God knows. In the sticks around 12 perhaps ! In the city I guess 16.
Mario Balotelli
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God knows. In the sticks around 12 perhaps ! In the city I guess 16.
It's not really a paradox, as during any one game we should be employing both styles of attack in equal measure. If you see Sterling then you play a ball in behind. If you see Balotelli then you play it into him and make a run. It's that simple.
The problem is lack of awareness in our team, they do the same thing over an over again according to a preconception of how to play. Why can't they just assess the situation and play the most appropriate pass at the time? They're stupid as well as insane.
You know what you get when you play a ball to Mario and make a run... a front row seat to watch him lose the ball by running down a blind alley or shoot towards row Z
Yes, Rushie, rather bizarrely, seems to be some kind of éminence grise at the club these days. Lovely bloke and all that but he's never struck me as a particularly shrewd and knowledgeable observer of the game, and yet FSG appear to rely on him as one of their main advisors.
I guess as an ex striker and with a stronger direct association with the club these days, if he had to say anything, he had to defend him to a degree. I kind of agree though, he's never struck me as the brightest spark, when talking about the game, he's not overly critical of anything or anyone. Contrast that with the passion of Aldo, who often goes to the complete extreme to get his point across.
It seems anyway, that most people associated with the club have been quick to condemn him, as completely lacking in anything resembling what we expect from a Liverpool player.
The behaviour thing is secondary though really, if he was banging them in, there wouldn't be half the outrage.
- Liverpool FC 360
@LFC_360 59m59 minutes ago
Rodgers: Mario maybe thought he wasn't going to play today, but you have got to stay with it. He is working hard and doing his very best.
Rodgers: Some players if it's not going so well, they have a day off where they don't train, but Mario puts himself out there every day.
Rodgers: Mario is out there wanting to be better, wanting to improve, and that is all I can ask of my players.
Brendan Rodgers: I thought Mario worked very well, very well and very hard.
Rodgers: Goalscorers will tell you they get their energy from the ball hitting the back of the net and it is just not happening for him.
Comment: Liverpool striker Mario Balotelli a victim of the age
How would you feel if you were the only member of a family of four to be given up for adoption?
MICHAEL CALVIN
Cut them and they bleed. Curse them and they cringe. Challenge them and they are conditioned to concealing their weaknesses. They fight normal fears and flaws, despite having their faults airbrushed by wealth and celebrity.
Ultimately, footballers are no different to you or I. They are imperfect creatures, prone to doubt. They are as susceptible to the strains of modern life as those who envy their luxurious lifestyle. The difference is they are dehumanised by their talent, diminished by the frippery of fame.
We want them to be homespun heroes, humble and approachable. We treat them as fresh meat, to be pummelled and tenderised before being devoured. As uncomfortable as it is to admit it, we love it when they fail.
If they can do so spectacularly, in small, easily-understandable morality plays scripted for wide-screen television, so much the better. Pander to our prejudices, entertain us with your eccentricities. Judgements are instant, withering and usually reached without thought about the consequences.
Where are we going with this? In a week dominated by the rush to condemn the caricature known as Mario Balotelli, it is a valid point of debate.
To avoid inevitable charges of hypocrisy, my business must accept its share of the blame. The news cycle has been accelerated so that it has become a blur of crass assumptions, neatly packaged triviality and manufactured outrage.
Balotelli has played poorly and appeared indifferent to his professional responsibilities. He seems to be trapped in a rapidly deepening cycle of disappointment and decline. The behavioural clauses in his Liverpool contract are set to kick in. But was it really shameful that he swapped shirts at half time in the Champions League defeat by Real Madrid? Did he deserve front page demands to apologise? Of course not, but it suited the Mad Mario clichés.
I will ask you the question Brendan Rodgers asked himself, before deciding to sign Balotelli following a three-and-a-half-hour conversation, largely conducted on the two leather sofas which frame his first floor office at the Melwood training ground.
What would your outlook on life be if you were the only member of a family of four given away for adoption? How would you respond to such rejection and the racism which scarred your formative years?
Listen to psychologists and they speak of wounded children seeking unconditional devotion. Watch Balotelli, reinvented as a cartoon, and remember that here is someone so damaged he could not go to sleep as a child without holding his adoptive mother’s hand. I’m not qualified to pass judgement, but it seemed significant that the afternoon after his Anfield implosion, he visited his birth mother, Rose Barwuah, a minimum-waged cleaner who lives in Wythenshawe, the largest council estate in Europe.
He arrived in a £250,000 Ferrari, but might as well have landed in a spaceship. Attention was inevitable and has led to police intervention, following allegations he behaved threateningly to those taking photographs of the car.
Man up, I hear you say. It’s easier to deal with such problems when, like Balotelli, you earn £110,000 a week, even after taking a 40 per cent pay cut.
Try getting up in the dark and enduring the everyday indignities of doing a job you hate, with people you would cross the road to avoid. Money, though, is a gaudy irrelevance. Balotelli doesn’t deserve to be at the mercy of Twitter trolls and online polls, but he is destined to be a victim of the vicarious thrill to be derived from his discomfort and eventual downfall. Rodgers, brittle under pressure, allowed himself to set the agenda by suggesting the Italy striker has two months to prove himself. Things unravel fast in football, and there is never a shortage of rubber-neckers at the funeral.
How would you feel if you were the only member of a family of four to be given up for adoption?
MICHAEL CALVIN
Cut them and they bleed. Curse them and they cringe. Challenge them and they are conditioned to concealing their weaknesses. They fight normal fears and flaws, despite having their faults airbrushed by wealth and celebrity.
Ultimately, footballers are no different to you or I. They are imperfect creatures, prone to doubt. They are as susceptible to the strains of modern life as those who envy their luxurious lifestyle. The difference is they are dehumanised by their talent, diminished by the frippery of fame.
We want them to be homespun heroes, humble and approachable. We treat them as fresh meat, to be pummelled and tenderised before being devoured. As uncomfortable as it is to admit it, we love it when they fail.
If they can do so spectacularly, in small, easily-understandable morality plays scripted for wide-screen television, so much the better. Pander to our prejudices, entertain us with your eccentricities. Judgements are instant, withering and usually reached without thought about the consequences.
Where are we going with this? In a week dominated by the rush to condemn the caricature known as Mario Balotelli, it is a valid point of debate.
To avoid inevitable charges of hypocrisy, my business must accept its share of the blame. The news cycle has been accelerated so that it has become a blur of crass assumptions, neatly packaged triviality and manufactured outrage.
Balotelli has played poorly and appeared indifferent to his professional responsibilities. He seems to be trapped in a rapidly deepening cycle of disappointment and decline. The behavioural clauses in his Liverpool contract are set to kick in. But was it really shameful that he swapped shirts at half time in the Champions League defeat by Real Madrid? Did he deserve front page demands to apologise? Of course not, but it suited the Mad Mario clichés.
I will ask you the question Brendan Rodgers asked himself, before deciding to sign Balotelli following a three-and-a-half-hour conversation, largely conducted on the two leather sofas which frame his first floor office at the Melwood training ground.
What would your outlook on life be if you were the only member of a family of four given away for adoption? How would you respond to such rejection and the racism which scarred your formative years?
Listen to psychologists and they speak of wounded children seeking unconditional devotion. Watch Balotelli, reinvented as a cartoon, and remember that here is someone so damaged he could not go to sleep as a child without holding his adoptive mother’s hand. I’m not qualified to pass judgement, but it seemed significant that the afternoon after his Anfield implosion, he visited his birth mother, Rose Barwuah, a minimum-waged cleaner who lives in Wythenshawe, the largest council estate in Europe.
He arrived in a £250,000 Ferrari, but might as well have landed in a spaceship. Attention was inevitable and has led to police intervention, following allegations he behaved threateningly to those taking photographs of the car.
Man up, I hear you say. It’s easier to deal with such problems when, like Balotelli, you earn £110,000 a week, even after taking a 40 per cent pay cut.
Try getting up in the dark and enduring the everyday indignities of doing a job you hate, with people you would cross the road to avoid. Money, though, is a gaudy irrelevance. Balotelli doesn’t deserve to be at the mercy of Twitter trolls and online polls, but he is destined to be a victim of the vicarious thrill to be derived from his discomfort and eventual downfall. Rodgers, brittle under pressure, allowed himself to set the agenda by suggesting the Italy striker has two months to prove himself. Things unravel fast in football, and there is never a shortage of rubber-neckers at the funeral.
Lambert :
"Whatever way he [Brendan Rodgers] wants to play whether it's one or two up front we have to give our best. "Mario done superb first half and in the second he held the ball up well but it's hard being the lone striker. "When we were both on the pitch we managed to cause a few problems and create a few chances but it's whatever the gaffer wants to do and what is best for the team. "I know how hard that position is when you play 4-3-3 and you're the lone striker. "There are some different attributes that are asked of you but I thought today he held the ball up and made runs and was unlucky with a couple of chances. "I want to be on there with him and I want to play."
"Whatever way he [Brendan Rodgers] wants to play whether it's one or two up front we have to give our best. "Mario done superb first half and in the second he held the ball up well but it's hard being the lone striker. "When we were both on the pitch we managed to cause a few problems and create a few chances but it's whatever the gaffer wants to do and what is best for the team. "I know how hard that position is when you play 4-3-3 and you're the lone striker. "There are some different attributes that are asked of you but I thought today he held the ball up and made runs and was unlucky with a couple of chances. "I want to be on there with him and I want to play."
Lambert + Mario has the makings of a potent strike force. Weird but true.
I agree. Heskeys 'problem' was his price tag - i think he was our most expensive signing at the time at £11m. So he always had this reputation to live up to hence the lingering sense of disappointment with him. He wasn't as good as he should have been for our most expensive signing but what we paid wasn't his fault.
Whilst I definitely believe Lambert will improve with a run of games, & Mario is getting better & better every match, despite having to play quite differently to where he normally does (he often looks a bit lost after he's tracked back, which he does a lot more than he's credited with) there's no way I'd describe them as a potent strike force.
I think ballotelli & sturridge will scare the crap out of teams when they have a run together though.
Read it again carefully word by word.
You know it makes sense.
Clue : They both can't get anymore worse.
For the past quarter of a century I've worked, first in paid employment and now voluntarily in retirement, with kids whose early lives are as difficult as Balotelli's was and who haven't had anything even close to the advantages he's had since. Yes, it scars you. Yes, it's the dickens of a job trying to grow out of all that and put it behind you. Yes, the majority of us can be very thankful indeed that we haven't had to go through the same kinds of things and deal with their ongoing echoes in our lives.
But.
But it is not acceptable for adults, especially those who have had as much help as Balotelli since his poor start in life, to go on indefinitely hiding behind their early backgrounds and using them as an excuse to stay stuck in their immaturity. Hard as it may be, they ultimately have to accept responsibility for themselves and make their own efforts to change and grow up. Balotelli has had a ton of help and understanding and it's well past time he made good use of it. To the extent that the media are making that point, in however shallow a fashion, IMO they're right. The regrettable fact that all this is sucking the club I love into undeservedly negative coverage doesn't change that.
But.
But it is not acceptable for adults, especially those who have had as much help as Balotelli since his poor start in life, to go on indefinitely hiding behind their early backgrounds and using them as an excuse to stay stuck in their immaturity. Hard as it may be, they ultimately have to accept responsibility for themselves and make their own efforts to change and grow up. Balotelli has had a ton of help and understanding and it's well past time he made good use of it. To the extent that the media are making that point, in however shallow a fashion, IMO they're right. The regrettable fact that all this is sucking the club I love into undeservedly negative coverage doesn't change that.
Plenty of sense in that post, m'lud. The one silver lining to the media cloud that surrounds Balotelli is that it takes plenty of negative attention away from the poor performances of the team and certain individuals, not to mention the manager. If they weren't writing about him, they'd no doubt be rolling around like pigs in shit, spewing out articles about how we've fallen from grace, how Gerrard is finished, Rogers under pressure etc etc ad nauseum.
It surely had to be that yesterday against Hull at home.
I'm truly baffled as to why it wasn't given the overwhelming evidence at Brandan's disposal that the alternatives are toothless.
Balotelli didn't have a bad game, apart from missing a couple of chances you would have hoped he would score. However, I have seen Kenny Dalgleish miss plenty of easy chances.
I think the amount of post-match attention that is being devoted to this one player is not constructive.
I think the amount of post-match attention that is being devoted to this one player is not constructive.
All the attention and criticism is just momentum from the previous outings.
Not particularly (though he did well yesterday IMO), but (a) that's partly because he's a fish out of water when played at DM and (b), whatever the quality or absence of it in his individual performances, he never ever lacks for effort and commitment.
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