Liverpool FC Forum

[ycsatbjywtbiastkamb]

just a question will new manager  Antonio conte  of italy continue to leave mario out of the italian squad. The reason  simone zaza who for a while ive thought that kid if given a run of games could be a great striker. i know juventus had to sell him for financial reasons but does anyone think keeping mario out the italy squad could work in our favour as i know he loves being part of the national team. So he may have to try harder to get back in the national team.

I'm sure I heard on Sky sports news that Balotelli was suspended, I'm almost certain that was the reason why he was left out of the Italian squad.

[ballotelliman]

just a question will new manager  Antonio conte  of italy continue to leave mario out of the italian squad. The reason  simone zaza who for a while ive thought that kid if given a run of games could be a great striker. i know juventus had to sell him for financial reasons but does anyone think keeping mario out the italy squad could work in our favour as i know he loves being part of the national team. So he may have to try harder to get back in the national team.

I'm sure I heard on Sky sports news that Balotelli was suspended, I'm almost certain that was the reason why he was left out of the Italian squad.

i know mate nut conte after norway game saying balotelli much show hunger. Which may be good for us indirectly.

[Stu the Red]

While I understand the thinking in this transfer I can't say I believe it to be a good one. He's just not a Liverpool player, he's very static and his attitude on the pitch is that of a wuss and a baby. He could well be a £35,000,000 player if he books his idea's up, will he though?

Doubt it.

[ycsatbjywtbiastkamb]

While I understand the thinking in this transfer I can't say I believe it to be a good one. He's just not a Liverpool player, he's very static and his attitude on the pitch is that of a wuss and a baby. He could well be a £35,000,000 player if he books his idea's up, will he though?

Doubt it.

I thought he was the one player in our team tonight who's touch was there, the ball was ricochetting off shins and bouncing away from everyone else, even Coutinho.

[Doeboy]

Big problem for Balotelli is that he has a tough act to follow after what Suarez did for us. He is the polar opposite in terms of what Suarez used to do in terms of closing down, chasing and working his socks off. With us so used to seeing Suarez do that, it is going to be be difficult to accept someone who is the complete opposite. Not Balotelli's fault as he is not the type of player but it can be misconstrued for lack of effort, especially when they guy before was covering every blade of grass

[Stu the Red]

Big problem for Balotelli is that he has a tough act to follow after what Suarez did for us. He is the polar opposite in terms of what Suarez used to do in terms of closing down, chasing and working his socks off. With us so used to seeing Suarez do that, it is going to be be difficult to accept someone who is the complete opposite. Not Balotelli's fault as he is not the type of player but it can be misconstrued for lack of effort, especially when they guy before was covering every blade of grass

We've replaced the best player we've ever had, with one who can only be arsed sometimes.

Good business.

[ycsatbjywtbiastkamb]

Big problem for Balotelli is that he has a tough act to follow after what Suarez did for us. He is the polar opposite in terms of what Suarez used to do in terms of closing down, chasing and working his socks off. With us so used to seeing Suarez do that, it is going to be be difficult to accept someone who is the complete opposite. Not Balotelli's fault as he is not the type of player but it can be misconstrued for lack of effort, especially when they guy before was covering every blade of grass

We've replaced the best player we've ever had, with one who can only be arsed sometimes.

Good business.

We didn't even attempt to replace Luis on a like for like basis, we brought in the likes of Lovren, Lallana, Markovic, Moreno, Manquillo, Balotelli, Can and Lambert to fill that Suarez size hole in our team so quite why you are trying to lump all that on to Mario's shoulders I'm not sure.
And btw Suarez wanted out, he wanted out this summer, he wanted out last summer (to Arsenal ffs  ) and the only thing that kept him at the club the summer before that was the clubs support for him during the Evra affair.
According to reports in the press it now seems that even when he was scoring 4 against Norwich at Anfield he had one eye on the exit door, the reason he signed that new contract last Christmas was to get a cast iron buy out clause in place. I just think it's worth reminding people of all that before they start using Suarez as a bat to beat this current squad with. Once he signed that new contract keeping him wasn't an option so let's not even go there.

[Stu the Red]

We didn't even attempt to replace Luis on a like for like basis, we brought in the likes of Lovren, Lallana, Markovic, Moreno, Manquillo, Balotelli, Can and Lambert to fill that Suarez size hole in our team

Exactly my point.

The most similar player in style to Suarez is Tevez, surely the brightest thing to do would be to keep the same style, improve other areas too.

We could have got Begovic, we signed Lovren at the wrong time, we've still got Skrtel, Lucas, Borini and Johnson playing games in the first team, we've spent money on a full back who isn't better than the current left back...

I find our dealings to be confusing, weird, inept and absolutely infuriating if I'm being honest.

We've let go Agger and Reina who were two of our best players because of the wages they were on, what a f*cking ridiculous think to do. Yet we've still got the likes of Johnson, Lucas and Skrtel loitering around the squad. We've got a very average premier league keeper, we've sold our best defender and replaced him with one similar, why not keep Agger and play him next to Lovren, maybe then we'd have improved the defence. Play our best left back too in Enrique. The whole thing is a mess, Rodgers is to blame and we got away with it last year down to one player being that good. This year is where it all comes unstuck.

As for Ballotelli, he's a quality player. No question, he's got tremendous ability, is he the right player for LFC? As I said earlier, I doubt it.

[Santa]

We didn't even attempt to replace Luis on a like for like basis, we brought in the likes of Lovren, Lallana, Markovic, Moreno, Manquillo, Balotelli, Can and Lambert to fill that Suarez size hole in our team

Exactly my point.

The most similar player in style to Suarez is Tevez, surely the brightest thing to do would be to keep the same style, improve other areas too.

We could have got Begovic, we signed Lovren at the wrong time, we've still got Skrtel, Lucas, Borini and Johnson playing games in the first team, we've spent money on a full back who isn't better than the current left back...

I find our dealings to be confusing, weird, inept and absolutely infuriating if I'm being honest.

We've let go Agger and Reina who were two of our best players because of the wages they were on, what a f*cking ridiculous think to do. Yet we've still got the likes of Johnson, Lucas and Skrtel loitering around the squad. We've got a very average premier league keeper, we've sold our best defender and replaced him with one similar, why not keep Agger and play him next to Lovren, maybe then we'd have improved the defence. Play our best left back too in Enrique. The whole thing is a mess, Rodgers is to blame and we got away with it last year down to one player being that good. This year is where it all comes unstuck.

As for Ballotelli, he's a quality player. No question, he's got tremendous ability, is he the right player for LFC? As I said earlier, I doubt it.

Agree with Lovren + Agger partnership...two defenders with some game intelligence. I love Reina but maybe it's time to let him go. Could be a clash of ego thingy but we have missed our opportunity with Berkovic now that he's in every top club's radar screen, and won't come cheap.

Should have got rid of the likes of Lucas, Borini and Johnson at all cost...a terrible waste of space.

My biggest concern is have we got adequate replacement for Gerrard, and should we start looking at dropping him from half the games we play? Seems that he is the first name in the team sheet and that's very worrying...we need every players to contribute and Gerrard's effect on the game is not like a year or two ago and he's a luxury we could not afford.

This season is the true test for Brendan and I have every confidence in him. But after yesterday's game, I can no longer be sure...in fact he could really struggle to keep us up among the top 4 now...it's sad, and it's not just because of the loss but everything to do with his ego and tactical rigidness. Our players no longer wants to take on the opponents instead we passed our way to no where against a well organised defence, and I see many frustrating days for us coming soon 

[ycsatbjywtbiastkamb]

Brendan is not doing himself any favours by refusing to rotate Gerrard, it's starting to look like he's afraid of making genuinely big decisions.

[only me]

Brendan is not doing himself any favours by refusing to rotate Gerrard, it's starting to look like he's afraid of making genuinely big decisions.

Correct and actually yesterday he had a good "excuse" for allowing Gerrard to rest ,preparation for Tuesday...

[maguskwt]

So when Man City lost to Stoke the other week, has Pellegrini all of a sudden become a lousy manager and the city players not good enough for the premier league? Don't be ridiculous...

[ballotelliman]

Balotellii is totally differnt to Suarez he needs service crosses and balls over the top. Same as selgado for spurs his first season he wasnt getting the crosses in the box he kept having to come deep to get the ball.  Sterling should of played first half no dfoubt about it. Balotelli was isolated and they had nout to fear behind him. Not playing sterling was a mistake end of.

[ycsatbjywtbiastkamb]

So when Man City lost to Stoke the other week, has Pellegrini all of a sudden become a lousy manager and the city players not good enough for the premier league? Don't be ridiculous...

No one is saying that, we have a great manager and the best squad of players in terms of strength in depth that we've probably had in decades but something is not quite right at the moment.
We haven't played well in 3 of our opening 4 fixtures and quite frankly we are lucky to have 6 points on the board.
People are just saying Rodgers needs to shake things up a bit because what we are doing ATM isn't working.

[woof woof !]

Balotellii is totally differnt to Suarez

Yeah, one of them can RUN and the other apparently can't !