timed runs to stretch the back four, creating chances and getting into positions to score, Sturridge is a master of it. Balotelli for all his physical strength and ability to hold up the ball (which he's very good at by the way) he doesn't understand how to move like a top striker off the ball.

 

Shearer, Rush even Fowler weren't the quickest, but they had that speed of thought and that innate knowledge of where to be at the exact right time. There are too many variables in football to teach it, too many scenario's, you either have it or you dont, and Balotelli doesn't have it.

 

It's like a boxer that doesn't have a killer instinct when the other fighter is hurt, you can't teach it, you either have it instinctively or you don't.

[Major Tom]

I agree.

 

It's not like you to join the howling mob at the first scent of weakness.

 

I'm actually not. I just think we should judge Balotelli on how he's performing for us, not how he's performed in previous years.

[magicrat]

I do. And I don't bin one player after seven or eight games who has shown he can perform at the highest level - unlike several other first teamers.

 

I agree he has not shone so far, and nor have several others. At the end of the season we shall know more.

I admit I have already made up my mind about Balotelli. He was a stupid signing and I never wanted him in the first place. . Once he was here I expected him to show some fireworks on the pitch and have some off field mental shit to deal with. It was the distraction I mainly didn't wan't . With Suarez the good massively outweighed the crap . I saw no way that would be the case with Balotelli . What we have got is a player that is utterly useless and  apologists like yourself saying give him more time or judge him when he has strike partner are delusional. He has no basic appreciation of "team". Passing, movement, positioning, anticipation are  not just poor but non existent. Just accept we made a mistake and move on because now what we are starting to see is the peripheral shit that comes as baggage with him. The shirt swapping and now the car incident in Manchester. Minor nonsense but it will escalate rest assured. Wait until the end of season and judge ! No way, I want this clown out of the club at the earliest possible moment . Loan him to Tranmere for free if need be.! 

[xerxes]

I'm actually not. I just think we should judge Balotelli on how he's performing for us, not how he's performed in previous years.

When you have won what Balotelli has, and played at the level he has, at the age of 24, I think it is valid to balance that against his performance in the first eight games of a season in which the side has not been on song and our main striker is injured.

[magicrat]

When you have won what Balotelli has, and played at the level he has, at the age of 24, I think it is valid to balance that against his performance in the first eight games of a season in which the side has not been on song and our main striker is injured.

If it walks like a duck and quacks 

[xerxes]

I admit I have already made up my mind about Balotelli...

Of course you are entitled to your opinion on Mario. Factually, his record denies your assessment of him as useless, but I accept that he has performed poorly so far for us.

 

I don't think the team would be any better off with Mario dropped and Lambert or Borini playing in his place.

 

Could we buy better? Maybe, Could we offload him? At a cost. And Brendan cannot keep on burning transfer cash on the off chance that the odd one will come off.

[xerxes]

If it walks like a duck and quacks

A saying that cuts both ways.

[magicrat]

A saying that cuts both ways.

I'm sure you don't need claification

[ZonkoVille77]

A saying that cuts both ways.

what?

 

[VladimirIlyich]

No because a DoF has a far wider remit than just transfers plus he actually sits on the committee. Alternatively, maybe rodgers compromised on the transfer committee at an early stage of the negotiations?

 

The transfer committee didnt suddenly spring into existence after he took the job.

 

When all said and done, we dont know exactly how the committee work. He says he has the final say. That suggests maybe the transfer targets are not solely identified by him?

Ok.

So he has to take responsibility for the signings and all this guff about 'its not his signing' has to stop,as its just an excuse.

[Bjornebye]

A quack that ducks?

[Major Tom]

Ok.

So he has to take responsibility for the signings and all this guff about 'its not his signing' has to stop,as its just an excuse.

 

What guff, Vlad? Who's coming out with it?

[Bjornebye]

What guff, Vlad? Who's coming out with it?

I was there maaan, I was in the shit with the grunts

[Major Tom]

Let the funny people do the jokes, Stig.

[magicrat]

A quack that sucks?

Fixed