Topic: Welcome to Liverpool - Mario Balotelli

[Mamadou]

i will say what i said in Brendan Rodgers thread...we spent too much time negotiating for Moreno(1 month), Lallana(1 month), Lovren(1month)...we had no time left to negotiate for a striker, we needed to to get one quick, and Milan were willing to let him go

when you put it this way, you can actually understand Rodgers comments and why he's frustrated...and why he complained about lack of funds couple of weeks ago. We had to negotiate that long for players,just to save couple of millions. We could have signed Moreno,Lallana,Lovren all three of them in two weeks IF we had funds and gave to their clubs what they asked, and then concentrate on 50+mil superstar striker...

maybe we should put the blame on Henry and Ayre

[Fat Scouser]

i will say what i said in Brendan Rodgers thread...

I will say what I said at the time we bought him, if I've nothing good to say, I'll say nothing. But I still hope he proves me wrong

[Just Dan]

This Danny Welbeck stuff is a complete and utter farce, its getting right on my tits. Scores a hat-trick and all of a sudden its "Should've signed Welbeck"

Talk about flavour of the pissing month!

Have an actual think before coming out with something as stupid as that. He was at Man United. I don't know if you have noticed this the last millennia or so.....but we don't sell to them and they certainly don't sell to us.

Arsenal and Man United have a working relationship similar to the one Everton and Man United had. Arsenal sold themselves down the river as a club when they sold their best player to a once fierce rival. It confirmed what Arsenal have become. Two clubs that once hated one another, now can't wait to exchange players. Lets be brutally honest, the only "top 4" team Man United were going to let Welbeck go to were Arsenal. Thats the reality here. Get used to it. Realize it. Suck it in and shut up talking about Welbeck.

The only way we end up with a Man United player is if there is a club in between the move. Directly? In this day and age?

Highly HIGHLY unlikely.

Its the same the other way around also.

[Bolrick]

I have said this in a few other threads...I guess I shall put it here....

Unless we have Ronaldo, Bale and Messi playing behind balotelli....I don't think he can play as a lone striker.

I really do think Balotelli and Lambert will give opposition defence all sorts of problems. Lambert will also be able to put away some of the awesome crosses Moreno puts in.

[PeteRed]

Positive from Rushie:

http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/premier-league/ian-rush-column-balotelli-wont-be-filling-suarezs-boots-overnight-30637269.html

He basically says we need to be patient with Balotelli and the team. Nothing earth shattering but nice to read positivity from a true legend.

Thanks, a good read.

[McMahon]

IMO, we should of made a replacement for Suarez top priority before we sold him, we didn't and now we are paying the price.

[Mamadou]

I will say what I said at the time we bought him, if I've nothing good to say, I'll say nothing. But I still hope he proves me wrong

like most of us...and i'm afraid he's not Brendan's signing at all

[Tom_B]

Dropping him seems very harsh.

[KevLFC]

IMO, we should of made a replacement for Suarez top priority before we sold him, we didn't and now we are paying the price.

With who though? Dont say Falcao, Welbeck or even Sanchez for that matter

[jepovic]

like most of us...and i'm afraid he's not Brendan's signing at all

Quit this "not Brendan's signing" rubbish. He's responsible for all signings, and he's not flawless.

Balotelli will never be a new suarez, but he has quality. The problem right now seems to be that he's not just worse, but also very different from Suarez. Strong but slow.

Still think the main poblem lies with the attacking midfielders, who need to do much more runs into the box.

[The Batman.]

Dropped already.

Sorry but the treatment this lad has had off Brendan is very disappointing. Subtle digs constantly and now dropped already. Very disappointed.

[Melbred]

I'd say its more fool you if you expected him to start every single game.

You'd expect him to start when the other alternatives are Lambert and Borini.

[Shaneee.]

If only he had scored against Everton last week...how different things would be....

[The Batman.]

I'd say its more fool you if you expected him to start every single game.

Yeah weird i'd expect our £16m 100k a week proven international to play when our first choice striker is out injured.

[Fromola]

I'd say its more fool you if you expected him to start every single game.

Other players start every game no matter what. Rodgers isn't usually one to rest players, if you're out the team then you're dropped.

It's quite clear Rodgers has come out and blamed Balotelli for the Basle defeat. A week ago it was Sakho. Soon enough it'll be someone else.

[Humperdinck]

Other players start every game no matter what. Rodgers isn't one to rest players, if you're out the team then you're dropped.

What a load of garbage (as usual). Lallana dropped in the week was he? No, he got a bit of rest. Sterling dropped v Villa was he? No, rested.

Shame you're back, you did a disappearing act February to May and are now back, wonder why?

[Motty]

Other players start every game no matter what. Rodgers isn't usually one to rest players, if you're out the team then you're dropped.

It's quite clear Rodgers has come out and blamed Balotelli for the Basle defeat. A week ago it was Sakho. Soon enough it'll be someone else.

Here you go again with your Rodgers bashing ,fucking hell your boring.

[Mamadou]

Quit this "not Brendan's signing" rubbish. He's responsible for all signings, and he's not flawless.

Balotelli will never be a new suarez, but he has quality. The problem right now seems to be that he's not just worse, but also very different from Suarez. Strong but slow.

Still think the main poblem lies with the attacking midfielders, who need to do much more runs into the box.

its not rubbish...he would never talk like that if he was his signing.

as i fucking said, we had no time left to negotiate for a striker, because we spent all our time negotiating for Lallana,Moreno,Markovic and Lovren...we can blame Ayre for being a slow negotiator, or we can blame Henry for making him to negotiate that long until he gets them for a little bit cheaper...we saved 10mil for negotiating that long and lowering their prices, but we fucked elsewhere

[Cloudstepper]

Deserved to be benched, he's been mostly poor...

[Michel]

Strikers that don't score goals are dropped.
I know,it's shocking.

[Bunter]

Other players start every game no matter what. Rodgers isn't usually one to rest players, if you're out the team then you're dropped.

It's quite clear Rodgers has come out and blamed Balotelli for the Basle defeat. A week ago it was Sakho. Soon enough it'll be someone else.

We haven't even played the fucking game yet. See what happens first and whether the change is justified before going mad. Balotelli hasn't performed given he's had a big run of games, chance to use the squad.

[Bangin Them In]

Other players get rotated and it's no big deal, played in the week

But it's Mario so drama drama

Very dull indeed

[Loo Pan]

It's quite clear Rodgers has come out and blamed Balotelli for the Basle defeat.

Balotelli being dropped isn't just about Basel. He hasn't performed well enough since he got here.

[lastbaron]

Perhaps he's getting a rest, and the fact he's not starting doesn't mean anything. He'll probably be brought on anyway.

[ryan125]

Lamberts performance this first half has just but Balotelli to shame. Lambert has half the altheticsm and that Balotelli has but has led the line manfully (despite obvious limitations) but has a shift in for his team mates and got a brilliant assist to his name

Don't usually post....but this is nonsense....also Henderson gave the assist..... 

[Cid]

Lamberts performance this first half has just but Balotelli to shame. Lambert has half the altheticsm and that Balotelli has but has led the line manfully (despite obvious limitations) but has a shift in for his team mates and got a brilliant assist to his name

Lambert can't run as fast, he's not as strong, he hasn't got anywhere near the technical ability, the touch or the power of shot to match Balotelli.  However he passes the ball to his team, he tries to make runs past defenders and he stays in central areas to give us options when we move up. 

So frustrating we can't combine the two.  Call Steve Martin and put Lambert's brain in Mario's body please. 

[Chakan]

Lamberts performance this first half has just but Balotelli to shame. Lambert has half the altheticsm and that Balotelli has but has led the line manfully (despite obvious limitations) but has a shift in for his team mates and got a brilliant assist to his name

That was Henderson but whatever never let that get in the way of a good rant.

[Sudden Death Draft Loser]

The anti Balotelli agenda is shocking, even the Yanks are at it. Lazy, lazy punditry.

I saw no difference between the Lambert performance today and Balotelli of the last few games.

[Just Dan]

Lamberts performance this first half has just but Balotelli to shame. Lambert has half the altheticsm and that Balotelli has but has led the line manfully (despite obvious limitations) but has a shift in for his team mates and got a brilliant assist to his name

 

Where do you start?

[LFCsupporter]

I know he's a striker, but if you saw him playing for the first time and you didn't know who he was, you'd think he was a free roaming midfielder. He has good vision and makes some nice one touch passes when we're breaking ( to Sterling today for example ), and he works hard and chases the ball, but he just doesn't strike you as someone whose job it is to bag goals.

[McrRed]

Remember crouchs 19 game goalless run. Once Mario is up and running he'll improve massively. Just needs to get the monkey off his back ... and listen to the manager.

[Funky_Gibbons]

That 30-minutes is the liveliest he has looked since he joined. Made runs behind (not found with a pass though) and looked to combine with the other players, hopefully this is the start of him finding some form.

[Andy]

Thought he did well when he came on. Worked hard by tackling back and had some good link-up play. Just needs something to run his way and he'll be properly up and running.

Would like to see him a bit happier on the pitch - hopefully when the team is playing better and he is scoring goals.

[Chakan]

Looked very good when he came on, put himself about a bit, got into good positions, his ball over the top to play in Sterling was great! Too bad Sterling looked like a horse on ice skates.

Great performance all around.

Just needs to put 1 in the back of the net.

[Ultimate Bromance]

90 minutes of "Look at Lambert work hard, Mario doesn't do that". Clueless punditry, just clueless.

[worthers]

That 30-minutes is the liveliest he has looked since he joined. Made runs behind (not found with a pass though) and looked to combine with the other players, hopefully this is the start of him finding some form.

Ditto my thoughts. I was impressed that he came into a high tempo game and picked it up straight away. The passing sequence with Gerrard was a glimpse of the training ground work coming to fruition in-game. More of that please sire.

[paddysour]

That 30-minutes is the liveliest he has looked since he joined. Made runs behind (not found with a pass though) and looked to combine with the other players, hopefully this is the start of him finding some form.

Yeah much better today. Hopefully he now knows Rodgers won't allow him to coast here, and he must listen to what he's being asked to do.

[Patch-Adams]

He did well when he come on. Worked hard and made good runs behind.

[peachybum]

Looked good today for his 30 minutes. But i'm in the minority that think he's looked good in pretty much every game he's played for us. 

Showed in his little cameo today that he can do everything that Lambert can with a bit extra. What you lose in Lambert's work ethic chugging around harassing defenders(albeit slowly) you gain with Mario's extra bit of class.

[Bolrick]

Deserved to be benched, he's been mostly poor...

Jesus.......the only striker who looks remotely like scoring when sturridge doesn't play and he deserves to be benched... ?