Mario Balotelli

[waspish]

That second goal by Balotelli is a rarity for city because nearly everyone we play park the bus! No space to run into!

 

[wahooblue]

Pure speculation on my part, but I get the feeling that the Arsenal game was a real critical moment in his career. Pretty much been a model citizen since then and last night's performance (forget the goals) was simply awesome. That said...still some work to do. Ripping the shirt off was senseless. He knew he was going to get a yellow for it and there was still more than a half to play against an amazing team. Never would have been subbed off if he wasn't on a yellow and he put his chance to play in the final at risk.

Still though, wow. If he comes back with the attitude he showed last night Aguero and Falcao (wishful thinking) will have a real fight on their hands for number 1 striker come October.

 

[City Raider]

Anybody who had any doubts about Marios commitment to City have only got to watch the QPR game..

He worked his socks off when he came on and the joy and emotion he showed when Kun scored the goal was there for all to see..

You're dead right, there is a moment when Aguero rises to his feet after the final goal celebration, and Mario cups Sergio's face in his hands and beams down at him.

That tells me everything I need to know about Mario.

he just doesn't do ordinary

he is only interested in extraordinary, he is only motivated by extraordinary

in his world a 38 game season is full of ordinary, with the odd game that peeks his interest, hence we only see flashes of brilliance from him

he's not interested in the slog of the league, the consistency needed week in week out is beyond his comprehension

for mario its better to be 10/10 3 or 4 times a season than 7/10 for all of it

as fans we can moan all we want, get as frustrated with him as we want, its water off a ducks back - he doesn't think the way most people do

asking mario to get up for wigan away is like asking someone who's headlined glastonbury to play down the pub

 

[Monkfish]

asking mario to get up for wigan away is like asking someone who's headlined glastonbury to play down the pub

which would be ok if he only took his 100k+ 3 times a year

 

[LoveCity]

Raiola said his phone was ringing constantly last night with interest in Mario, truth is we could probably get a huge fee for him right now if we wanted (which we don't). This is the only quote I don't like by Raiola: "But we have told them all that we want to stay for three or four seasons in the Premier League." - if they stand by that we could miss his peak years. Hopefully that 3-4 seasons doesn't include the two he's already completed!

 

[Pigeonho]

Raiola said his phone was ringing constantly last night with interest in Mario, truth is we could probably get a huge fee for him right now if we wanted (which we don't). This is the only quote I don't like by Raiola: "But we have told them all that we want to stay for three or four seasons in the Premier League." - if they stand by that we could miss his peak years. Hopefully that 3-4 seasons doesn't include the two he's already completed!

Where would he go though, or more importantly, who could afford him?

 

[City Raider]

asking mario to get up for wigan away is like asking someone who's headlined glastonbury to play down the pub

which would be ok if he only took his 100k+ 3 times a year

not making any judgments on him, he's an enigma - all the evidence says we can't rely on him over a season but when we really really need someone - more than likely it will be him steps up

 

[Anonymous]

Raiola said his phone was ringing constantly last night with interest in Mario, truth is we could probably get a huge fee for him right now if we wanted (which we don't). This is the only quote I don't like by Raiola: "But we have told them all that we want to stay for three or four seasons in the Premier League." - if they stand by that we could miss his peak years. Hopefully that 3-4 seasons doesn't include the two he's already completed!

He's full of shit and as he has rightly pointed out previously, nobody in Italy can afford him, and outside Italy he isn't going to Madrid or Barca because neither would put up with his antics.

The reality is that a player is only worth what someone is willing to pay for him, and there isn't a club on earth right now today who would be prepared to pay him more wages than we pay him, plus return us the money we paid for him.

In short, Mino needs to stick to eating pizza by the truckload and stop whoring out a player who is going nowhere until his contract runs out. At which point no doubt he'll walk to AC Milan on a free and never look back.

 

[Mancio]

Raiola said his phone was ringing constantly last night with interest in Mario, truth is we could probably get a huge fee for him right now if we wanted (which we don't). This is the only quote I don't like by Raiola: "But we have told them all that we want to stay for three or four seasons in the Premier League." - if they stand by that we could miss his peak years. Hopefully that 3-4 seasons doesn't include the two he's already completed!

thats raiolas way to ask for contract extension and wages improvement.

that's his classical way , the way he used for make of ibrahimovic the world best payed player

 

[franksinatra]

asking mario to get up for wigan away is like asking someone who's headlined glastonbury to play down the pub

which would be ok if he only took his 100k+ 3 times a year

not making any judgments on him, he's an enigma - all the evidence says we can't rely on him over a season but when we really really need someone - more than likely it will be him steps up

More likely Yaya or Aguero. Balo missed some glorious chances against United in the semi and a sitter against QPR. Regardless I think he can do it over the course of the season, if he adopts a different attitude and mentality.

And before I get slated thats not a criticism of Balo more confirmation that I think he can have an influence over the whole season.