Well yes, I have my doubts over whether he suits us. But his attitude thus far has been good.
Can't see why people are bothered about that tweet. 'It was just... banter'.
Balotelli signs for Liverpool - Official
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Well yes, I have my doubts over whether he suits us. But his attitude thus far has been good.
Can't see why people are bothered about that tweet. 'It was just... banter'.
I'm really surprised that anyone could say he's done relatively well. He's been poor in every game I've seen. 0 goals in the league despite being in the top 10 in the league for shots per game, mostly uninvolved and when he does get on the ball he's been one-dimensional and uncreative, and he's slowed down practically every attack he's been involved in. I thought he'd be a good signing for Liverpool but he's been so much worse than I expected.
Yeah, he's been really shit in every game I've watched. Admittedly not all of them. Has a decent touch, can kick the ball hard and is very strong but that's it. Doesn't win as many headers as he should for his size and seems downright ponderous when he's not in possession. I really don't get this stuff about him working hard.. I don't think I've ever seen a player spend so much of the game - quite literally - at walking pace.
Anelka is a great shout when comparing him to a different striker ability wise. Won't become much more than a solid striker.
Maybe Gerrard this season? That's not an exaggeration either - his legs really do seem to have gone.
I guess the difference is Balotelli just doesn't want to run about much - whereas Gerrard can't.
Berbatov?
http://www.theguardian.com/football...erpool-brendan-rodgers-luis-suarez?CMP=twt_gu
Brendan Rodgers: Mario Balotelli was the best Liverpool could get
Brendan Rodgers: Mario Balotelli was the best Liverpool could get
Can someone photoshop Balotelli under a bus been driven by Rodgers please? 
Really don't believe they bought the guy outright. Surely a loan was the only sensible choice? Not only does it look like its going wrong already, but who the hell would buy Balotelli off them? Where would he go? He's there for the duration of his contract.
Damning words for ol' Balo there.
Talk in Italy is that he's to be dropped from the national side in favour of Pellè.
if you want to learn how to mishandled the squad, learn it from Brendan Rodgers. He is trying to give a proper lesson in it this season.
man i dont like Rodgers. He's such a snake. He'll do/say anything to keep his "genius" going. You'll never hear Mourinho, Wenger, Pelligrini or Van Gaal say something like this. He's also terrible at transfers too, spent all this money on squad players.
-I remember how he was desperate to get Clint Dempsey 2 years ago but the club got him Sturridge instead who was by far always the superior player to Dempsey.
-He bought borini and Joe Allen for around 30m combined.
-wanted to send Sterling on loan until desperation forced his hand into playing him
-Has suso on his team but spent over 40m pound on 2 players that arenn't better than Suso.
-Let agger go and replaced him with Lovren whos not that much better
-Forced Reina(understandably) but replaced him with Mignolet
what else am i missing?
I do agree on alot of them points, I think his record in the transfer market is very questionable, I think he has handled the Suarez money terribly for what it's worth. Out of the signings he has made the only one I can see getting to the World Class type category is Moreno, I was actually surprised at how willing Sevilla were to let him go and not haggle the price, especially considering Real Madrid were linked with him to.
Regarding Balotelli I actually think he still might come good for them, He is the type of player that can just switch it round in an instant, Obviously I hope he doesn't as a United fan but I am shocked at how easy Liverpool fans have given up on him
Can someone put Balotelli head on Godzilla? Everytime I look at him i think of Godzilla
He's also blown money on:
Assaidi - 3M
Borini - 10.5M
Luis Alberto - 6.8M
Aspas - 7M
and his loanee's have all flopped:
Sahin
Moses
Cissokho
-spending about 25m combined on Apsas, Ilori, Luis Alberto and Assaidi
-18m Sakho only on the bench after 1 year at Anfield.
Except Sturridge and Coutinho, he has been awful in the transfer market so far.
Wanted to sell Henderson before the start of last season.
As for Balotelli, I think he's a less talented Anelka. I'll be surprised if he's at Liverpool for more than 2 seasons.
Don't think it's fair to label Ilori a bad signing yet, he's been doing well on loan and he'll hopefully be part of the squad next season.
Was happy getting Luis Alberto too, I think his error with him was not giving him any minutes to impress rather than buying him. Which seems a bit of a trend, he's too quick to turn on some players for my liking.
He's got an incredible reputation for what he actually provides.
People are starting to realise without the penalties he's got an appalling record, and has terrible movement and workrate.
We all knew about his attitude problems of course.
Nice man management there by Rodgers, i'm sure that will give Ballotelli huge confidence.
The tabloids will run wild with quotes like that and I fully expect Mario to strop and sulk even more. Terrible man management and signs that the pressure is getting to him.
Should have got in there first. No harm in having a player like Eto'o on a free and sitting him on the bench, which he's probably expecting nowadays anyway.
It wasn't that Ilori is a bad signing, just that he has spent quite alot of money on players that simply haven't contributed enough to the first team yet, like we did from 2009-13, so I kinda agree. I just think that overall Brendan Rodgers is a brilliant manager, who lacks the eye for talent, so far. Now should be the time that Rodgers signing really make an impact and show the slow transition into a younger team and the only key player he bought is Sturridge. Coutinho can be amazing but is madly inconsistent, Allen is good but not anything special IMO and Sterling just developed very well, even though he wanted to loan him. So out of the key players of your title push last year (Henderson, Suarez, Gerrard, Sterling, Sturridge) he only brought Sturridge and he didn't add any new pieces yet.
Also I'm not impressed with this interview. Balotelli is a nut case and needs protection, right now Rodgers is only protecting himself.
He didn't make Conte's first squad in August. I think Conte told him to grow up first or something along those lines.
They can't wait to get rid of him
If someone could be arsed it would be quite funny to get that RAWK 'you are part of the family' post and underneath it put a bunch of RAWK posts slagging him off just 3 weeks later. YAWN and all that, Mario.
Ha Ha. Rogers thought he could succeed where countless other managers couldn't - taming Balotelli. Now things are going a bit wrong, he throws him under the bus. Pretty awful man management that...
Feel a bit bad for Balotelli, the press and the ex-Liverpool pundits, and now his manager blaming him (even if indirectly).
Feel a bit bad for Balotelli, the press and the ex-Liverpool pundits, and now his manager blaming him (even if indirectly).
Rodgers criticising Balotelli is poor form. He's only been at the club for a few games. Seems like Rodgers is making him a scapegoat as he knows anything he says about him will be latched on by the press. Balotelli is a player who is only as good as the service he gets. When Liverpool are playing well he will be an effective player but right now, with the team out of sorts, he is pretty much useless.
I just don't see this supposed outrageous talent he apparently has, and to be honest, I've never really seen it previously. He's clearly a good player, sometimes very good, but some special talent he is not. Not anymore, anyway.
Brenton has this predilection for buying a couple of middling forward players, giving them a shot for a season and then binning them off.
Borini (2012) - scored two goals in 20 appearances in his first season. One of which was a deflection. In the Europa League qualifying round. Against Hearts. Loaned to Sunderland last season, and recently sensationally refused several transfers in early August, before changing his mind and then immediately becoming just injured enough as to render him unsellable. Sunderland threatened to stump up 14 million for him, which is 4 million more than Liverpool paid for him, and sort of makes me angry that we couldn't shift Ashley Young in the summer for love nor money.
Assaidi (2012) - was deceptively old at the time of his purchase and managed about 43 seconds of competitive football before being sent on successive season long loans to Stoke, where he's looked like what he is - average.
Iago Aspas (2013) - still not entirely sure what this one was all about. Spent 8 seasons in the Spanish lower leagues scoring a modest 45 in 187 league appearances. Had a single respectable season in La Liga and was immediately snapped up for seven mil. I think this makes him the Spanish Grant Holt? Again, deceptively old at time of purchase, and scored a single goal - against Oldham in the FA Cup. For the sake of perspective he's actually been the most useless inhabitant of the number 9 shirt at Anfield recently, beating out Carroll, the Fat Old and Slow version of Robbie Fowler, and Djbril Cisse.
Victor Moses (2013) - Has the best agent in the world. Chelsea, and then Liverpool? Get out of here.
Luis Alberto (2013) - Apparently made 9 league appearances. On loan at Malaga now.
Ricky Lambert (2014) - ISN'T IT GREAT TO SEE A CHILDHOOD FAN OF A CLUB WHO HAD TO WORK AS A DOG FLUFFER WHILE PLAYING IN NON-LEAGUE TURN OUT FOR LIVERPOOL HOW GREAT IS THAT?
Mario Balotelli (2014) - I'm confused as to why people are confused about his complete lack of effort. I'm sure he'll score a goal against middling opposition in the next month or so and everyone will go on about what a great lad he is because he loves the banter. On loan to Cagliari or some shit like that next season.
Total cost: 46.2 million plus however much they paid for Moses on loan (probably 35 million)
Borini (2012) - scored two goals in 20 appearances in his first season. One of which was a deflection. In the Europa League qualifying round. Against Hearts. Loaned to Sunderland last season, and recently sensationally refused several transfers in early August, before changing his mind and then immediately becoming just injured enough as to render him unsellable. Sunderland threatened to stump up 14 million for him, which is 4 million more than Liverpool paid for him, and sort of makes me angry that we couldn't shift Ashley Young in the summer for love nor money.
Assaidi (2012) - was deceptively old at the time of his purchase and managed about 43 seconds of competitive football before being sent on successive season long loans to Stoke, where he's looked like what he is - average.
Iago Aspas (2013) - still not entirely sure what this one was all about. Spent 8 seasons in the Spanish lower leagues scoring a modest 45 in 187 league appearances. Had a single respectable season in La Liga and was immediately snapped up for seven mil. I think this makes him the Spanish Grant Holt? Again, deceptively old at time of purchase, and scored a single goal - against Oldham in the FA Cup. For the sake of perspective he's actually been the most useless inhabitant of the number 9 shirt at Anfield recently, beating out Carroll, the Fat Old and Slow version of Robbie Fowler, and Djbril Cisse.
Victor Moses (2013) - Has the best agent in the world. Chelsea, and then Liverpool? Get out of here.
Luis Alberto (2013) - Apparently made 9 league appearances. On loan at Malaga now.
Ricky Lambert (2014) - ISN'T IT GREAT TO SEE A CHILDHOOD FAN OF A CLUB WHO HAD TO WORK AS A DOG FLUFFER WHILE PLAYING IN NON-LEAGUE TURN OUT FOR LIVERPOOL HOW GREAT IS THAT?
Mario Balotelli (2014) - I'm confused as to why people are confused about his complete lack of effort. I'm sure he'll score a goal against middling opposition in the next month or so and everyone will go on about what a great lad he is because he loves the banter. On loan to Cagliari or some shit like that next season.
Total cost: 46.2 million plus however much they paid for Moses on loan (probably 35 million)
The Balotelli signing didn't make sense within the framework of Liverpool's style. I don't think anyone would suggest that Balotelli is the type of players to be making selfless run after run and playing on his teammates. Certainly he can do that to a degree but his game fits the slower pace of Italian football where things are more deliberate and he's able to use his power and pace in small bursts.
Liverpool would have been better off with less talented hard working type player than Balotelli who is good for some spectacular moments, but too often becomes a black hole when the ball goes to him.
Origi was the best use of the Suarez money as I think he has the highest ceiling of all the Liverpool signings from the Suarez money, not to mention he's a much better fit for the Liverpool system as he's able to play a variety of forward roles.
Liverpool would have been better off with less talented hard working type player than Balotelli who is good for some spectacular moments, but too often becomes a black hole when the ball goes to him.
Origi was the best use of the Suarez money as I think he has the highest ceiling of all the Liverpool signings from the Suarez money, not to mention he's a much better fit for the Liverpool system as he's able to play a variety of forward roles.
Tell you what, arsenal must be breathing a sigh of relief
I suppose for Rodgers signing Balotelli was a relatively low risk strategy in the sense that the media narrative around him being a 'bad boy' or whatever means that if he flops it'll be perceived as a case of 'he had the wrong attitude' rather than anything to do with Liverpool's overall team performances. Having a go at Balotelli is an easy way for Rodgers to deflect criticism from the team at large (and, more importantly, himself).
Listen Balo, we don't really like you much and we wish we coulda done much better, but your the shiniest turd in the bin so you'll have to do. Now go on and play your heart out for me and the club.
Speaking of Arsenal, Pete seems to think Liverpool got Balo for half of his true value and we got Di Maria for double his true value.
FWIW I thought Balotelli was a shrewd signing at the time and I wouldn't write him off just yet. He may yet strike up a good partnership with Sturridge when the latter gets fit. Playing him as a lone forward doesn't suit him.
He has never been more than unfulfilled potential. What makes anybody think this will change at Liverpool? He's already being made the scapegoat for all their failures and is playing in a team that's built around another striker.
They may as well have played a tree up front the other night. It would have had more movement
I agree with your second paragraph, early days.
As a backup for when Sturridge is injured he is more than good enough. I'm not sure why every player needs to be written off after a few quiet games tbh.
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