Mario, time to say goodbye?

[Pigeonho]

Good job Utd didnt stand by Cantonna, otherwise they would have gone on to dominate football for a decade.

You miss the wider aspect.

Cantona was a player with Manchester United, and the double-standards which that afforded then, and still does now.

Cantona was no showbiz celebrity out of football like Mario is, the focus of attention.

Cantona was also considerably older than Mario in terms of life experience.

The media is a different animal since then and whilst City are fighting their own battles to gain recognition and credibility, Balotelli is a convenient stick to beat with.

Sorry THD, but you make us sound so small time....Naples can cope, Manchester can't???....let's start by backing him in his hour of need.

Backing him for stamping on someone, resulting in us missing him for 4 games?

 

[M18CTID]

It's really sad this, i cant forget how well and maturely he led the line in the semi against the rags. We all know he has a lot of talent but truth be known if Webb had seen the incident we would probably have lost that game. We all have to accept that the Mario we see is the Mario in the future to, what i find sickening is that talk shite disgrace, i dont normally listen but after the game on Sunday the way they carried on you would have thought someone had been shot, how can clueless presenters influence decisions i really have to scratch my head at that. What to do? I honestly dont know, but hand on heart, if we went into the derby near the end of the season with a chance of winning the league, can we trust Mario to perform and behave like he did in the Semi

Not to mention how well and maturely he led the line in the final as well. Despite being on the wrong end of a blatant elbow by Robert Huth and despite having the back of his legs raked by the studs of another Stoke player just after we scored. I don't seem to recall him reacting to either of those incidents.

 

[bluemilkman]

were in the eye of the storm with him right now. If he returns and scores the goals that win us a trophy all will be forgiven.
For me he's worth the all the aggro that comes with him and he will repay our faith in him.

 

[york away to this!]

I love the cartoon that is mario.

our sales and marketing team must love the saga that is mario - no press is bad press.

he is a f*ckin' liability from time to time on the pitch and he has to learn to try and tame and channel some of his highly aggressive, inherent dick-headedness (if there is such a word!)

keep him or let him go for the greater good? - hmmmmm that's the bloody difficult question.

If the fat argie wasn't strolling around the beaches of south america we wiould not be in such a precarious position in terms of strikers, if yaya wasn't in africa we wouldnt have started to look so shakey, if vinny wasn't banned for what was a magnificent tackle, though for some reason "illegal" we would be stronger at the back..... this is why we have and need a deep squad. This is why mancini wants more and is getting a bit pissed off that he can't have more.

If we had four top quality and available strikers we could lose mario for a few weeks - with only three we cannot.

For me, we keep him - I love all the superstar "mario news" nonsense - but he needs to bloody well grow up and control himself on the pitch...

 

[Ja Salford Blue]

WOW!

Blue Moon has now hit a new all time low with this thread IMO!

 

[tolmie's hairdoo]

21 year old lad in petulance shocker

21 year old lad

21

Probably the most ridiculous thread I've ever had the misfortune to read on here

Seriously? Engage your brain.

It's a debate about the pros and cons, not how fucking old he is.

For the record, the flip side of the argument is that there are plenty of 21 year-old's who don't have a trigger switch.

Bury your head in the sand, but people are born a certain way. Mario can play 20 games on the trot and score 20 goals.

Means jack shit the next time he lets himself down. How about a Champions League Final or a derby?

 

[Aphex]

The media have tried this with players before - Anelka comes to mind

As he matured so did his game. Let it go you haters.

 

[mancunial]

do you not reallise this is what they want, whos next bobby manc his self, he is doing all their heads in, a 20 year old lad who is being hounded the biggest bunch of venomous cunts to ever grace the media, lets look at who as had something to say about this incident, right 1 redknapp spurs, 2 neville man united 3 souness liverpool 4 teddy sherringham spurs man united 5 wilkins man united 6 mabbut spurs 7 the list is endless all with biased opinions,what has city had to say nothing as yet, ok ban the boy but dont hound him out, ive never in my life watch and listened to a poisonous set of hypocritical shithouses on tv and radio ever. by the way if he does go when he comes back in a couple of years to say chelsea man united or such will we be saying why did we let him go. this is totally over top trial by media, about time city started to take these phone hacking twats to task.

 

[blink922]

WOW!

Blue Moon has now hit a new all time low with this thread IMO!

Even RAWK is still (mostly) behind turtle shit Carroll, who even without discipline problems is more a liability to have on the pitch than Balo. I despise the way they reacted to the Suarez situation, but at the very basic level, at least they're sticking behind their player unlike many posters on here regarding many of our boys.

Time to start a new thread: Aguero once "spit" at a player, AGUERO OUT!

 

[grunge]

Agreed, I'm sorry but you cannot trust the guy. He is a liability and unfortunately he will never rid himself of the stupid Self Destruct Button he has in his head.

I want him to do well and want him to realise his potential with us. Just cannot see it happening.

This is not a knocking thread, Matt.

Some of the best players ever had a self-destruct button.

However, in the current showbiz and social media times, Mario is the national whipping boy, justified at not on occasion.

A few weeks ago there was a massive press backing for Him, this week he's the whipping boy.

Im somewhere in the middle of changing from loathing his antics to loving them.

Should we swap him for someone else? I honestly dont know, But I can see what you are saying, he's going to get hounded as he's seen as an easy target by teams to get sent off. "Growing up" here will be very difficult in that environment.

 

[johnny crossan]

32 league appearances 15 goals, 48 appearances in total and 28 goals

We've barely said hello and look what he's achieved so far!

 

[RodneysMarsh]

You miss the wider aspect.

Cantona was a player with Manchester United, and the double-standards which that afforded then, and still does now.

Cantona was no showbiz celebrity out of football like Mario is, the focus of attention.

Cantona was also considerably older than Mario in terms of life experience.

The media is a different animal since then and whilst City are fighting their own battles to gain recognition and credibility, Balotelli is a convenient stick to beat with.

Sorry THD, but you make us sound so small time....Naples can cope, Manchester can't???....let's start by backing him in his hour of need.

Backing him for stamping on someone, resulting in us missing him for 4 games?

You're getting it.....

but I see it more like the City fans on this thread who see his positives, his talent as a footballer, the games he's won for us (including the Spurs game) and supporting a human being through a media vilification.

 

[Uwe's 80s mullet]

makes me laugh when people mention his age. such a shit argument. there are so many talented 21 year olds that dont act like him.

 

[AdamManCity]

Ridiculous, so we should give in to the media and get rid of a striker who has the potential to be the best, mario seems to have finally settled into life here and is doing the business on the pitch and will only get better both on and off the pitch with time. There isn't a striker in the world I'd have over him given his age(messi is not a striker). He won't be victimised forever and will be crucial to our success in the future if he stays, so rather than give in to the pressures of the media we should stand by him 100% and we'll reap the rewards in the future!

 

[malg]

You miss the wider aspect.

Cantona was a player with Manchester United, and the double-standards which that afforded then, and still does now.

Cantona was no showbiz celebrity out of football like Mario is, the focus of attention.

Cantona was also considerably older than Mario in terms of life experience.

The media is a different animal since then and whilst City are fighting their own battles to gain recognition and credibility, Balotelli is a convenient stick to beat with.

Sorry THD, but you make us sound so small time....Naples can cope, Manchester can't???....let's start by backing him in his hour of need.

Backing him for stamping on someone, resulting in us missing him for 4 games?[/quote]
Yes. I don't even consider it a stamp, it was more a kick-back. That is still wrong, but it's not like he was looking at Parker and stamped on his leg or chest...

 

[Aphex]

21 year old lad in petulance shocker

21 year old lad

21

Probably the most ridiculous thread I've ever had the misfortune to read on here

Seriously? Engage your brain.

It's a debate about the pros and cons, not how fucking old he is.

For the record, the flip side of the argument is that there are plenty of 21 year-old's who don't have a trigger switch.

Bury your head in the sand, but people are born a certain way. Mario can play 20 games on the trot and score 20 goals.

Means jack shit the next time he lets himself down. How about a Champions League Final or a derby?

Did Gerrard not look a liability when he was getting sent off left right and centre as a 21 year old?

I think you are the one that should 'engage your brain' and stop believing the propaganda aimed at him.

 

[Bluemanc1968]

You miss the wider aspect.

Cantona was a player with Manchester United, and the double-standards which that afforded then, and still does now.

Cantona was no showbiz celebrity out of football like Mario is, the focus of attention.

Cantona was also considerably older than Mario in terms of life experience.

The media is a different animal since then and whilst City are fighting their own battles to gain recognition and credibility, Balotelli is a convenient stick to beat with.

Sorry THD, but you make us sound so small time....Naples can cope, Manchester can't???....let's start by backing him in his hour of need.

Backing him for stamping on someone, resulting in us missing him for 4 games?

Fucking spot on!!! if we are going to open the kangaroo court then lets bring the lot out! fucking shrek has been doing shit like this for years and fuckall said!!!! same with Kean, what did that twat get for finishing Alfi's career?????? and then gloating about it in a fucking book!!

 

[Pigeonho]

Sorry THD, but you make us sound so small time....Naples can cope, Manchester can't???....let's start by backing him in his hour of need.

Backing him for stamping on someone, resulting in us missing him for 4 games?

You're getting it.....

but I see it more like the City fans on this thread who see his positives, his talent as a footballer, the games he's won for us (including the Spurs game) and supporting a human being through a media vilification.

If he'd not done it, there would be nothing for the media to report. It's not like they've invented something just to go for Mario is it? He's provided them with something to go for and as stated by others earlier, if this was Rooney having stamped on Silva's head, for example, there would have been an outcry immediately.

 

[johnny crossan]

Maybe we'll look back in May and realise that his Spurs penalty won us the league!

 

[mcfcphil]

Emphatic no. I want to be entertained at city and balotelli entertains. As a 29 year old and season ticket holder for 20 years I’ve watched utter, utter dross for most of my life – terrible players although they had great discipline. It was rubbish.
Give me Mario, for all his faults, any day of the week. I love watching him play football and that’s what it’s all about.
Think of the big games we’ve played – semi final against the scum when he was absolutely magnificent, away at the scum when he was absolutely magnificent. On Saturday (whatever you state to the contrary) he came on and won us the game.
On football ability alone – don’t sell him.
On entertainment factor alone – don’t sell him.
Just don’t sell him.