Mario Balotelli

[r.soleofsalford]

I think Balotelli would have been happy to have stayed here had he been playing regularly up top but he was either being played in his weaker positions out wide or not at all during the 12/13 season. It was obvious Mancini had chosen Tevez ahead of him and Balotelli would be right to feel aggrieved about that. Tevez fucks off to Argentina for more than half the season, scores four goals, one against West Brom, three against Norwich, none of them crucial, and Balotelli, with thirteen goals at a rate of a goal every 100 minutes (the best in our squad that season) including two against the rags, one against Chelsea and one against Spurs after coming on as a sub at 2-2, and a title-winning assist, gets frozen out. Who can blame him for wanting to leave? I certainly don't. I'll never ever begrudge a player for wanting to leave so they can play more football. The only problem from our perspective was the shambles of how long the transfer took and that we didn't replace him - thus costing us the title. We may well not have won it anyway but the title race was dead in the water as soon as the window closed.

Or maybe Mancini had given up on Balotelli being one of our starting forwards after the fuck up against Arsenal? You could tell that season he had just about had enough of some of his shit, and Tevez provided some important assists ie against Chelsea. Tevez when played put in 100%, Mario unfortunately did not always do this. I'm not defending Tevez fucking off, but merely giving a reason for why Mancini chose Tevez ahead of him towards the end of the title winning season. With regards to last season, you are right, the transfer should have been concluded much before it was, and probably in the August and not the January.

 

[BlueTG]

Or maybe Mancini had given up on Balotelli being one of our starting forwards after the fuck up against Arsenal? You could tell that season he had just about had enough of some of his shit, and Tevez provided some important assists ie against Chelsea. Tevez when played put in 100%, Mario unfortunately did not always do this. I'm not defending Tevez fucking off, but merely giving a reason for why Mancini chose Tevez ahead of him towards the end of the title winning season. With regards to last season, you are right, the transfer should have been concluded much before it was, and probably in the August and not the January.

Arsenal fuck up? You mean getting sent off?

Unnessecarily, he's a forward and he was throwing in tackles like he was and having a sulk. Not to mention meaning we were a man down for a few games at a crucial point and we also went on to lose that game which almost saw us concede our title hopes.
Granted he bailed us out against Sunderland but this was a different game where we pinned some hope of our hope In him, you could see how pissed off the players had become with him in that game.

 

[Skashion]

Unnessecarily, he's a forward and he was throwing in tackles like he was and having a sulk. Not to mention meaning we were a man down for a few games at a crucial point and we also went on to lose that game which almost saw us concede our title hopes.
Granted he bailed us out against Sunderland but this was a different game where we pinned some hope of our hope In him, you could see how pissed off the players had become with him in that game.

Having a sulk? I saw someone fighting to get the ball back. Crucial point in the game? He was sent off on 88 minutes after they'd already scored. So basically what you're saying is that if Balotelli had been on the pitch for the final five minutes, he might have scored two goals? I'd say that's a very demanding burden. Not scoring in the previous 88 minutes is what nearly cost us the title. However, I never see anyone blame Aguero for not scoring in that match, just Mario. The blame always seems to fall on the easy scapegoat. I rarely see anyone blame Gareth Barry for that match either even though it was his error that led to their goal. Why always me? Damn right Mario. Anyway, I'm glad he's gone now. He can't be blamed for anything anymore. Mind you, there's always Kolarov, Dzeko, Nasri and Garcia. Got to have someone in our excellent squad to moan at.

Actually, just read that back and realised you didn't say crucial point in the game, but for a few games at a crucial point. My post which you originally contradicted was that Mario was most likely rightly aggrieved at losing his place to Tevez. Ok, Mario was missing for a few games as a result of a red card. Tevez was missing for half the season. So why is Mario getting sent off and being suspended, which happens in football, a worse offence than refusing to warm up and then missing half the season?

 

[BlueTG]

Unnessecarily, he's a forward and he was throwing in tackles like he was and having a sulk. Not to mention meaning we were a man down for a few games at a crucial point and we also went on to lose that game which almost saw us concede our title hopes.
Granted he bailed us out against Sunderland but this was a different game where we pinned some hope of our hope In him, you could see how pissed off the players had become with him in that game.

Having a sulk? I saw someone fighting to get the ball back. Crucial point in the game? He was sent off on 88 minutes after they'd already scored. So basically what you're saying is that if Balotelli had been on the pitch for the final five minutes, he might have scored two goals? I'd say that's a very demanding burden. Not scoring in the previous 88 minutes is what nearly cost us the title. However, I never see anyone blame Aguero for not scoring in that match, just Mario. The blame always seems to fall on the easy scapegoat. I rarely see anyone blame Gareth Barry for that match either even though it was his error that led to their goal. Why always me? Damn right Mario. Anyway, I'm glad he's gone now. He can't be blamed for anything anymore. Mind you, there's always Kolarov, Dzeko, Nasri and Garcia. Got to have someone in our excellent squad to moan at.

Actually, just read that back and realised you didn't say crucial point in the game, but for a few games at a crucial point. My post which you originally contradicted was that Mario was most likely rightly aggrieved at losing his place to Tevez. Ok, Mario was missing for a few games as a result of a red card. Tevez was missing for half the season. So why is Mario getting sent off and being suspended, which happens in football, a worse offence than refusing to warm up and then missing half the season?

We all went against the grain by accepting Tevez back, granted somehow it obviously paid off, but with Mario, I honestly think Arsenal was his last straw. He got himself silly suspensions, was always in the limelight for the wrong reasons. He did good things and was a good guy, but Mancini stuck his neck out for him too many times. He can look around at Tevez and think how is this **** starting for us, but he firstly had to look at his own antics to see why he probably found himself on the bench more often than he wanted.

 

[Deleted member 52846]

Arsenal fuck up? You mean getting sent off?

Unnessecarily, he's a forward and he was throwing in tackles like he was and having a sulk. Not to mention meaning we were a man down for a few games at a crucial point and we also went on to lose that game which almost saw us concede our title hopes.
Granted he bailed us out against Sunderland but this was a different game where we pinned some hope of our hope In him, you could see how pissed off the players had become with him in that game.

At half time in that game he was lying in the floor injured as the players were leaving the pitch and not one City player as they were walking past him asked or went to see if he was okay. A few didn't even look at him. When he was sent off Joe Hart was shouting "there's her boy, there's her fucking boy".

I didn't mind Balotelli too much but he was a waste of space as often as he was brilliant for us. He was given numerous chances to shine, sometimes he did, sometimes he was outstanding but he never ever followed that up with a second successive good game. I miss him a bit, I miss his song a lot more.

 

[BlueTG]

Arsenal fuck up? You mean getting sent off?

Unnessecarily, he's a forward and he was throwing in tackles like he was and having a sulk. Not to mention meaning we were a man down for a few games at a crucial point and we also went on to lose that game which almost saw us concede our title hopes.
Granted he bailed us out against Sunderland but this was a different game where we pinned some hope of our hope In him, you could see how pissed off the players had become with him in that game.

At half time in that game he was lying in the floor injured as the players were leaving the pitch and not one City player as they were walking past him asked or went to see if he was okay. A few didn't even look at him. When he was sent off Joe Hart was shouting "there's her boy, there's her fucking boy".

I didn't mind Balotelli too much but he was a waste of space as often as he was brilliant for us. He was given numerous chances to shine, sometimes he did, sometimes he was outstanding but he never ever followed that up with a second successive good game. I miss him a bit, I miss his song a lot more.

And the fact majority of our fans miss his songs and antics say's enough for me about how often he did it on the pitch.

The guy is good at heart no doubt and some of the stuff he get's up to is brilliant, some not so, but it just did not work out here for him.

 

[Skashion]

At half time in that game he was lying in the floor injured as the players were leaving the pitch and not one City player as they were walking past him asked or went to see if he was okay. A few didn't even look at him. When he was sent off Joe Hart was shouting "there's her boy, there's her fucking boy".

I didn't mind Balotelli too much but he was a waste of space as often as he was brilliant for us. He was given numerous chances to shine, sometimes he did, sometimes he was outstanding but he never ever followed that up with a second successive good game. I miss him a bit, I miss his song a lot more.

100 minutes per goal that season, best in our squad. Not bad for someone who wasn't consistent. Scored against the top clubs as well, which Tevez never has for us, apart from Chelsea. I'm not sure we'd have won either trophy without him.

 

[BlueTG]

At half time in that game he was lying in the floor injured as the players were leaving the pitch and not one City player as they were walking past him asked or went to see if he was okay. A few didn't even look at him. When he was sent off Joe Hart was shouting "there's her boy, there's her fucking boy".

I didn't mind Balotelli too much but he was a waste of space as often as he was brilliant for us. He was given numerous chances to shine, sometimes he did, sometimes he was outstanding but he never ever followed that up with a second successive good game. I miss him a bit, I miss his song a lot more.

100 minutes per goal that season, best in our squad. Not bad for someone who wasn't consistent. Scored against the top clubs as well, which Tevez never has for us, apart from Chelsea. I'm not sure we'd have won either trophy without him.

Tevez scored a few against United as well.
Balotelli for sure played his part, but again, the issue lied with his attitude and application of his talent. Sometimes he'd be great, sometimes poor. Mancini obviously felt he wasn't playing to the ability he could, hence Mancini saying that he needs to grow up, mature, put more effort in a lot.

EDIT, also yes it's a good rate, but sometimes looking past the stats at the actual going's on speaks louder than the stats. There was obviously more to it than just the statistics of goals, that's why we have discussions like this.

 

[yayas trusty right foot]

The media were against Mario from day one, so he had no chance..

A perfect example was the City v Spurs game, Jamie Redknapp convinced the world that he kicked Parker in the head on purpose when no one else involved in the game had seen anything unusual..

A few days later he was banned for a number of games...

You can bet your life if the same thing happened with Rooney no one would say a word.

 

[Hart of the Matter]

Would love to know if we included any buy back or sell on clauses when we sold to AC Millan ? I think 20m was a bargain for such a newsworthy talent.