Mario Balotelli

[Buddha]

There shouldn't be any serious reason why Coutinho can't thread the ball through to him to run on to. If the movement is good enough around them, that move would be simple and quick, and ought to create loads of chances, especially away from home. So there should be some improvement once the team gets used to him, and vice versa. But he's got to adapt. To put it most basically, he's got to work far harder, week in, week out, than he's ever worked before, and that's the thing that worries me. I just hope he's got the appetite for it.

When you boil it down to what's going to decide his fate here, Macca's spot on with one half of it for me - it's going to take a hell of a lot of hard work for Mario to flourish at Anfield.

The other factor for me is whether he is in touch with the genuine humility needed to change his style / idea of what kind of forward he is? Rodgers, whilst obviously appreciating his natural talent, is being pretty transparent about the need for Mario to 'spend more time in the box', 'integrate with our system' etc. My concern (though I'm optimistic given his age that he'll manage it) is that the posturing yesterday suggests he's still firmly identified with his persona (the enigmatic Balotelli) and preoccupied with maintaining it. Of course, if that's true it's likely because he has a very fragile sense of self underlying the public inflated bit.

Rodgers real task is to encourage in Balotelli the development of a more realistic appraisal of himself, something that initially might evoke an even more inflated compensatory reaction. It requires of him something of dying to an aspect of himself (that in his mind is what makes him a 'success'). If he manages it (but it'll take a season or two in conjunction with some psychological work) then he'll end up a real poster boy for Rodgers' man-management and terrific player.

We need to be patient on this one.

 

[Ryan]

I can't stand watching him throw himself to the ground every 10 seconds.

 

[Frogfish]

There's only one thing that is going to decide Mario's fate here. How many goals he scores. At the moment that's not looking promising unless, IMHO, BR pushes someone fast & mobile up alongside him. Sturridge, Sterling, someone new in January, it doesn't matter. A large part of the responsibility for scoring goals lies with him. How he does it is neither here nor there for me.

 

[Rafiagra]

Admittedly I only saw the highlights but he seemed to work pretty hard yesterday and was single-handedly responsible for setting up our goal.

Hopefully we will get more out of him in a partnership with Sturridge, but if they don't gel then I can't see him being happy on the bench and so being around too long.

 

[Ryan]

He's got a John Arne Riise-like tendency to shoot EVERYSINGLETIMEHEGETSTHEBALL which I wouldn't be too irritated about had he scored more than 1 goal in 7 matches. And even it was against some Mongolian shitkickers.

 

[My_Blood_Bleeds_Red]

He needs to score as soon as possible. Mario is the type of player who will go into his shell and put on his siege mentality, once he feels intimidated, pressured and that the world is against him. Eventually, someone will feed him news of what fans especially on forums such as 6CM think of him. And it will knock him like a tonne of bricks. He'll feel his loyalty's been betrayed and that he has been misunderstood (again). That's when he normally starts to throw a strop and go mental.

Apparently, he has scored only 1 goal in his last 20 premiership games (63 shots). That averages out as 3 shots per game. And a big bulk of those games was when he was in a very unhappy state, so it gives a rough indication how he 'shuts himself down' when he's in a strop.

Hopefully Sturridge's return will make life a lot simpler for him. Mario is a 'confidence' player. He needs a goal, quick.

(So does Lambert)

 

[Rafiagra]

I think having a decent striker alongside him will temper that.

Besides Sterling, who's he going to give it to who's likely to put it in the net?

 

[Mors]

Yeah let's give up on him after 5 games, playing a completely different style of role than he's used to. Marvellous. Let's fuck Henderson off in January too, cos he was utter wank after his 5th game. Oh, and gerrard. Sell the lot.
Anyone that comes to this club should perform like messi by at the latest their 2nd game.

 

[keniget]

Yeah let's give up on him after 5 games, playing a completely different style of role than he's used to. Marvellous. Let's fuck Henderson off in January too, cos he was utter wank after his 5th game. Oh, and gerrard. Sell the lot.
Anyone that comes to this club should perform like messi by at the latest their 2nd game.

What role is he used to and what role is he playing now?

 

[OLD_Lewy]

Yeah let's give up on him after 5 games, playing a completely different style of role than he's used to. Marvellous. Let's fuck Henderson off in January too, cos he was utter wank after his 5th game. Oh, and gerrard. Sell the lot.
Anyone that comes to this club should perform like messi by at the latest their 2nd game.

well no, obviously not, and he could still likely to be pretty good, even great for us, but he's not one of those players who really get you excited, who hit the ground running and you can tell straight away that theyre something special, like torres or suarez or even sturridge

 

[Mors]

What role is he used to and what role is he playing now?

The Zlatan 'stand still and do fuck all' role, the old style striker of old who would pretty much mark the CB. He's never had to run around and graft like a mad cunt in his life. You watch the way he played for City and Milan, then look at his performance for us yesterday, he is learning, and trying.

 

[Mors]

well no, obviously not, and he could still likely to be pretty good, even great for us, but he's not one of those players who really get you excited, who hit the ground running and you can tell straight away that theyre something special, like torres or suarez or even sturridge

If he'd have scored a 35yard volley and winner yesterday, he'd have been a god and given unlimited slack. Because that's how fickle our fans are.

 

[gkmacca]

Yeah let's give up on him after 5 games, playing a completely different style of role than he's used to. Marvellous. Let's fuck Henderson off in January too, cos he was utter wank after his 5th game. Oh, and gerrard. Sell the lot.
Anyone that comes to this club should perform like messi by at the latest their 2nd game.

Well, some of that isn't really fair. Hendo was criticised as a young newcomer, which wasn't fair but it's not quite the same as criticising a very experienced international player like Mario. Criticism of Gerrard is more about his failing powers and the position in which he plays. I don't think it helps dragging those two into the discussion. But I agree with you that we need to be patient with Mario. It's just that we also need to see signs of his determination to improve.

 

[mom]

Well, some of that isn't really fair. Hendo was criticised as a young newcomer, which wasn't fair but it's not quite the same as criticising a very experienced international player like Mario. Criticism of Gerrard is more about his failing powers and the position in which he plays. I don't think it helps dragging those two into the discussion. But I agree with you that we need to be patient with Mario. It's just that we also need to see signs of his determination to improve.

I'd say that's pretty fair.

 

[rurikbird]

Well, some of that isn't really fair. Hendo was criticised as a young newcomer, which wasn't fair but it's not quite the same as criticising a very experienced international player like Mario. Criticism of Gerrard is more about his failing powers and the position in which he plays. I don't think it helps dragging those two into the discussion. But I agree with you that we need to be patient with Mario. It's just that we also need to see signs of his determination to improve.

Don't we see them?

 

[hamstrung_pigeon]

When we were looking to get him, one of the things that stood out to me in the stats sheets was that he shoots a lot more from outside the box than inside. In the CL game, Rodgers pointed out that at half time, he told Balotelli to get into the box more, and you could actually see a big difference in shooting positions before and after (I shared a screen grab of the analysis, you can probably find it in the post-game thread for that game).

As you can see from the season-to-season comparison below, Balotelli has had to adjust his game from how he's played in at least the past 2 seasons (I don't have his City stats). The change in the Ludogorets game suggests he can learn and can take instructions on board. The stats for this season so far also show that he's getting into the box more to take those shots now. He's also making remarkable progress compared to the past seasons when it comes to making defensive plays that are tracked. I know stats don't capture everything, but at least for the areas that they do capture, you can see improvement / adaptation in progress.

We need to give the guy time. It's just unfortunate that Sturridge's injury has caused people to become more desperate and impatient.

* Squawka stats count penalties as shots inside area and direct free kicks as shots outside area

 

[gkmacca]

Don't we see them?

A bit. He's tracking back sometimes. He actually did a Suarez-style body check to win the ball and set up an attack. That's promising. There were also times when he just stood and watched. That's why I'm still hoping, but am still anxious!

 

[keniget]

The Zlatan 'stand still and do fuck all' role, the old style striker of old who would pretty much mark the CB. He's never had to run around and graft like a mad cunt in his life. You watch the way he played for City and Milan, then look at his performance for us yesterday, he is learning, and trying.

In other words, you don't have a fucking clue what you're talking about and just felt like riding in on a wave of superfandom.

If you're going to criticize other people and start going on about a player's role, in future I'd suggest you actually stop to figure out whether you know enough about that player to get involved.

 

[Fabio]

Daaaaamn keniget laying down some bombs

 

[FoxForceFive]

I can't remember who said it when he was linked to us - some Italian journalist possibly - but that person said that they hoped we weren't going to ask Mario to lead the line, because he's much more effective when he drops off and takes defenders with him. I think he's going to get better but I think we'll see the best of him alongside Sturridge.

Exactly. Sturridge struggled early on this season, we brought Lambert on who dragged defenders away & sturridge looked a different player.

The two of them should work well together.

 

[Woland]

I reckon he's fucking shite

 

[vikas]

I can't stand watching him throw himself to the ground every 10 seconds.

It looks even more obvious and blatant because of the bloody size of him. Needs to be told to cut it out.

 

[Mors]

In other words, you don't have a fucking clue what you're talking about and just felt like riding in on a wave of superfandom.

If you're going to criticize other people and start going on about a player's role, in future I'd suggest you actually stop to figure out whether you know enough about that player to get involved.

Coming from the bloke writing off a player after 5 games. Superfan.
I think you're supporting the wrong club if you can't be arsed to support your own players a whole 5 games into their career with us.
Maybe Chelsea would suit, similar sort of fans there.

Balotelli has weaknesses in his game, and he also some great attributes. Until he's had a fair amount of game time, and a chance for Rodgers to work on him and have a go at turning him into what we need, you have to a shortsighted idiot to write him off. You don't get to play for inter, city, Milan, Liverpool, Italy if you don't have talent.

 

[Rafiagra]

I'm still in a bit of shock at just how shite Lambert was against 'boro. There's rust and then there's that performance.

He should never be starting games for us as he just doesn't fit our style of play. He's there for those last desperate 10-15 minutes when we start pumping crosses in which, incidentally, we should stop doing anyway.

 

[Mystic]

It seems we've signed two strikers who're completely incapable of playing our system, maybe Balotelli will pick it up with time, but he's going to need to work hard and listen to Brendan lots, and basically change the way he plays. It's weird, I'm of the opinion that Welbeck would have been a much better suited striker for us, and Balotelli much better suited for Arsenal.

 

[Markeh]

I wonder what the circumstances were when Mario joined Liverpool? Didn't Brendan say he won't be joining not long before he did?

The glass half full scenario is that Brendan either thought he wouldn't be able to sign Mario or knew he might be coming but wanted to throw everyone off. Or thinking negatively... maybe Brendan was told he's going cheap and the window is running out, it'll be him or nobody.

 

[Rafiagra]

Yeah agree about Wellbeck

 

[Woland]

Fuck Wellshit you fucking spastics

 

[peterhague]

I think Balotelli will be fine once he's partnered with Sturridge, just as he was at Spurs, and just as we were too.

But the problem is we're desperately reliant on Sturridge staying fit. Need some kind of proper alternative to him to come in in January.

As for Lambert, I never understood why so many were happy about it in the first place. Right from the start it looked at best a pointless if cheap concession to sentimentality.

 

[Bradley]

F**k Wells**t you fu*king spastics

His dad has a has a real bad habit of stepping in dog poo.

His name is Stan Wells**t.

(My work seem to have blocked me from posting anything with cursing in it. Hence the F**ks and such.)