Mario, time to say goodbye?

[Didsbury Dave]

Sometimes I think that when he's not played for a while, he's so frustrated that he's not played that he brings this extra aggression out onto the pitch when he does finally get on which is unnecessary.

I think that's a valid point. But I've seen players before able to turn that frustration into a match-winning moment of magic. Adam Johnson a couple of times recently, and who can forget Uve Rosler gesticulating to Alan Ball after equaliser in a derby at Maine Road?

So how do you channel that anger in the right way? I'm not a man who suffers greatly from the red mist, but I've known people who have. Am I right in thinking that to exercise any control over it you need to look at what they call Neuro Linguistic Programming?

Do we look at something like that for him? WE have specialists for every kind of physical injury. Why not send him to some real top dollar head doctors?

 

[Aphex]

I really can't buy into this agenda business

No matter what is said, how can football be corrupt? Sure the media have proved to be so.

I think if the ref could see an image of a player to decide a booking, it would stop all this tit for tat agenda business.

 

[Chris in London]

First, I would genuinely hate to lose what Mario brings us on the pitch. He is an exceptional talent. Even accepting that this comes at a price, IMO it is a price worth paying.

That has always been the case of course...the madness comes as part of the package. But the price is getting higher, not lower, and therein lies the rub. And Tolm makes an extrememly valid point...his reputation now has upped that price even further.

I agree entirely that it's a valid debate. I agree entirely Mario is a marked man I just disagree with the conclusion reached by some that we are better off getting rid.

With 4 fit and functining strikers, we would rotate them anyway. The problem is worse right now because of Tevez. But once we are up to full strength, we can look on Mario's inevitable suspensions as part of the rotation process...


;-)

 

[Juan King]

No way. We should back him.

 

[theperfect10]

Haven't read the whole thread, in fact I've only read the first and last pages but my two penneth;

1- His age. Whatever anyone says he can and will learn to deal with things. Imo, despite Sunday, this season has already been a huge improvement. He was sent off wrongly against Liverpool and may be suspended wrongly here too. I understand this is part of the problem but he has been only partly to blame for the games he has and will miss. If he improves as much next year as he has next he'll be well on the way to behaving more like a normal player.

2- His improvement on the field and his match winning ability. He has turned into a real important player for us to the point that when he doesn't start we are considered to be under strength. That's for a guy who is 21! I understand again that part of the problem is that he will miss too many games if always suspended but he is worth the risk, for now, based on what he has done on the pitch this season.

3- Mancini. The best thing about this is that Mancini as a player was as close to Balotelli as anyone has been over the past couple of decades. At the moment Mancini feels like the refs and the FA are against City and especially Balotelli but what would be best for everyone is if Mancini forgets all that and concentrates on looking after Mario. He more than anyone needs to get into the mind of the man because if he can't, no-one will. I would give it another season at least to see if Mancini can handle him even better than he already has.

4- The FA and refs. They cannot be allowed to dictate who we sign and sell. The comments by Poll absolutely disgusted me and confirmed all my fears about referee's. The FA are completely and utterly lacking in any kind of continuity and fairness. We should be creating a siege mentality against them and let them not that, whilst Balotelli is far from innocent, we will not allow there to be one rule for one and one for another. It is unacceptable that a club like ours would consider selling one of their best players because he isn't treated fairly. Would Fergie have sold Cantona?

This.

Balotelli's potential is too great to cast him aside. I want the future to unfold with Balotelli as a City player and I want him and the club to acheive great things.

Yes the pressure is immense at the moment, but we shouldn't let others influence our future, which by the way looks pretty damn good.

 

[lee-mcfc]

Leave it out mate - you clearly haven't understood the thread. He asks a valid question - is Mario's reputation making his position at the club untenable?

I have understood the question and i have disagreed and so have a lot of other posters in this thread,isn't that what a forum is all about?
but because its "tolmie's hairdoo" he's obviously always correct i suppose...

That's right, cite and hide behind other posters, safety in numbers and all that, that's what cowards and bullies tend to do.

You have not offered an opinion, you simply said you disagreed, without qualifying it, as others have also not done.

No need to make me out to be no more than another blue poster, trying to spark a relevant debate and being interested in other people's opinions.

So it's okay to defend one of our players, yet feel the need to tar a fellow blue?

Question for you - do you think the owners and Mancini will be happy about this latest situation?

bullying by saying your one of the "respected posters" on here? Erm ok..

and obviously no he and the owners wont be happy about this as balotelli looked like he was turning a corner and starting to get his head down but the last thing mancini would do is get rid.

 

[Anonymous]

Is there then a challenge there for squad rotation?
Is there a liability if he is being rotated?

Personally I think Mancini should bollock him before he takes the field. Remind him to not lose his shit the first time he feels he's been wronged by the ref!

 

[Anonymous]

Anyone care to hazard a guess at how many games he's missed due to injury or suspension since he joined...?

For me that's what this is going to boil down to. Mario is what he is - there's little chance of him having some life changing epiphany and change his attitude. The club need to decide if the pros outweigh the cons. ie. can we keep him fit suspension free for long enough to make a big impact on a season.

Right now it's difficult to for me to call. I love him as a player and agree he has the potential to be the best. But I also think he did stamp on Parker, and regardless of whether he meant to do it or not, to every neutral football observer on the planet bar one or two, it looked for all the world like it was deliberate. He's let Mancini down massively, and as much as he has the backing of nearly every Blue around (me included) he has let us down as well.

Personally I don't think he'll get sold this summer simply because nobody in Italy can afford his transfer fee never mind his wages. However, with Carlos on his way out, and Dzeko being nothing but consistently inconsistent - we need another forward player this summer. Without question...

Just to pick up on one point, in the form of a question:

Are you still the same type of person you were at 21 (apologies Billy as I assume you are more my age than a young 'un!)?

If you aren't, is it because you had an epiphany or did you just 'naturally' grow up?

 

[RodneysMarsh]

Question for you - do you think the owners and Mancini will be happy about this latest situation?

What worries me is given how well connected you are, you are just trying to position the idea that Mario will be moved on. I hope not.

City will succeed with or without Mario; but I hope he will stay and reading this thread, so do the majority.

 

[tolmie's hairdoo]

First, I would genuinely hate to lose what Mario brings us on the pitch. He is an exceptional talent. Even accepting that this comes at a price, IMO it is a price worth paying.

That has always been the case of course...the madness comes as part of the package. But the price is getting higher, not lower, and therein lies the rub. And Tolm makes an extrememly valid point...his reputation now has upped that price even further.

I agree entirely that it's a valid debate. I agree entirely Mario is a marked man I just disagree with the conclusion reached by some that we are better off getting rid.

With 4 fit and functining strikers, we would rotate them anyway. The problem is worse right now because of Tevez. But once we are up to full strength, we can look on Mario's inevitable suspensions as part of the rotation process...


;-)

The thread was playing Devils' Advocate, nothing more.

Personally, I love Mario to bits, I don't see or speak to a blue who doesn't.

Now taking that out of the equation, forget the press aspect, also.

Mario IS a marked man and will continue to be so until he leaves English football.

Call it corrupt, calling agenda, whatever you want.

He is a convenient scapegoat for opposition fans when we play away from home, a leverage every time he attempts a physical challenge.

The Parker incident will ramp this up x10. Mario can act like a saint, but in the eyes of officials, they will continually have the instinct to act first, ask questions later.

They are covered either way by the rules and retrospective action.

Doesn't help us if we are down to ten men at Old Trafford and the ref decides two days later he got it wrong.

 

[Berkovic_blue]

wtf is this thread about, basically an over reaction from one incident that has happened, if the stamp hadnt have happened this thread wouldnt exist, get behind the player, hes young and is brilliant

For me it's the about the fact that other players get away with far, far worse every weekend but usually go unpunished. I'm talking about the hilariously soft bookings here, not just last weekend

Mario is deliberately targetted by referees to the extent that the softest of fouls get him a yellow card. Go back and look at his bookings, most of them are ridiculous and nearly any other player would get away with it.

Graeme Poll has even said this is how referees work, they book players dependent on their reputation not the offence. Mario will NEVER get a fair deal in this country, in large part because the media have exaggerated him into some kind of pantomime villain.

 

[Didsbury Dave]

Is there then a challenge there for squad rotation?
Is there a liability if he is being rotated?

Personally I think Mancini should bollock him before he takes the field. Remind him to not lose his shit the first time he feels he's been wronged by the ref!

I heard he did this before. I heard before the cup final (or it might have been the semi) Mancini said to him "You play. But if I see you start to lose your cool, even if the game is 15 minutes old, I will substitute you immediately" I thought that was good management from Mancini.

But a longer term solution is needed, he shouldn't have to do this every game. This is the message my NLP Specialist, from above, would nail into his brain.

 

[beast]

Anyone care to hazard a guess at how many games he's missed due to injury or suspension since he joined...?

For me that's what this is going to boil down to. Mario is what he is - there's little chance of him having some life changing epiphany and change his attitude. The club need to decide if the pros outweigh the cons. ie. can we keep him fit suspension free for long enough to make a big impact on a season.

Right now it's difficult to for me to call. I love him as a player and agree he has the potential to be the best. But I also think he did stamp on Parker, and regardless of whether he meant to do it or not, to every neutral football observer on the planet bar one or two, it looked for all the world like it was deliberate. He's let Mancini down massively, and as much as he has the backing of nearly every Blue around (me included) he has let us down as well.

Personally I don't think he'll get sold this summer simply because nobody in Italy can afford his transfer fee never mind his wages. However, with Carlos on his way out, and Dzeko being nothing but consistently inconsistent - we need another forward player this summer. Without question...

Just to pick up on one point, in the form of a question:

Are you still the same type of person you were at 21 (apologies Billy as I assume you are more my age than a young 'un!)?

If you aren't, is it because you had an epiphany or did you just 'naturally' grow up?

This all day long.

21 you are still a boy in a mans body.

31 things seem so different

 

[halfcenturyup]

Sometimes I think that when he's not played for a while, he's so frustrated that he's not played that he brings this extra aggression out onto the pitch when he does finally get on which is unnecessary.

I think that's a valid point. But I've seen players before able to turn that frustration into a match-winning moment of magic. Adam Johnson a couple of times recently, and who can forget Uve Rosler gesticulating to Alan Ball after equaliser in a derby at Maine Road?

So how do you channel that anger in the right way? I'm not a man who suffers greatly from the red mist, but I've known people who have. Am I right in thinking that to exercise any control over it you need to look at what they call Neuro Linguistic Programming?

Do we look at something like that for him? WE have specialists for every kind of physical injury. Why not send him to some real top dollar head doctors?

Now this is a much more interesting question (without the psycho babble) than the OP. How do we get the best out of him, without the histrionics? I am pretty sure that question would get a more sympathetic reception on a City supporter forum.

 

[Didsbury Dave]

Generally a person who can't control their temper at 11 can't control it at 21 and can't control it at 31.

But there are ways to help this problem.

 

[Happy Feet]

rooney - sleeps with prostitutes - last time i looked a criminal offence
- cheats on his wife with said hookers - morally indefensible
- time and time again gets away with violent conduct - yet the FA back him and refs do nothing
- constantly swears at ref's and linesman thoughtout the game - no punishment

Redknapp - on charges of tax evation!


cantona - assaults a fan (a criminal offence) does his time and now is seen as an all time hero to utd fans and the media

de canio - nazi salutes
- pushes a referee over in the prem

and these are just he ones off the top of my head......yet all of them fondly looked upon by those bastians of morality our british press (yes the same press who are known for tapping phones and getting info out of small children in relation to the milley (dowler?) case........

and people are listening to these sorts of people??!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

Unfucking believeable!!!!!!!!!

You forgot to mention Shearers kick in the head on Lennon, but England captain and all that

 

[pepsi_dave]

I'm a Man City Fan and Supporter, I fanatically support m,y team warts and all, and he's part of that team, granted he may act like a twunt at times, but until the day he leaves he will always get my support.

Simples

 

[SWP's back]

Is there then a challenge there for squad rotation?
Is there a liability if he is being rotated?

Personally I think Mancini should bollock him before he takes the field. Remind him to not lose his shit the first time he feels he's been wronged by the ref!

Haven't we seen (on the whole) an improvement in that respect that Balotelli doesn't always throw a wobbler at the ref when something isn't given this season in contrast to last season?

 

[tolmie's hairdoo]

Question for you - do you think the owners and Mancini will be happy about this latest situation?

What worries me is given how well connected you are, you are just trying to position the idea that Mario will be moved on. I hope not.

City will succeed with or without Mario; but I hope he will stay and reading this thread, so do the majority.

Nothing need be read into it, bud. Seriously, it's just another blue asking a question.

I have the courage of my convictions to stand by my argument. At what point does either Mario or City think they can't win?

His agent has spouted today about the attitudes in England, I certainly think it perhaps gives more of an insight as to an ongoing mindset?

 

[Anonymous]

Just to pick up on one point, in the form of a question:

Are you still the same type of person you were at 21 (apologies Billy as I assume you are more my age than a young 'un!)?

If you aren't, is it because you had an epiphany or did you just 'naturally' grow up?

Good question mate.... I guess I was a little like Mario at his age.... hot headed, arrogant, and felt that because I was 'successful' my shit didn't stink. It took me a long time to grow up and lose a lot of those traits. However the one thing I will say is that I was never derelict in my professional duties. I never cost anyone I worked for money, time, or caused them undue problems due to my attitude.

The reason I used the term "epiphany" is because Mario needs a reality check. He couldn't get in the team at the start of the season due to his shitty training attitude and his performance against the LA Galaxy. He fought his way back to the number 1 striker's spot. And now he's just pissed all over it all over again. I'm convinced he'll have an epiphany when it comes to his responsibilities on the field.