Mario Balotelli

[keniget]

Apologies for posting this whilst the match is still on but it's been painful watching him today.

The polar opposite of everything that was good about our forward play last season - slow, static and ponderous.

As I said in the match thread, he just seems to be playing in his own little world and whilst it's not ideal, it'd be tolerable if the ball was sticking to him and he was producing quality but we've had more theatrics than quality today.

Early days and hopefully he'll improve and prove worthwhile but as things stand Sturridge can't get back into the side quickly enough.

 

[My_Blood_Bleeds_Red]

Just a matter of time he's gonna implode. I said this earlier in the season, and after watching today's display, I'm sticking to it.

It's like he's trying his hardest to keep his madness in check, and it's kinda painful watching him play.

You just want him to go mental but our team isn't setup to allow him to express his madness.

Grrr...i dunno how to explain it !

Just frustrating watching him play and waiting for him to do something special !

 

[singlerider]

Whenever I see people saying "he's working hard" I'm wondering if I need my eyes checked.

Mostly he seems to amble around, occasionally putting in a burst of pace and trying to make a run, but then equally likely to be out on the left wing, watching one of our players take it down the line and not thinking "oh yeah, I'm up front, maybe I should run ahead so they've got someone to pass to".

He doesn't often seem to close down either, which is fairly critical to our style of play and certainly was what led to so many goals last year - Suarez nicking the ball of a defender's toes.

Sure, he's talented, but I'm as yet not convinced he's actually gonna fit into the team. Maybe with him and Sturridge up top, but him on his own? I'm not sure it works

 

[bkwitche2]

He seems to be way to far from goal a lot of the time for me. And then instead of trying to play with the team he will just belt a ridiculous shot well off target. One will go in eventually and it will be highlight reel, but he had more shots the Everton' entire team today and only one that I recall was worth a damn.

Hope he changes my mind but not happy with him so far.

 

[RedStar]

I think he has worked hard, but thats relative to my expectations having seen him be the laziest player on the field at Man City, hes not the type of forward who will run himself ragged but then neither is Sturridge, he has worked pretty hard at closing opposition players down in the games Ive seen so far.

My main gripe with Balotelli is the number of good chances he misses, in the Spurs game I put i down to rustiness but a month later he looks no sharper in front of goal, today he completely mistimed a jump for a free header in the first half, along with a lazy run to back post when he should have come near side for a tap in from Manquillos cross, and then there was the chance he somehow contrived to scuff off Howards head from 5 yards out instead of slotting it in. As for the diving, fucking hell Mario give it a rest

 

[Sheik Yerbouti]

He's gonna be a flop

 

[Fabio]

I like him. He offers a lot.

 

[Sheik Yerbouti]

He offers nothing stood on the wing

 

[Whirly]

He's been comically unlucky so far, the goals will come.

 

[jan]

http://instagram.com/p/tazYLGrjxt/

 

[Halmeister]

He's just not suited to us. I think when Sturridge comes back and buzzes around him there might be more space for him to do something.

 

[Fabio]

He offers nothing stood on the wing

His passing range is good.

Annoying thing is, he needs players to work off him and move around him. No one seems willing to do that.

There was a point in the first half where he was on the edge of Everton box, waiting for SOMEONE to move. No one did so he skinned someone and had a shot

 

[singlerider]

Equally there was a bit when he stood and watched Coutinho (I think it was, may have been Sterling) dribble past him on the left, about level with the halfway line, and didn't make the slightest effort to get forward in support

 

[Whirly]

Equally there was a bit when he stood and watched Coutinho (I think it was, may have been Sterling) dribble past him on the left, about level with the halfway line, and didn't make the slightest effort to get forward in support

I think that was right after he'd done a ton of pressing and running on the previous attack, so I gave him a pass, he genuinely looked gassed. But I remember that very well.

 

[Fabio]

Equally there was a bit when he stood and watched Coutinho (I think it was, may have been Sterling) dribble past him on the left, about level with the halfway line, and didn't make the slightest effort to get forward in support

True I remember that. Lallana seemed to take the run the Mario wanted so he just stopped

Was a bit shite though

 

[Red Astaire]

He did ok but then that's all I can imagine him doing. Ok. That's a bit depressing.

 

[singlerider]

He's obviously talented, but I'm just not sure he's right for us.

I'm hoping he works better in a partnership with Sturridge, but on his lonesome I'm not sure he's gonna cut it

 

[kingjulian]

I don't think there is too much wrong with his ability. He has got a few things going for him. It's up to Brodgers to unlock that and use that ability for this team.

 

[Fabio]

I think with the mobility of Sturridge with him, we could see a lovely partnership.

 

[Fabio]

Very surprised he didn't try 2 up top today. Borini would have done a lot more running and done a lot more than Markovic

 

[localny]

He's got little movement

 

[mom]

What he needs, is a chance to prove himself. 6 league games in and he's gonna be sold at Xmas according to the current mood towards him. Blimey.

 

[localny]

What he needs, is a chance to prove himself. 6 league games in and he's gonna be sold at Xmas according to the current mood towards him. Blimey.

We'd all settle for encouraging signs mate.

 

[RedStar]

Very surprised he didn't try 2 up top today. Borini would have done a lot more running and done a lot more than Markovic

I dont think Balotelli will ever be effective upfront on his own and thats the problem we have with Sturridge out of the picture because neither Lambert or Borini are good enough to start but you wont get much from Balotelli unless he has another striker alongside him to create the space and allow him to drop deep. I think playing Markovic today was a big gamble and it didnt work, he was nowhere near the pace of the game. We would have been better off with Coutinho from the start and Sterling pushed up alongside Balotelli, the Everton backline would have dropped deeper to counter Raheems pace and created a gap for Balotelli to work in, as it was when Balotelli dropped off the whole back four pushed up with him and our only outlet was to play in behind them and release Sterling or another runner from midfield/fullback

 

[mom]

Analig

We'd all settle for encouraging signs mate.

absolutely. He hasn't scored a hatful, but the temperament we were all worried about has been well controlled. He seems to be getting into goal scoring opportunities, which is a good thing of course, he just needs to find his accuracy.

 

[Cerberus]

I'm a bit pissed and fucked off. Everything I wanted to say has more or less been said. I can't help but comment though. What does he offer? Absolutely nothing. He's detrimental to the way we play. His signing brings back awful memories of Morientes.

 

[Fabio]

I'm a bit pissed and fucked off. Everything I wanted to say has more or less been said. I can't help but comment though. What does he offer? Absolutely nothing. He's detrimental to the way we play. His signing brings back awful memories of Morientes.

Who would you rather, Borini or Lambert?

 

[mom]

I'm struggling to see why the hell we signed Lambert. He's looking like a really shit version of Balo, although, it's still very early days.

 

[Cerberus]

Who would you rather, Borini or Lambert?

I think at least borini wouldn't need a written invitation to run forward when we had a break on. Apart from that I wish we had signed someone else. We sold the hardest working striker in world football and replaced him with his polar opposite. Transfer committee my arse. It was a desperation signing and now we look disjointed as much in attack as we do in defence.

 

[gene hughes]

I think he'll score 15-20 goals but any half decent striker would in a Liverpool team. I'm also inclined to think he'll be a flop and will be playing in Turkey in 2 years