Liverpool FC Forum

Mario has been sent home with groin and hamstring injury sustained whilst training with the national team 

Good

Uknow what might be a good thing. Rodgers will have to play either borini and lambert with sturridge now. its so frustrating watching the same formation for the past month i wona see what rodgers does now. he has till christmas for me to prove to us and fsg he can turn it round. theres no way there gona give him more money in january unless he proves to them about his tactics.

RED BEERGOGGLES » Sat Nov 15, 2014 2:43 pm wrote:Mario has been sent home with groin and hamstring injury sustained whilst training with the national team 

Apparently not too serious from what I read...
I'm sure he'll be back terrorising opposition defenders with his next hairstyle soon...

The lad's a problem isn't he - can anyone remember another top player who has his playing characteristics and what his club did with him?
I can't think of anyone, Mario is unique I think and Brendan has no real idea how to use him.

Play to his strengths, 4-4-2 with players in the correct positions, wide, allow him to play centrally, give the ball to him in the middle of the centre circle and allow him to use his awareness and strength to hold the ball up, occasionally turn and play the ball wide. Once the ball goes ahead of him, he can come onto the play from behind the ball and see the game infront of him... and be in a position where he's facing the opposition goal in their own half, where he's always been good quality with good intelligence and technique. The lad has his qualities and is in no doubt a very good footballer, he can set attacks up patiently with intelligent play and he can see a ball too. He's not however a speed of thought player, he's better with time and space, so give him that time and space to play into.

The lad doesn't have the movement, unselfish movement, work rate, aggression, intensity, fight and speed of thought to play the lone striker role, he doesn't have the instinct and ability to create space for others by running in behind either.

At the moment, we're asking him to work hard, run in behind, be unselfish, use quick thinking to set up attacks and get on the end of chances like a Robbie Fowler... not one of those attributes are his strong points... so why are we asking him to do it?

With Suarez we had a formula 1 car crossed with an Audi S8... now, we have a lovely Mercedes Benz S class... nowhere near as good, but still f*cking quality used in the right way... but we're driving them the same and wondering why the S Class is ***** is comparrison... 

Mario Balotelli: "It is really nice from Liverpool fans. When I start to score again, 80% will be because of them."

Stu - Balotelli's record for scoring goals in the Premiership is extremely poor. Take a look at what he did for City if you need confirmation of that. We took a chance on a player who scored a lot of goals in a league that is very different from the premiership. The quality of Serie A apart from 3 or 4 teams is decidedly poor by comparison. I accept that he has been hung out to dry but even playing 4-4-2 wouldn't necessarily get the results that you are suggesting. Lambert and Balotelli are square pegs in round holes. As for Borini who I have actually tried to defend well I don't think he is even a peg !!     

woof woof ! » Sat Aug 23, 2014 8:50 am wrote:

lakes10 » Sat Aug 23, 2014 8:57 am wrote:I don't get you lot sometimes....is he not what we have been looking for...a top striker.
this is a great move.

We all bang on about his "ability" and I fear some of us may be getting a tad carried away.

"A Top Striker", is he really ? if that means one who sticks the ball in the net more often than most then we should perhaps have a look at some sobering stats from Liverpool Echo online.

Moments of brilliance continue to be counterbalanced by issues of temperament and discipline. He has never scored more than 14 league goals in a season. His record at Milan - 30 in 54 games - is impressive but break it down and you'll discover that of the 26 that came in Serie A, less than half (12) came from open play. The rest were penalties (9) and free kicks (5). Only a couple were against teams in Italy's top four as well.

A talented footballer without doubt but top striker    All I can say is hopefully he becomes one but right now 12 goals (from open play) in 54 games is hardly the work of a top striker. In the 2013/14 prem season at least ten players exceeded Balotellis' score whilst playing fewer games and they include the likes of Loic Remy, Wilfred Bony and Jay Rodriguez, Even 4 million pound man Rickie Lambert came close to matching Balotelli with 10 goals from open play.

Don't get me wrong, despite some reservations I won't be unhappy to see us sign the talent that is  Balotelli, but those who think Balotelli is a "top striker" who will start scoring week in week out may find themselves somewhat disappointed.

Not like I want to tell you lot "I told you so" but back in August I did !     

Thought he was a talented footballer who would/could contribute something, (but probably not a bag full of goals).

I've since changed my opinion

HE'S A Fu*king SHOW PONY WHO WOULD HAVE BEEN RIGHT AT HOME PLAYING F'UCKING BASKETBALL FOR THE HARLEM GLOBETROTTERS ! SOONER WE GET RID THE BETTER !!!!

Some people were blaming Balotelli for all our woes though when our problems clearly ran deeper than just him.
The little triangle at the heart of our team where Gerrard sits just in front of Lovren and Skrtel is an Achilles heel that even the weakest sides in the division have found it easy to exploit.
The core of a good young side is there, we have the likes of Sturridge, Sterling, Coutinho, Ibe, Lallana, Markovic, Moreno, Ilorri, Origi, Henderson, Manquillo, Can and also the likes of Suso, Wisdom, Rossiter and this Chirivella lad that Real Madrid wants to sign on our books.
Instead of blaming them Rodgers needs to start playing them. Those players seem taylor made for his blueprint but Rodgers can't see past the old guard. What have we got to lose?

Mario was Suarez replacement which is so laughable

I know we went for Sanchez and he turned us down but to change from the hardest working player in the league to a lazy miserable tit is just ridiculous

Lambert scored his goal v palace because of his movement and his will to get infront of his man something mario has never shown

ycsatbjywtbiastkamb » Mon Nov 24, 2014 7:45 pm wrote:Some people were blaming Balotelli for all our woes though when our problems clearly ran deeper than just him.
The little triangle at the heart of our team where Gerrard sits just in front of Lovren and Skrtel is an Achilles heel that even the weakest sides in the division have found it easy to exploit.

The core of the problem isnt really one or two players. Its that we are trying to fit square pegs in round holes. Instead of building the system around the players we actually have available or buying players to fit the system, we bought players that dont fit the system and keep playing the same system. Gerrard has never had the qualities of a proper defensive midfielder so why do we try to play him as one?

ycsatbjywtbiastkamb » Mon Nov 24, 2014 8:45 pm wrote:Some people were blaming Balotelli for all our woes though when our problems clearly ran deeper than just him.
The little triangle at the heart of our team where Gerrard sits just in front of Lovren and Skrtel is an Achilles heel that even the weakest sides in the division have found it easy to exploit.
The core of a good young side is there, we have the likes of Sturridge, Sterling, Coutinho, Ibe, Lallana, Markovic, Moreno, Ilorri, Origi, Henderson, Manquillo, Can and also the likes of Suso, Wisdom, Rossiter and this Chirivella lad that Real Madrid wants to sign on our books.
Instead of blaming them Rodgers needs to start playing them. Those players seem taylor made for his blueprint but Rodgers can't see past the old guard. What have we got to lose?

There is only one person to blame yakka and It isn't gerrard. Our midfield is the problem and he only makes up part of it. We have no ball winners in that side and gerrard seems to be the only one who can win a tackle albeit not at full pace. coutinho can't, sterling can't, lallana definately cant, neither can sideshow joe or hendo. when your midfield cant win a tackle it puts more pressure on your defence. replacing gerrard isn't going to solve that problem and tbh the likes of ibe, markovic origi aren't going to boost us in that department either. There is hope for can but again he isn't going to do it on his own. His signings are littered with weaklings who are supposed to pass it around everything in order to avoid challenges and thats why every single midfield we come up against walks through us.

exactly my point full of garden gnome minnie midfielders  ticka tacka alla paella hes obsessed with the spanish way rodgers. This is the ENGLISH LEAGUE the toughest most physical league in the world.

red till i die!! » Tue Nov 25, 2014 12:59 am wrote:There is only one person to blame yakka and It isn't gerrard. Our midfield is the problem and he only makes up part of it. We have no ball winners in that side and gerrard seems to be the only one who can win a tackle albeit not at full pace. coutinho can't, sterling can't, lallana definately cant, neither can sideshow joe or hendo. when your midfield cant win a tackle it puts more pressure on your defence. replacing gerrard isn't going to solve that problem and tbh the likes of ibe, markovic origi aren't going to boost us in that department either. There is hope for can but again he isn't going to do it on his own. His signings are littered with weaklings who are supposed to pass it around everything in order to avoid challenges and thats why every single midfield we come up against walks through us.

The problem is  the manager and some fans still unfathomably view Gerrard as an intrinsic part of this Liverpool team ,and he's quite clearly not ,nor should he be ....How
a defensive midfielder can finish a game without  affording one solitary tackle or interception is frankly an entry worthy for the pages of ' Ripley's Believe it or not'

Every time I see the team line up inclusive of Gerrard I cringe with embarrassment over the inevitable outcome ,people need to wake up ! If Rodgers dropped Gerrard
we would see infinitely less of the equally hapless Johnson ,as the two are f*cking entwined in the mess we find ourselves in.