Balotelli is staying
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And how he responds.
There won't be a new manager.
Don't make me sad
Sorry Fabs. Prepare yourself.
Ancelotti over Klopp anytime of the day please.
I'm no fan of Balotelli, but I still think it's scandalous how Rodgers reacted to signing him/him being signed. Past managers might have clashed with him but they still got far more out of him than Rodgers did. Rodgers didn't even try to make it work. If you pick him to play, then at least fit him into a pattern of play that might get something out of him. Rodgers seemed to spend an entire season proving a point by just throwing him on and bypassing him in terms of tactics. A whole season. His job is to try absolutely everything to win each game, not arse about with stupid gestures. If the player was foisted on him, then he had every right to freeze him out after an initial trial in the side, but instead it was a ghastly saga in which the club was the big loser. When he dropped him, the only alternative tried was sending up a midget to play as a lone striker. When he played him, it was to demonstrate he couldn't/wouldn't fit into a position and style that was alien to him. So I'd rather there'd been Mancini-style battles or Mourinho-style critiques rather than smug fatalism. I wish the player had never come and I hope he goes now, but no one comes out of this ridiculous soap opera with any credit at all.
That's predicated on the view that Balotelli didn't get "an initial trial in the side". With respect, I don't think that's right.
He didn't get a run of games in a set up that suited him. Balotelli has always worked best with a strike partner. He's never been particularly good as a lone striker. Same for Lambert.
Should we have altered our style just for Balotelli? After it had worked so well the previous season?
Style - no. But we played two up top a lot last year and could have done the same. Admittedly with weaker personnel. I don't necessarily think it would have worked out any better, because the rest of the team has largely been in a mess, but it would have been fairer to Balotelli.
Well, no, although we needed to change our style anyway because we no longer had Suarez. We shouldn't have got Balotelli, that's beyond argument, but if you do get him, and you need to alter the team to adapt to the loss of your main player, then it makes little sense to resist fitting in - trying to fit in - the player you've got, while allowing his presence to so distract you that you don't adapt your style properly without him, either. It was a horrible mess and very, very poor and immature management.
Yes. The politics of Baloteli's signing was a disgrace, because when Rodgers decided, very quickly (almost immediately) that he didn't rate Lambert, he basically banished him to the bench for most of the season. Fair enough. That's a manager's prerogative. But to be even more certain about Balotelli and then to resort to that ridiculous farce for an entire season - that's abusing your job. You're there to pick a team you believe in, that you'll take responsibility for, week in, week out. You don't pick a player you hate, and stand there, arms folded, shaking your head for the cameras and the crowd. Over and over and over again. If you're not happy with orders from above, go and have a meeting with them. Show some balls. Show some integrity. Don't feck up important games of football to send a message to your employers.
Should we have changed style to suit Balotelli? Of course. If you're given an 18m Italian international and no other fit players to coach, then get on with it. Instead we shifted the rest of the team around to exclude him. Childish, the owners should admonish the manager for that. It's the worst kind of temper tantrum. Any manager worth their salt will tell you that a general manager needs to be pragmatic - probably above all else. If you don't like what you're given, say so and move on if you are told to continue.
Between a style that suits Ballotelli and a style that suits noone I would consider the first.....
No, we didn't. Everyone on here and in the media was saying Balotelli needs to play in a two up front, and we didn't play that way before he arrived.
And calling Balotelli an 18m Italian international pure and simple is highly slanted. He's an 18m Italian international with a record as long as your arm of exhausting the patience of clubs and managers who did want him, at least to begin with. What about his responsibility to change his approach to fit in with what he's been asked to do?
JJ we played a winger through the middle, a midfielder at right back, an AM as DM etc etc all whilst he was available and we had no other strikers.
As regards Balotelli, I never said we should have bought him, I'm saying if he's bought for you then make use of him, don't move things around to avoid him.
There is no way Balotelli should have been allowed to cruise along without any challenges. He's ideal for doing as little as possible unless he's pushed, clearly he wasn't. You shouldn't be paying 18m to park him even if he tests your patience.
It is harsh to put the blame on the Balotelli fiasco entirely on Rodgers. Having said that there is no doubt that he did not best use the available striking resources. No excuse for why Lambert was bought on with 3 minutes to go, why Borini was completely frozen out, why midfielders and wingers were played at right back etc. One cannot help but think that some of those moves were political to make a point. Rafa did do that to make a point and that is one aspect of Rafa which I hate. Also it is easy to pull of such moves when you have the fan base on your side and a track record to point to. I think Rodgers overestimated the goodwill he had due to the title challenge.
I'll never understand why you pay a manager big bucks, trust him to set up the team to bring trophies and success, back him with loads of money and then buy a player he shows no interest in wanting. Seems a very odd way to do business. Surely if you believe in your man you just give him the money and tell him to get on with it.
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