Mario Balotelli

[Beezer]

You must then be laying a portion of blame for Mario's less than succesful stay at Mancini's door?

If so,what should he have done different?

Not sure there is much more that could have been done other than forcing him to smoke a carton of cigarattes all at once after he was caught smoking.

I think he grew up a little from his time here. I guess we were like typical teachers, take all the abuse, but are enriched in the fact that we have helped mold a member of society.

 

[Stoned Rose]

Immaturity.He suffered it,try not to fall into the trap.

The word you were looking for is 'factual'.

Last season (City) 1 in 14
Last season (Milan) 12 in 13.

He simply couldn't be arsed. A similar goals to game ratio for us would've helped us tremendously in defending the title. We may even have gone on to retain it.

That in itself is reason enough to dislike him.

You must find yourself hating a lot of our strikers over the years.All strikers have lean periods for whatever reasons,it happens.I think the lad has the potential to be the best striker in world but it's all up to him and he has shown nothing but respect to City fans since he went,that in itself says a lot about him.Right player right club wrong time.It happens.

I cant think of a single City player I've 'hated' over the years. I used the word 'dislike'. That means I don't like him.

The fact you agree he is class with the potential to be the best in the world, but it doesn't nark you even slightly that he didn't show this anywhere near enough for us, I find impossible to understand.

Please enlighten me and tell me why it was 'the wrong time'? but now evidently through his much improved performances and attitude, just a few weeks/months later it's suddenly the right time?

Oh and him (or any other ex player) saying nice things about the club has absolutely no bearing whatsoever on what we're discussing.

 

[Stoned Rose]

It's not his lack of goals that frustrated me, it was his inability to impose his physicality on defenders often enough. Defenders should have been petrified of marking him, instead he spent far too much time on his arse rather than on his feet bullying them. I am factoring the lack of protection he got from refs into this equation btw.

I have very fond memories of his time with us and have no doubt he will become a truly great striker, but there's no reason he couldn't have done that in his time at City as he has all the ingredients.

City weren't suited to his best attributes so there is good reason why he didn't achieve what he threatens to but he did well here. I understand your frustration at spending too much time on his arse. It's fair comment but I certainly think defenders did fear him. Not his physicality but his pace and his ability to find space and lose his marker. Without him we've been far more predictable. Tevez gets dragged back into the midfield, we get compacted, the ball is slow to move up the pitch, and it has been so easy to park the bus and keep shape as a result. I never ever saw less than two defenders staying up the pitch when Mario played. They feared his threat, it gave us more space to work in and defences tended to get dragged out of shape more frequently. No-one fears Tevez's pace and ability to time runs. It's easier to defend against.

Sounds like a list of excuses to me bud. Blame the system, blame other players, it couldn't possibly be due the fact he really wasn't that interested in being here and very rarely shaped himself properly.

This is an absolute corker to - 'No-one fears Tevez's pace and ability to time runs'.

I wonder how many managers said in their pre-match training sessions and pre-match meetings over the years 'Dont worry about that Tevez one, he's shit at timing and making runs, we'll defend against him piss easy' ?

 

[Shadz69]

The word you were looking for is 'factual'.

Last season (City) 1 in 14
Last season (Milan) 12 in 13.

He simply couldn't be arsed. A similar goals to game ratio for us would've helped us tremendously in defending the title. We may even have gone on to retain it.

That in itself is reason enough to dislike him.

You must find yourself hating a lot of our strikers over the years.All strikers have lean periods for whatever reasons,it happens.I think the lad has the potential to be the best striker in world but it's all up to him and he has shown nothing but respect to City fans since he went,that in itself says a lot about him.Right player right club wrong time.It happens.

I cant think of a single City player I've 'hated' over the years. I used the word 'dislike'. That means I don't like him.

The fact you agree he is class with the potential to be the best in the world, but it doesn't nark you even slightly that he didn't show this anywhere near enough for us, I find impossible to understand.

Please enlighten me and tell me why it was 'the wrong time'? but now evidently through his much improved performances and attitude, just a few weeks/months later it's suddenly the right time?

He came to us very immature with a burden of expectation he could'nt handle properly.From talking Balon dor's to his treatment in Italy plus his personal life he has had a huge amount to deal with and has'nt always chosen the best path.Hopefully as he gets older he will learn how to combine all that makes him special and fulfill his potential.
That is why I think it was the wrong time.He is now where he wants to be,he is the main man for Milan and Italy and it suits him.No doubt he will fuck up many more times again in his career but at the same time I have no doubt he will conjure up many more moments of magic.

 

[Stoned Rose]

You must find yourself hating a lot of our strikers over the years.All strikers have lean periods for whatever reasons,it happens.I think the lad has the potential to be the best striker in world but it's all up to him and he has shown nothing but respect to City fans since he went,that in itself says a lot about him.Right player right club wrong time.It happens.

I cant think of a single City player I've 'hated' over the years. I used the word 'dislike'. That means I don't like him.

The fact you agree he is class with the potential to be the best in the world, but it doesn't nark you even slightly that he didn't show this anywhere near enough for us, I find impossible to understand.

Please enlighten me and tell me why it was 'the wrong time'? but now evidently through his much improved performances and attitude, just a few weeks/months later it's suddenly the right time?

He came to us very immature with a burden of expectation he could'nt handle properly.From talking Balon dor's to his treatment in Italy plus his personal life he has had a huge amount to deal with and has'nt always chosen the best path.Hopefully as he gets older he will learn how to combine all that makes him special and fulfill his potential.
That is why I think it was the wrong time.He is now where he wants to be,he is the main man for Milan and Italy and it suits him.No doubt he will fuck up many more times again in his career but at the same time I have no doubt he will conjure up many more moments of magic.

He is now where he wants to be

Exactly the point I am trying to make.

He didn't deliver (enough) here because he didn't really want to be here.

He is doing well at Milan because he wants to be there.

What I dislike is his inability / unwillingness to put that aside and at least put in proper shifts and proper performances for us when he was here.

 

[Shadz69]

I cant think of a single City player I've 'hated' over the years. I used the word 'dislike'. That means I don't like him.

The fact you agree he is class with the potential to be the best in the world, but it doesn't nark you even slightly that he didn't show this anywhere near enough for us, I find impossible to understand.

Please enlighten me and tell me why it was 'the wrong time'? but now evidently through his much improved performances and attitude, just a few weeks/months later it's suddenly the right time?

He came to us very immature with a burden of expectation he could'nt handle properly.From talking Balon dor's to his treatment in Italy plus his personal life he has had a huge amount to deal with and has'nt always chosen the best path.Hopefully as he gets older he will learn how to combine all that makes him special and fulfill his potential.
That is why I think it was the wrong time.He is now where he wants to be,he is the main man for Milan and Italy and it suits him.No doubt he will fuck up many more times again in his career but at the same time I have no doubt he will conjure up many more moments of magic.

He is now where he wants to be

Exactly the point I am trying to make.

He didn't deliver (enough) here because he didn't really want to be here.

He is doing well at Milan because he wants to be there.

What I dislike is his inability / unwillingness to put that aside and at least put in proper shifts and proper performances for us when he was here.

Because he was too immature.Players learn to do their job regardless as they get older and more experienced.He also had periods for us when he was brilliant and a good few individual moments of magic.In my book it's all good but you are entitled to your opinion.

 

[supercrystal7]

The word you were looking for is 'factual'.

Last season (City) 1 in 14
Last season (Milan) 12 in 13.

He simply couldn't be arsed. A similar goals to game ratio for us would've helped us tremendously in defending the title. We may even have gone on to retain it.

That in itself is reason enough to dislike him.

You must find yourself hating a lot of our strikers over the years.All strikers have lean periods for whatever reasons,it happens.I think the lad has the potential to be the best striker in world but it's all up to him and he has shown nothing but respect to City fans since he went,that in itself says a lot about him.Right player right club wrong time.It happens.

I cant think of a single City player I've 'hated' over the years. I used the word 'dislike'. That means I don't like him.

The fact you agree he is class with the potential to be the best in the world, but it doesn't nark you even slightly that he didn't show this anywhere near enough for us, I find impossible to understand.

Please enlighten me and tell me why it was 'the wrong time'? but now evidently through his much improved performances and attitude, just a few weeks/months later it's suddenly the right time?

Oh and him (or any other ex player) saying nice things about the club has absolutely no bearing whatsoever on what we're discussing.

From an outsider watching in, I think winning the league hurt City's development. It put a lot of pressure on Mancini. He could not lose games bleeding Balotelli, because it would cost him his job. Youngsters are never consistent.

I feel Balotelli was often made a scapegoat by the fans and Mancini to save his job. For instance the West Ham game away. Balotelli actually worked very hard and played well. Missed a sitter and then MOTD makes out he was poor.

If Mancini had started Balotelli virtually every game to turn him into a world class striker ahead of Tevez and Aguero, then he would have been fired and I think a lot of City fans would be calling for his head.

 

[Stoned Rose]

He came to us very immature with a burden of expectation he could'nt handle properly.From talking Balon dor's to his treatment in Italy plus his personal life he has had a huge amount to deal with and has'nt always chosen the best path.Hopefully as he gets older he will learn how to combine all that makes him special and fulfill his potential.
That is why I think it was the wrong time.He is now where he wants to be,he is the main man for Milan and Italy and it suits him.No doubt he will fuck up many more times again in his career but at the same time I have no doubt he will conjure up many more moments of magic.

He is now where he wants to be

Exactly the point I am trying to make.

He didn't deliver (enough) here because he didn't really want to be here.

He is doing well at Milan because he wants to be there.

What I dislike is his inability / unwillingness to put that aside and at least put in proper shifts and proper performances for us when he was here.

Because he was too immature.Players learn to do their job regardless as they get older and more experienced.He also had periods for us when he was brilliant and a good few individual moments of magic.In my book it's all good but you are entitled to your opinion.

Opinions are what it's all about mate :)

I still don't buy this immaturity thing.

Look at Nastasic - 19 and consistent / professional all season.

Look across the road at Jones & Rafael - nowhere near as talented as Mario, but both of them put a shift in and are consistent, and they are 21 and 22.

I agree he had a few moments of exceptional brilliance, but I don't recall any periods of brilliance.

 

[Skashion]

Sounds like a list of excuses to me bud. Blame the system, blame other players, it couldn't possibly be due the fact he really wasn't that interested in being here and very rarely shaped himself properly.

This is an absolute corker to - 'No-one fears Tevez's pace and ability to time runs'.

I wonder how many managers said in their pre-match training sessions and pre-match meetings over the years 'Dont worry about that Tevez one, he's shit at timing and making runs, we'll defend against him piss easy' ?

Comedy. It's me with the excuses is it? You're the one coming out with the simplistic lazy excuse of work-rate. That's all you've contributed. Any drunken pub lout can shout about effort. It's the kind of thing you hear talked about when England play in the World Cup and suddenly people who ignore football for four years become experts. So, when, in the 11/12 title-winning season - wherein Balotelli had the best goal ratio in our squad of a goal every 100 minutes, he must have cared a lot? That's what you analysis boils down to isn't it. It isn't that he's deployed poorly, or has a bad spell like all strikers, it's simply down to he cares a lot in the 11/12 season and not at all in the 12/13 season. Cheers for clearing that one up for us mastermind.

We were a lot easier to defend against last season than in our title winning season. That's an absolute fact. In the 11/12 season we scored 93 goals. In the 12/13 season we scored just 66; a 27 goal difference. Oh, let me guess, EVERY single player was lazier last season. Actually, I'm coming around to your point of view. It's so flexible. It's not in the least bit useful, but it's surely where you get your smug sense of infallibility. Right, now that's sorted, let's predict how lazy we'll be next year. Will we be un-lazy enough to win the title?

 

[nijinsky's fetlocks]

The lingering bitterness towards Balotelli is very strange. Did we make a financial loss on him? No. Did he lose us anything? No. Did he help us win anything? Absolutely. He was pivotal at key moments and in key games and boosted the profile of the club. Since he left he's praised the fans beyond anything I've ever seen, calling us the best in England, maybe the world. Whatever the warped reason for bitterness, it's time to let it go.

This is a good post.<br /><br />-- Sat Jun 22, 2013 10:37 am --<br /><br />

The lingering bitterness towards Balotelli is very strange. Did we make a financial loss on him? No. Did he lose us anything? No. Did he help us win anything? Absolutely. He was pivotal at key moments and in key games and boosted the profile of the club. Since he left he's praised the fans beyond anything I've ever seen, calling us the best in England, maybe the world. Whatever the warped reason for bitterness, it's time to let it go.

He's a puerile, arrogant, attention seeking prick who needs to grow up.

This isn't a good post.