The Mario Balotelli "hype"

[BlueHammer85]

Brilliant from Pirlo that piece.

As for Ballotelli. I think he will really struggle this season.

 

[forevermancity]

Re: The Mario Balotelli "hype"

If he had the work-rate of Pablo Zabaleta, the professionalism of James Milner, and the never say die attitude of the Chilean miners, he'd still be one of the worst players to ever play for City. Passing, control, balance, co-ordination and vision - the things that comprise 90% of the game - he is a 1/10. He will fuck Liverpool up this season, mark my words.

Behave..vision is unreal, up there with pirlo and iniesta

 

[Dubai Blue]

I'm in full agreement that Balotelli is nowhere near world class. He can, on occasion, be very, very good. But his poor, ineffectual performances far outweigh the times when he actually makes a difference. He was absolutely shite last night. Hardly any movement, and only fleeting glimpses of interest in actually working hard to get on the ball. He strolls around like he can't be arsed and thinks he can just turn it on whenever he wants, but his track record shows that he can't.

His level of intensity is woeful and he's comfortably the most frustrating player I've seen at City because he has the ability, knows he has the ability, but can rarely be arsed to actually put it into action. He has this 'too cool for school' attitude, but he's 24 now; it's time to grow up.

There was a Balotelli vs Welbeck debate on here a few weeks back, and it's clear that Mario is light years ahead in terms of ability. But you know exactly what you're getting out of Welbeck every single game he plays. He'll give you consistent 6/10 performances, with the occasional 7/10 thrown in. Nothing spectacular, but the team can work around it if they know what to expect. Yes, Balotelli will give you the odd magical 9/10, but more often than not he's down in 3s and 4s. And that constant question of "Which Mario will turn up today?" can really damage a team's morale.

Try as they might to love him, the dippers will be sick of him by the end of the season. I guarantee it.

 

[Fame Monster]

If he had the work-rate of Pablo Zabaleta, the professionalism of James Milner, and the never say die attitude of the Chilean miners, he'd still be one of the worst players to ever play for City. Passing, control, balance, co-ordination and vision - the things that comprise 90% of the game - he is a 1/10. He will fuck Liverpool up this season, mark my words.

Behave..vision is unreal, up there with pirlo and iniesta

The collective football understanding on this forum is so fucking dreadful that I have completely lost the ability to sense sarcasm but forgive me if you were taking the piss.

He got 1 assist for a team that scored over 200 goals in his time here...in terms of vision, up there with Pirlo and Iniesta...I don't fucking think so. He should be the poster boy for specsavers.

 

[sgerlat]

I'm in full agreement that Balotelli is nowhere near world class. He can, on occasion, be very, very good. But his poor, ineffectual performances far outweigh the times when he actually makes a difference. He was absolutely shite last night. Hardly any movement, and only fleeting glimpses of interest in actually working hard to get on the ball. He strolls around like he can't be arsed and thinks he can just turn it on whenever he wants, but his track record shows that he can't.

His level of intensity is woeful and he's comfortably the most frustrating player I've seen at City because he has the ability, knows he has the ability, but can rarely be arsed to actually put it into action. He has this 'too cool for school' attitude, but he's 24 now; it's time to grow up.

There was a Balotelli vs Welbeck debate on here a few weeks back, and it's clear that Mario is light years ahead in terms of ability. But you know exactly what you're getting out of Welbeck every single game he plays. He'll give you consistent 6/10 performances, with the occasional 7/10 thrown in. Nothing spectacular, but the team can work around it if they know what to expect. Yes, Balotelli will give you the odd magical 9/10, but more often than not he's down in 3s and 4s. And that constant question of "Which Mario will turn up today?" can really damage a team's morale.

Try as they might to love him, the dippers will be sick of him by the end of the season. I guarantee it.

That's exactly what frustrates, not me in particular, but most of the people.

He's been provided of extremely rare physical and tecnhical tools by Mother Nature and he's fully aware of that, he really is, nonetheless, he's wasting them because he lacks work-ethic and still gets paid millions.

Is there anything more frustrating for ordinary people, who can barely make ends meet, than watching someone who's refusing to get better and still makes tons of money?

He could play with intensity if he wanted, the motor is there, but he doesn't want to, which is disheartening.

I feel the same way when I watch Monfils playing tennis. Have you ever watched him once? Same as Mario, he's a "freak" who lacks work ethic and doesn't know how to behave. Such a waste.

Regarding Pirlo's words, they are nice, especially the part when he gives him a big smile at Italy's training camp, I would too probably, Balotelli seems kind of funny, I could have a laugh or two.

Concerning racism, it is true that many supporters in Italy are racist, like in many other countries, I won't deny it, but that goes far beyond Balotelli, it's an hystorical issue. In addition, having political parties like Lega Nord, which want to create an indipendent state within Italy's borders, doesn't help. Salvini (one of their leaders) once said, if I recall correctly, "I won't watch and support Italy because of him", not specifically those words but this is what transpired from them and more in general "I won't support the NT if there are players with non Italian extraction". That's the point, they're stupid and they got many followers in the North and if those followers happen to watch Mario playing for the opponent team they'll buu him for sure because of their political's preferences and then probably beacuse he's black too, but that has nothing to do with Mario, he's just the most unpopular and sought-after of a numerous group.

However there are many other people too who can't stand him and make chants against him, not racist ones, just because he's been very disrespectful to them.

His ego is bigger than his talent and that doesn't get along with football, which is first and foremost abnegation and passion for your colours and supporters, that's the beauty of it. Against Barcellona (3-1 in the CL's semi), when he was 20, Inter's players were unbelievable, they were spitting blood all over the court, it was countagious and everyone attending the game could sense that, remarkable effort. Eto'o, someone who proved to be "quite good" in his career, played the fullback full-time, I mean SAMUEL freaking ETO'O playing the fullback! I applaude that, I applaude Tevez's passion every time I see him with Juve but they're not the only ones of course.

Balotelli was the discordant note as always. He entered that game in the last 15 minutes or so and walked around at leisurely pace until it ended and after getting whistled by fans because of his laziness he threw Inter's jersey on the ground, simply embarassing.

During the world cup he posted a pic on twitter with 23 Balotellis on an sticker album. Are you serious?

"Why always me?"

Because you're a dipstick, show some pride, no wonder people criticize you. This is what really pisses people off not the colour of your skin, which is only a partial reason, it's his attitude that has to change.

He likes playing the Calimero's role, the small and black chick, the babes in the wood, he likes being in the spotlight and be the VICTIM of "disgraceful" injustices plaguing the world, like racism. He deserved this treatment, he's been asking for it, as you sow so shall you reap.

He should just shut up and play, time to grow up kid!

P.s. He's a diver too.

 

[sir baconface]

His market value is £16m. Same as Welbeck. No room for argument there because that is what was recently paid.

You don't get world class strikers for £16m.

 

[goalmole]

Same old Mario

<a class="postlink" href="http://instagram.com/p/tazYLGrjxt/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://instagram.com/p/tazYLGrjxt/</a>

 

[BlueAnorak]

He will come good at Liverpool. Not the best in the world but pretty good all the same.

 

[Number10]

Re: The Mario Balotelli "hype"

Andrea Pirlo on Balotelli, fantastic stuff.

“I’m not sure he really appreciates it yet, but he’s a special kind of medicine, an antidote to the potentially lethal poison of the racists you find in Italian grounds. They’re a truly horrendous bunch, a herd of frustrated individuals who’ve taken the worst of history and made it their own. And they’re more than just a minority, despite what certain mealy-mouthed spin doctors would have you believe. Those guys would use a fire extinguisher to put out a match.

Whenever I see Mario at an Italy training camp, I’ll give him a big smile. It’s my way of letting him know that I’m right behind him and that he mustn’t give up. A gesture that means ‘thank you’. He’s often targeted and insulted by opposition fans. Let’s say that the way he goes about his business perhaps doesn’t help him get much love, but I’m still convinced that if he was white, people would leave him in peace.


‘Jump up high so Balotelli dies’ is an unspeakable chant that, sadly, I’ve heard at the Juventus Stadium amongst other places. Even worse are the monkey noises that I’ve listened to pretty much everywhere. But instead of depressing Mario, moronic behaviour of that kind actually seems to fire him up. He won’t let this human trash get their way, and it’s the most intelligent response because if you listen to what a stupid person says, you elevate them to the position of interlocutor. If you simply ignore them (still acknowledging that, unfortunately, they exist) you’re leaving them to stew in their own polluted sea: one where there are no friends and no shore. The good news is that even sharks can die of loneliness after a while. Prandelli has given us national team players some firm direction on the matter.



If you hear people in the stands disrespecting Mario, run over to him and hug him.” In that idea hate can be cancelled out by an equivalent dose of love. Not a fashionable choice, but a pretty forceful idea. ... I’m happy that Mario is the way he is. He’ll react (wrongly) to provocation on the pitch, but doesn’t let what’s going on in the crowd affect him. If he scores, he might put his finger to his lips to mock the opposition fans, something that really infuriates them, but if they tell him he’s got the wrong colour of skin he’ll simply laugh in their faces. He makes complete fools of them and emerges a convincing winner. The way I see it, he’s capable of becoming a symbol of the fight against racism, both in Italy and throughout the world.”

Great Pirlo quotes, thanks for sharing!

 

[jaiguruKun]

He's good at darts.