Topic: The Attack

[spider-neil]

Basically Mario should have made more of the opportunities he has been given but I personally think it would be a shame to move him on before seeing if he can dovetail with Sturridge. If it doesn't work out, then sure, move him on in the summer. Relatively speaking we didn't spend 'that' much on him.

[iVapor]

Basically Mario should have made more of the opportunities he has been given but I personally think it would be a shame to move him on before seeing if he can dovetail with Sturridge. If it doesn't work out, then sure, move him on in the summer. Relatively speaking we didn't spend 'that' much on him.

I feel the same, should be given a chance with Sturridge although I can't see us changing formation and Sturridge would be perfect in 343.

He is a good target man though for when you need to hold up the ball as shown yesterday. Having him and Lambert though is pointless as they both are similar but Balotelli can do something amazing (albeit we haven't seen it yet)

[[new username under construction]]

I feel the same, should be given a chance with Sturridge although I can't see us changing formation and Sturridge would be perfect in 343.

He is a good target man though for when you need to hold up the ball as shown yesterday. Having him and Lambert though is pointless as they both are similar but Balotelli can do something amazing (albeit we haven't seen it yet)

I can see him getting a chance with Sturridge but I have a feeling we'll still basically be playing with 10 men :/

[Tony19:6]

Basically Mario should have made more of the opportunities he has been given but I personally think it would be a shame to move him on before seeing if he can dovetail with Sturridge. If it doesn't work out, then sure, move him on in the summer. Relatively speaking we didn't spend 'that' much on him.

Well it was reportedly a £16m xfer fee and around £13.5m or so over a 3 year contract.

Personally I consider that quite an outlay

[killer-heels]

When is he going to produce? He has the same issues as always. His decision making is awful, he is very unlikely to create for others and his finishing is awful. Think what we see of him is basically it.

[TealC]

If Balotelli goes a whole season without scoring a Premier league goal questions have got to be asked about why Tottenham didn't sign him.
-needham,  redcafe.

 


I still believe in him tho! still cant wait to see him with sturridge!

[spider-neil]

Well it was reportedly a £16m xfer fee and around £13.5m or so over a 3 year contract.

Personally I consider that quite an outlay

When I said 'relatively' I meant his price given his age, experience, physical attributes (pace, strength, technique).
I'd wait before writing him off.

[Tony19:6]

When I said 'relatively' I meant his price given his age, experience, physical attributes (pace, strength, technique).
I'd wait before writing him off.

Hmmm

Pace, Strength and Technique, are we talking about Balotelli here ?

For me he doesn't have the talent or desire to succeed here...

Lets just hope when Sturridge returns he's not dragged down to Marios level.

[killer-heels]

When I said 'relatively' I meant his price given his age, experience, physical attributes (pace, strength, technique).
I'd wait before writing him off.

Who are you watching? He cant run or score.

[spider-neil]

Who are you watching? He cant run or score.

Again, he hasn't made the most of his chances but he does have goals in him and when he want to he has pace.
What Mario needs is the right setup for his skills to flourish. I'm not suggesting we tailor the team to so him (actually, I kind of am) I am saying play him up front with Daniel for a few games, if it doesn't work then move him on because he will be out of excuses.

[Loo Pan]

I really hope we don't change something that's starting to work well, just to continue with the Mario Balotelli experiment.

It would be understandable if he was a proven world class player. But he isn't.

If he can't impress enough to get a regular game in this system, in the absence of Sturridge, then he's not what we need.

It looks very much like Brendan has decided that as well, as he's picking a player who isn't even a center forward ahead of him.

[plskikme]

Agreed. We all agree we need another striker to actually be able to fill the void in Sturridge's absence and yet we're defending Balotelli by saying he needs that same injury prone player to be on the pitch to perform. I sure hope he starts firing with Daniel alongside him but then who gets thrust out of the side. Markovic? Coutinho, Lallana, Sterling? Nobody deserves to be dropped for a striker who has scored 0 goals in half a season.

No. Balotelli has to be able to perform with other players besides Sturridge or he's never gonna be able to make it here. Hope for him to improve himself, don't hope for Sturridge to bring the best out of him for him.

[killer-heels]

Again, he hasn't made the most of his chances but he does have goals in him and when he want to he has pace.
What Mario needs is the right setup for his skills to flourish. I'm not suggesting we tailor the team to so him (actually, I kind of am) I am saying play him up front with Daniel for a few games, if it doesn't work then move him on because he will be out of excuses.

Thats fair enough but we are not going to change the 3-4-3 for Balotelli. He has to show he can play well on his own which, quite frankly, he hasnt.

Also i still disagree that their peformance against Spurs indicated a fantastic partnership. He played a couple of nice flicks, missed a few chances and never ran in behind. He has done the same ever since.

[Loo Pan]

I don't think I really need to see the Sturridge - Balotelli partnership for a run of games, just like I don't need to see the Sturridge - Borini partnership, or Sturridge - Lambert partnership be given a run of games.

I'm not seeing anything from Balotelli to think that he'll be adding anything special that makes it worth changing our formation for, and dropping the likes of Coutinho, Markovic and Lalanna to the bench.

And yeah, the Spurs game was talked up too much. Sturridge had a really good game (as usual), Balotelli not so much.

[astowell1]

When is he going to produce? He has the same issues as always. His decision making is awful, he is very unlikely to create for others and his finishing is awful. Think what we see of him is basically it.

Sums him up for me to be honest.  It just isn't going to happen.  I hope this Juventus talk has truth to it because its better for him and for us that he moves on.

[Didi_ram]

Yeah, agree with most of them. The "Balotelli will work with Sturridge" analogy has been used by most of us to defend him. The question is- why should he get a chance? The 3-4-3 works beautifully. Imagine Saturday's eleven, with Sterling and Sturridge replacing Borini and maybe Gerrard. That is a frightening eleven. Lucas and Henderson can sit and boss it, Markovic and Moreno will bomb forward, and Coutinho will play with his favorite partner in attack, and Sterling- well, we know what he can do. Why should Balotelli start?

IMO, inspite of defending him a lot, I feel that if a good offer comes in, we should let him go. It isnt likely to work out for him here. The only reason we keep and play him is if there are no takers, and if he does start suiting our system, which at the moment isnt happening.

[collytum]

When sturridge is fit, no way should ballotelli get games. Who are we gonna drop to accomodate him?lallana?coutinho?sterling?markovich?all players who HAVE made an impact or some overpaid play boy who has been given most of the season and who has produced nothing?forget waiting for sturridge, if a decent offer comes in and by decent I mean anything around 10 million, get shot of him.

[random22]

When sturridge is fit, no way should ballotelli get games. Who are we gonna drop to accomodate him?lallana?coutinho?sterling?markovich?all players who HAVE made an impact or some overpaid play boy who has been given most of the season and who has produced nothing?forget waiting for sturridge, if a decent offer comes in and by decent I mean anything around 10 million, get shot of him.

Hard to disagree with that. He's been given enough chances, but he's spoiled every one of them. He's not shown any signs of improvement either. Brendan's lack of trust in him was evident when Borini got the nod ahead of him against Sunderland. As for moving him on, it might happen if a decent offer comes. 

[iVapor]

I don't think I really need to see the Sturridge - Balotelli partnership for a run of games, just like I don't need to see the Sturridge - Borini partnership, or Sturridge - Lambert partnership be given a run of games.

I'm not seeing anything from Balotelli to think that he'll be adding anything special that makes it worth changing our formation for, and dropping the likes of Coutinho, Markovic and Lalanna to the bench.

And yeah, the Spurs game was talked up too much. Sturridge had a really good game (as usual), Balotelli not so much.

This is true, fucking hell any striker playing alonside Sturridge with Coutinho in behind is going to get a few sitters and look half decent.

At the end of the day, Balotelli, or any other target man for that matter (Lambert, talk of Llorente etc) is the opposite of what we look for in a striker. We rely on pace, runs in behind, and pressing from the front. Still baffles me why we ever went for Balotelli when we took so long getting Andy Carroll out the door. Hopefully now, our 'transfer committee' know for definite to never invest in target men.

ALSO, the fact is last season it took a very long time for Rodgers to find a system to accommodate 2 strikers, and he only did it because he HAD to get Suarez and Sturridge in the team. For a while he tried to have one of them on the wing, or behind a bit. I highly doubt he will want to sacrifice one of Coutinho, Sterling, Lallana, Markovic, Gerrard.. to fit Sturridge and Balotelli together in the side.

[Red-Soldier]

Looks of talk of Balo to Juve.

Hopefully Lambert will move on also, and Fabio.  Not without getting replacements mind 

[Caston]

Looks of talk of Balo to Juve.

Hopefully Lambert will move on also, and Fabio.  Not without getting replacements mind 

Allegri on Balotelli to Juventus: "I think this is a made up story." "Balotelli has done very well with me but he belongs to Liverpool and he is not a player that can arrive at Juventus."

[Shaved Crossbar]

Well it was reportedly a £16m xfer fee and around £13.5m or so over a 3 year contract.

Personally I consider that quite an outlay

Well it's not quite an outlay. Compare to Arsenal, Chelsea, United or City's recent attacking arrivals.

[Shaved Crossbar]

Re Balo, he has shown a few moments of absolute quality and undoubted technical brilliance.

Get him working on his finishing which is his main issue and he'll be a decent third choice striker next year.

[Red-Soldier]

Allegri on Balotelli to Juventus: "I think this is a made up story." "Balotelli has done very well with me but he belongs to Liverpool and he is not a player that can arrive at Juventus."

I would like him to stay and prove the doubters wrong!!

I think he has got some quality in his game, he just needs to get a couple of goals under his belt along with some more game time.

[Twitter.com]

[Bjinxi]

If Lambert and Borini get a chance in the starting eleven, then Balo deserves the same again against Villa on Saturday...

[Gnurglan]

Well it's not quite an outlay. Compare to Arsenal, Chelsea, United or City's recent attacking arrivals.

Sure, they've spent more. It's just that our competition up front isn't exactly fierce. Nobody scores and the number one pick is out injured. We prefer to play a converted attacking midfielder, over three strikers with international experience. Essentially, all you need is to score a single goal and you're the man. Freekicks and penalties included.

[iVapor]

In before injured.

[Draex]

Yeah, agree with most of them. The "Balotelli will work with Sturridge" analogy has been used by most of us to defend him. The question is- why should he get a chance? The 3-4-3 works beautifully. Imagine Saturday's eleven, with Sterling and Sturridge replacing Borini and maybe Gerrard. That is a frightening eleven. Lucas and Henderson can sit and boss it, Markovic and Moreno will bomb forward, and Coutinho will play with his favorite partner in attack, and Sterling- well, we know what he can do. Why should Balotelli start?

IMO, inspite of defending him a lot, I feel that if a good offer comes in, we should let him go. It isnt likely to work out for him here. The only reason we keep and play him is if there are no takers, and if he does start suiting our system, which at the moment isnt happening.

Gerrard would be moved into the middle and you'd see a much different team (not for the better.)

[Kopenhagen]

Looks of talk of Balo to Juve.

Hopefully Lambert will move on also, and Fabio.  Not without getting replacements mind 

Why would we let Balotelli go to Juve? I mean, Sturridge is about to come back. Wasn't it part of the TC's grand scheme to have Balotelli, with his skillset, pair Sturridge in a front 2?! 

[spider-neil]

We'd be mad not to try the Sturridge/Mario partnership before moving Mario on. Nothing to lose, unless of course Juvè decide to pay over the odds for Balotelli, and they wont.

[Miltonred]

Much of the criticism of Balotelli I read here is just an echo chamber of tv pundit nonsense.
First off he has barely played for months, just late sub appearances. Second when he was playing, the entire team was poor, not just him. Rodgers admitted this when he pointed out a short while back that the team needed to get back to a faster pressing style of play. If nine other outfielders had been doing this in Aug, Sept, Oct and November we wouldn't be in 8th spot right now.

In his last three sub appearances his impact on our attacking play when he came on has been massive. In the United game he was desperately unlucky not to score, against Wimbledon, his arrival turned the game away from Wimbledon who were pressing with impunity. This weekend against Sunderland, we went from toothless with Borini doing the square root of fuck all, to exciting and aggressive.

The unwillingness to give him a start ahead of Borini and Lambert at this point is mystifying. In any case, like others, I want to see him play with Sturridge, see if we don't see the level of play we saw against Spurs that had everyone wetting their pants.

[JackWard33]

The 3421 suits Balo better if he plays where Gerrard was playing in the first half NOT as the striker

Really the whole discussion about him is as stupidly polarised as ever - you just have to look at this page
Seriously people are arguing he doesn't have technique; his touch is excellent for example
There is an answer where he isn't 'a star' or 'shit'

[iVapor]

Much of the criticism of Balotelli I read here is just an echo chamber of tv pundit nonsense.
First off he has barely played for months, just late sub appearances. Second when he was playing, the entire team was poor, not just him. Rodgers admitted this when he pointed out a short while back that the team needed to get back to a faster pressing style of play. If nine other outfielders had been doing this in Aug, Sept, Oct and November we wouldn't be in 8th spot right now.

In his last three sub appearances his impact on our attacking play when he came on has been massive. In the United game he was desperately unlucky not to score, against Wimbledon, his arrival turned the game away from Wimbledon who were pressing with impunity. This weekend against Sunderland, we went from toothless with Borini doing the square root of fuck all, to exciting and aggressive.

The unwillingness to give him a start ahead of Borini and Lambert at this point is mystifying. In any case, like others, I want to see him play with Sturridge, see if we don't see the level of play we saw against Spurs that had everyone wetting their pants.

Criticism echoed from TV pundits? Having been to most the games this season, I completely disagree with all of the above. During that terrible spell earlier in the season, he played a lot of games and just didn't offer any movement/pressing/creativity up front. We barely had any shots on target during that period too. I do agree that he was isolated, but every time Coutinho/Sterling looked up he wouldn't run in behind. Even against Swansea we played really well, were 4-1 up and he came on and just didn't look convincing.

He started Borini because we need that pressing from the front and runs in behind. Even if he missed a sitter he still offered aggression from the front. Another reason was he was playing a club he was at for a year - knows how they play/shop window.

Having said this, I do hope Balotelli comes good and do rate him as a player. However, he is just the opposite of what we need in a striker, and target men just don't do well in Rodgers' system. It's all well and good saying give him a chance with Sturridge up front, however who are you going to drop out of Sterling/Coutinho/Lallana/Markovic to accommodate him? And that would mean changing the system that is currently changing our season around to accommodate him.

[Roger Federer]

The 3421 suits Balo better if he plays where Gerrard was playing in the first half NOT as the striker

That is probably true, but he'll have a hard time getting a game there when Lallana and Sturridge are fit. If we keep the same formation, I'd say that Sterling, Coutinho, Gerrard, Lallana and Markovic (if not playing at wingback) are all ahead of him. And as he's 3rd choice at best for the striker role after Sturridge and Sterling, it's clear that we have a bit of a problem fitting him in.

Agree with you though about his touch, but after the encouraging debut, he's not been up to much regardless of position.

[kcbworth]

Balotelli was massively disappointing in the first part of the season, but... just like I don't see any sense playing Brad Jones over Mignolet, because he's significantly worse, I don't really see the sense playing Lambert over Balotelli either.

Just because Balo is disappointing doesn't mean the alternatives will or have done any better, and they are inherently less likely to do better than he is anyway.

All that said, he still hasn't earned the start as lone striker in any system just yet, but I do think he and Sterling up front from the start could work really well in Sturridge's absence

[Shaved Crossbar]

Was just on Whoscored,

Shots per game

City 17.6
Arsenal 16.3
Chelsea 16
Liverpool 15.8

So why is it then that we have 29 goals, whereas Arsenal have 37 and Chelsea 46 if we're taking the same amount of shots as them?

We're not shooting huge amounts from range (52% of our shots from inside the box, Arsenal's is 56 and Chelsea's 58%). Our build up play is less controlled/quicker (by action zone areas) but that would suggest that we're shooting a bit more on transition, and common sense would dictate that that is beneficial?

Guess what you want to, it comes down to the quality of our finishing, and the main culprits are the three strikers. We need a goalscorer, it's so bleeding obvious.

[Caston]

[SerbianScouser]

Balotelli was massively disappointing in the first part of the season, but...

Don`t understand the purpose of pointing this out when almost every Lfc player was massively disappointing in the first part of the season. Those players got the chance to show they can improve and they did , why shouldn`t Mario? That`s the part I don`t understand.

[Shaved Crossbar]

what if happens again