Mario Balotelli

[s1ty m]

his sulky demeanor bothers me. he does not seem totally up for it, ala tevez. ability-wise, i have no idea what he has to offer us. we will all know in 10 games time whether he has what we need. be interesting to see him at home next week. he better show some real commitment, or there will be words.

[blue wine]

IMO he had a better game then tevez.

and the guy isnt 100% fit so keep the hope

[Beefymcfc]

IMO he had a better game then tevez.

and the guy isnt 100% fit so keep the hope

Why would Mancini play him the full 90 if he's not 100%, or do you mean match fit?

[bluej]

IMO he had a better game then tevez.

I thought he did too.

With re. to the type of challenges he was going down for, he got better at it during the game I thought, couple more games and he'll know what he is doing. Nice to see him give some back to some of the stoke players as well, had me laughing.

[blue wine]

IMO he had a better game then tevez.

and the guy isnt 100% fit so keep the hope

Why would Mancini play him the full 90 if he's not 100%, or do you mean match fit?

well i bet u didnt ask the same question when tevez wasnt 100% fit a few weeks ago or the start of the season did u?

[Beefymcfc]

IMO he had a better game then tevez.

and the guy isnt 100% fit so keep the hope

Why would Mancini play him the full 90 if he's not 100%, or do you mean match fit?

well i bet u didnt ask the same question when tevez wasnt 100% fit a few weeks ago or the start of the season did u?

Why you so defensive, I was just asking a question and a straight one at that?

To answer though, Carlos is a whole different ball game and obviously Mancini sees him as the heart of the team. And, when we have a similar player to Mario in the guise of Jo, who played well in the system last time, why would he play an unfit player? No hidden agenda here mate, just wondering what's wrong with him.

[Ted Hughes]

Tevez was all over the pitch, working his balls off linking with Silva, pushing the team forward like he always does. (Without his customary success as Stoke kept everyone behind the ball in their box when we attacked).

Balotelli WASN'T.

To even suggest that he was better than Tevez is bollocks of gargantuan size. He did a few nice touches, one decent shot, fell on his arse whenever touched & failed to get on the end of a superb cross which was begging to be scored. Jo was better v Fulham than Balotelli yesterday & it wasn't even close & that's coming from a fan of Balotelli.

Balotelli started on the right side moving sometimes centrally, one of Bob's unneccessary tactical shuffles which gave everyone yet another new formation to learn & unbalanced & weakened the team from the Fulham game. He was kicked a bit, dived a lot & produced almost nothing.

Later he was moved into Jo's Fulham position on the left & looked much happier did some good stuff, the team settled, he got kicked a bit & dived a lot. That worked pretty well & then he was moved into a more central striker position where he did ok got kicked a bit & dived a lot.

He's got fantastic talent, the world at his feet, always likely to nick a goal but was less value to the team v Stoke than any of our other strikers would have been. If he continues to cheat, I don't care how good he is, I don't want him. City are not a club for cheats & he either stops it or the fans won't take to him. Currently he is an embarrassment to the club & is attracting attention for all the wrong reasons & makes Jo look like Joe Jordan. He has all the talent & doesn't need to cheat.

[blue wine]

IMO he had a better game then tevez.

and the guy isnt 100% fit so keep the hope

Why would Mancini play him the full 90 if he's not 100%, or do you mean match fit?

well i bet u didnt ask the same question when tevez wasnt 100% fit a few weeks ago or the start of the season did u?

Why you so defensive, I was just asking a question and a straight one at that?

To answer though, Carlos is a whole different ball game and obviously Mancini sees him as the heart of the team. And, when we have a similar player to Mario in the guise of Jo, who played well in the system last time, why would he play an unfit player? No hidden agenda here mate, just wondering what's wrong with him.

sorry mate, didnt read ur post correctly..sry my bad.

i meant 100% match fit

[ayrshireblue]

Tevez was all over the pitch, working his balls off linking with Silva, pushing the team forward like he always does. (Without his customary success as Stoke kept everyone behind the ball in their box when we attacked).

Balotelli WASN'T.

To even suggest that he was better than Tevez is bollocks of gargantuan size. He did a few nice touches, one decent shot, fell on his arse whenever touched & failed to get on the end of a superb cross which was begging to be scored. Jo was better v Fulham than Balotelli yesterday & it wasn't even close & that's coming from a fan of Balotelli.

I'm not slating him but I thought Tevez had one of his worst games for us on Saturday. Poor passing, playing the wrong pass, not playing in a pass when he should have. Balotelli had a reasonable game but needs to learn that what's a foul in Italy isn't a foul here. I think he can take the rough stuff but is used to getting a foul when he gets a kick. At least he had the sense to grab the ball when he went down so that the ref had to stop play one way or another.

[Lees Alter Ego]

Balo really frustrated me on Saturday, for me he should of been subsituted around 60 mins as it clearly wasnt happening for him and nor was he putting the effort in imo. Some of his play acting was embarassing. The lad clearly has talent but I just can't see it working out for him here, really hope I am wrong but just have a bad feeling about this one. Prove me wrong Balo lad

[Beeks]

Balo really frustrated me on Saturday, for me he should of been subsituted around 60 mins as it clearly wasnt happening for him and nor was he putting the effort in imo. Some of his play acting was embarassing. The lad clearly has talent but I just can't see it working out for him here, really hope I am wrong but just have a bad feeling about this one. Prove me wrong Balo lad

Fucks sake...he's played how many games? 3 or 4? and scored how many? 3 or 4? and already the knives are out!

Like anyone he needs time to bed in...that coupled with the fact he has just come out of his teens and has moved to a completely different country and culture...I don't think he's doing too bad at all...I think a lot on here buy into this media bullshit

[Lees Alter Ego]

Balo really frustrated me on Saturday, for me he should of been subsituted around 60 mins as it clearly wasnt happening for him and nor was he putting the effort in imo. Some of his play acting was embarassing. The lad clearly has talent but I just can't see it working out for him here, really hope I am wrong but just have a bad feeling about this one. Prove me wrong Balo lad

Fucks sake...he's played how many games? 3 or 4? and scored how many? 3 or 4? and already the knives are out!

Like anyone he needs time to bed in...that coupled with the fact he has just come out of his teens and has moved to a completely different country and culture...I don't think he's doing too bad at all...I think a lot on here buy into this media bullshit

My opinion on it not working out here is just purely based on instinct, nothing more. I hope I am wrong. His sulking and often lack of effort in the few games he has played is inexcusable no matter how many games hes played. His play acting is equally as inexcusable. Reminds me of Ronaldo when he first moved to the scum, and I hated that c*nt (sill do), however he went on to be absolutely immense for them so heres hoping Balo will do the same.

[brite blu sky]

Bob obviously has a lot of faith in him, he is really only a kid and has a massive amount to learn, a lot of which is about himself!
As a recipe for disaster it has most of the main ingredients.

One thing is for sure though, we will have to suffer the learning process as Bob will play him at all opportunities to force the issue. He was better at Stoke and did manage to control himself enough not to piss the ref off. And that was on the back of being taken out from behind in the 4th minute or so and the ref ignoring it.

On the positive side he has the look that he will find the net and should have tapped one in on Saturday. If he does score consistently it will sweeten the bad taste of having to watch him fucl about all the time. Someone compared him to Tranaldo in attitude and the comparison might also be relevant in terms of the amount of time it takes him to chill out and ditch the bullshit.

As i say Mancini has a lot of faith and in that sense the fortunes of both of them are linked together, it could define Mancni if he can turn the grumpy little runt into a top player who focuses on the talent he has and the football only.

[BobKowalski]

For what is worth

"..Mancini getting something right with Balotelli. Italians saying they've never seen him argue with officials less than at Stoke on Sat"

From Ian Herbert of The Independent

[Ted Hughes]

Tevez was all over the pitch, working his balls off linking with Silva, pushing the team forward like he always does. (Without his customary success as Stoke kept everyone behind the ball in their box when we attacked).

Balotelli WASN'T.

To even suggest that he was better than Tevez is bollocks of gargantuan size. He did a few nice touches, one decent shot, fell on his arse whenever touched & failed to get on the end of a superb cross which was begging to be scored. Jo was better v Fulham than Balotelli yesterday & it wasn't even close & that's coming from a fan of Balotelli.

I'm not slating him but I thought Tevez had one of his worst games for us on Saturday. Poor passing, playing the wrong pass, not playing in a pass when he should have. Balotelli had a reasonable game but needs to learn that what's a foul in Italy isn't a foul here. I think he can take the rough stuff but is used to getting a foul when he gets a kick. At least he had the sense to grab the ball when he went down so that the ref had to stop play one way or another.

I agree Tevez wasn't great but he was pulling his tripe out trying to do something about it which counts for a lot in my book.

I doubt if Balotelli will ever be the kind of player who will do that but I don't care so long as he produces the quality of which he is capable. I'm willing to give him as long as it takes to produce that (so long as we don't keep playing him all the time if he's struggling every game). I also think he will produce it BUT if he keeps chucking himself on the floor & behaving like a twat, I don't want him, anymore than I would want Ronaldo, at City.

I'd like him to stop cheating immediately & then I'll give him as long as he needs to find form.

[brite blu sky]

I'd like him to stop cheating and playacting immediately too. Its bullsh*t. I'm not holding my breath though tbh, may take a while to ween him off that.