The 8 game stretch before December we were in pieces as a team, little unfair to point to Balotelli and say he failed miserably.
He was a key component three wins in a row and was generally looking like a better team player and not taking a thousand shots, but has not really featured since we lost away to Beşiktaş, another game where no one showed up not just Mario.
Crouch had a worst record than 1 in 800 when he joined, the difference is we weren't having a disaster season at the time so everyone was patient with him - it turned out well.
If I remember correctly, Crouch was at least fitting what Rafa wanted him to do, he just couldn't get the ball in the net. Balotelli is altogether a different kettle of fish. He doesn't fit the team, which is not his fault. But he's also had 6 (SIX!) shots on target from inside the 6-yard box. That's near-100% scoring territory. So he's been in position to score, during those games. And he hasn't. By any footballing measure, an attacker who gets into the 6-yard box 6 times in a run of games, and fails to score from one of those 6, is not doing their job. Crouch still scored 8 in 32 league games, and 13 goals overall in his first season at Liverpool. Balotelli won't reach that number. No matter how bad we were playing, he was getting into the box and taking shots on target. So I don't see how anyone can assess his run of games as anything but a failure. It would also be different if he had been making assists, rather than scoring. But he has none of those either. He has less total key passes than either of Moreno, Borini, Sturridge or Can, and less per 90 than Borini, Markovic or Sturridge.
The statement was made that Balotelli wasn't given a chance. I am saying he WAS given a chance, and he didn't take it, despite having chances to do so in the games. If he was scoring at an acceptable rate, or creating chances, he'd be a starting forward right now, no matter what Rodgers thought of him.
