Official : Mario Balotelli signs for Liverpool

sportsczy wrote:Sturridge is perfect for the SS.  He's quick, fast and tricky.  Playing on top and having to pound with CBs all game long would be tough on him for a full season.  He can do it for some months very well...  but he would wear down.  He was very good as a second striker next to Suarez.

It also makes no sense to play Balo in a position where he's never played and move Sturridge to position he's never covered for a full season.  Why do that unless there's a performance reason to take the risk?

I have no idea what you are talking about, but Sturridge has never been a second striker. He isn't nearly versatile enough. I love him as a player, but he is a poacher through and through. As has already been said Suarez played in a free role.

Sports, all of your criticisms are valid if we were buying him to be our #1. We're not. We're bringing him in because currently we only have Borini and Lambert as cover up top, and need someone else. We got someone talented enough to take over for Sturridge if he goes down as the number 9, and also to play alongside him otherwise, but regardless, the purpose of this transfer isn't for him to bag 30 goals.

I think most Liverpool fans on here would gladly take it if you offered 18 and 6 in 41 from this transfer. It was 16m, not 60.

And i agree with you Stevie.... if the expectation for the transfer is for Balo to be a decent striker and no superstar, then great. But if you're expecting the next coming of Suarez, that's highly unlikely.

The biggest thing is whether he will fit the culture and professionalism of Liverpool. That's a big question mark. Rogers can't treat him differently than the other players so Balo needs to be a pro. Going out partying every night and half arsing it at practice won't fly imo.

I sooooo forgot about that madman Edmundo ditching Fiorentina to go Brasil's Carnival at the most wrong time (though whoever has experienced Carnival would probably have certain thoughts on that one). Lovely team that Fiorentina was, they even had Toldo as a keeper.

Um, 16 million pounds is a lot of money for anyone honestly. Not sure why certain Liverpool fans are brushing it off like it's nothing. Don't think Mr. Henry is brushing it off like it's nothing.

Sports, as much as he is totting some heavy feelings against Liverpool, makes valid points. So does Dani and the Liverpool brigade honestly. But Robes pretty much said all that needs to be said in his broken English. This is Balo's last chance in the big time. If he fails this (which I think he would personally), it's the likes of Gala and Napoli loan deals for him. Balo himself would need to do some soul searching on this one. Good luck Liverpool FC.

Shane Long went for 12m. (Solid, but meh.)
Lallana went for 25m. (Lol.)
Markovic went for 20m. (Inconsistent, raw, still didn't break into Benfica's XI consistently.)
Lukaku went for 28m. (Balotelli is better, although Lukaku is good.)
McCormack went for 11m. (That's right, who?)

I can go on. I think 16m is fine.

the price can be okay , but the salary  ? Are you really give 6 mln every year to him ? I didn't think even Suarez earned so much

Suarez was on 10m POUNDS a year.
I've seen reports ranging from 80k-115k regarding Balotelli, but he's earning a lot less than Suarez.

Robespierre wrote:the price can be  okay , but the salary  ? Are you really give 6 mln every year to him ? I didn't think even Suarez earned so much

Suarez earned 200k / week
Balotelli will earn btw 90-110k/week seems.Half as what Suarez was on.

Basically I didn't understand if it is gross or net.
In UK you talked about salaries differently than Italy.
in Italy we thought Rooney earned 20 mln every year with his new contract lol instead it was 9-10 . even gazzetta dello sport was wrong about it

BeautifulGame wrote:

Robespierre wrote:the price can be  okay , but the salary  ? Are you really give 6 mln every year to him ? I didn't think even Suarez earned so much

Suarez earned 200k / week
Balotelli will earn btw 90-110k/week seems.Half as what Suarez was on.

Ok thanks   

lmao Sportz arguing his case like this signing will completely destroy Liverpool if Balo doesn't turn WC.

I agree with Dani, Balo is more of a SS than a CF.

And btw Sturridge CAN play SS, he's by no means just a poacher. But last season he led the line while Suarez got the free role around him. There were times where they would switch role like against Fulham at home where Suarez played on the shoulder and made two great runs behind and scored a brace from through balls.

I expect us to play the diamond formation with two up top that was widely successful for us in our winning run. Balo playing the free role most of the time a la Suarez, but for periods the match I fully expect Sturridge to do his thing and roam around as well while Balo takes the central position.

PS. I wish Jibs was here ffs. Wanna see his reaction when his favorite player moves to Liverpool   

Doc wrote:

Um, 16 million pounds is a lot of money for anyone honestly. Not sure why certain Liverpool fans are brushing it off like it's nothing. Don't think Mr. Henry is brushing it off like it's nothing.

That seems really funny coming from a Madrid fan .

Anyways us Liverpool fans are chill as we've seen transfers worth double of that much go much worse.

Please no. I'm a United fan so now I won't be able to wear my Milan jersey with his name on it.
I hope another team hijacks the deal.

Nishy wrote:

Doc wrote:

Um, 16 million pounds is a lot of money for anyone honestly. Not sure why certain Liverpool fans are brushing it off like it's nothing. Don't think Mr. Henry is brushing it off like it's nothing.

That seems really funny coming from a Madrid fan .

Because I have proclaimed the transfers the club I support to be cheap right?! The only reason we, as fans, aren't sweating over the price is that we are not answering to a Board of Directors (or whatever hierarchy is used at footballing clubs) trying to justify the price. Trust the Doc, I would have been a legit alcoholic if I were dealing with the madness at Real Madrid.

Don't call me James wrote:And btw Sturridge CAN play SS, he's by no means just a poacher. But last season he led the line while Suarez got the free role around him. There were times where they would switch role like against Fulham at home where Suarez played on the shoulder and made two great runs behind and scored a brace from through balls.

Sturridge CAN play SS in the sense that any player on the pitch could in theory play at any position. He is not suited to it though. He lacks the creativity and ability to distribute the ball as well as where to be to properly play that position. With Rodgers' system players often times make runs and rotate on the fly but by and large if you look at their heat zones Sturridge was a poacher and rightly so it's what suits him and what he is good at.

I expect us to play the diamond formation with two up top that was widely successful for us in our winning run. Balo playing the free role most of the time a la Suarez, but for periods the match I fully expect Sturridge to do his thing and roam around as well while Balo takes the central position.

I see this also, but Sturridge will never really play a free role because it doesn't suit him. He may drop back at times, or swap sides/positions on interchanges and link-ups but he will by and large be a poacher as he always has/will be.

Being free doesn't mean you're not the point of the attack.  Rooney, R9, RVP, Suarez, Benzema at Lyon, CR7, Messi, etc. are all players who play in top but are free to roam around.  Being on top means that you're the primary key of the attacks and other players move according to you.  Your runs are the primary ones.  You can dezone and push someone else to go on top... but that decision is yours.  You're on top to start almost every play and then things evolve from there.  Sturridge only played this role when Suarez was out.  Otherwise, he was the secondary striker.

Secondary striker doesn't mean anything other than being the second option on the attack.  That can happen from the wing, as a 10, as a SS or even when you're the CF now in some specific places.

Balotelli has always been the primary and played on top.  He doesn't dezone much either.

sportsczy wrote:Being free doesn't mean you're not the point of the attack.  Rooney, R9, RVP, Suarez, Benzema at Lyon, CR7, Messi, etc. are all players who play in top but are free to roam around.  Being on top means that you're the primary key of the attacks and other players move according to you.  Your runs are the primary ones.  You can dezone and push someone else to go on top... but that decision is yours.  You're on top to start almost every play and then things evolve from there.  Sturridge only played this role when Suarez was out.  Otherwise, he was the secondary striker.

Secondary striker doesn't mean anything other than being the second option on the attack.  That can happen from the wing, as a 10, as a SS or even when you're the CF now in some specific places.

Balotelli has always been the primary and played on top.  He doesn't dezone much either.

Well that's an incredibly different definition of those terms than anyone else on here is using. But even using your terms, Mario won't be the primary or played up top. The team isn't going to be built around him the way it was for Suarez, he will play one role in a system, and that role will be playing off of Sturridge while he's up top. McAgger already explained this in more detail, so I don't think I need to go more in depth, but I think it's clear from the price and our current squad that Balo isn't being brought in to be the focal point of our attack.

Balotelli was offered to both Chelsea and Arsenal earlier in the window, however neither wanted him, according to Sky Sports.

Yohan Modric wrote:Balotelli was offered to both Chelsea and Arsenal earlier in the window, however neither wanted him, according to Sky Sports.

Yeah, apparently when they were asking 25 we also said no.

I don't think Sturridge is as talented as Balotelli in terms of ability.  I still think you need to make Balo the guy who plays with the mentality of being the primary goalscorer....  i don't think he can do anything else because he never makes runs to open up space for others or to occupy defenders.  He's looking to make himself a scorer.  You can't change that mentality at this stage imo...  you just need to use it to make it work for your team.  Namely, you can have him make those runs and keep making them even if he doesn't get the ball.  That's where Balo fails badly:  He gets frustrated when he's not served and takes himself out of the game INSTEAD of conitnuing to go at it and looking to help the team.  Sturridge will be at his best letting Bale occupy the CBs while he sneaks around or behind them like he did with Suarez.  

CFs are selfish players by necessity because the role requires that you focus a lot on yourself.  Those who aren't are rarely very good ones.  If you take that selfish streak away from Balo, i think you're castrating him.  You're asking him to be a completely different player.

My criticism of Balo is professionalism and consistency, not ability.  It's about mentality.... not his game.

Arriving at Melwood

Hapless_Hans wrote:it really is not a lot of money. Can't see much downside to it tbh.
It's not like they'll need to solely rely on him being consistent.

Arsenal fans sure would agree if they weren't so mad right now.

Who is mad?

I wonder what would happen if we put spotsczy and red alert in the same room???

iftikhar wrote:I wonder what would happen if we put spotsczy and red alert in the same room???

yh the thought enough is scary!!!

sportsczy wrote:Being free doesn't mean you're not the point of the attack.  Rooney, R9, RVP, Suarez, Benzema at Lyon, CR7, Messi, etc. are all players who play in top but are free to roam around.  Being on top means that you're the primary key of the attacks and other players move according to you.  Your runs are the primary ones.  You can dezone and push someone else to go on top... but that decision is yours.  You're on top to start almost every play and then things evolve from there.  Sturridge only played this role when Suarez was out.  Otherwise, he was the secondary striker.

Secondary striker doesn't mean anything other than being the second option on the attack.  That can happen from the wing, as a 10, as a SS or even when you're the CF now in some specific places.

Balotelli has always been the primary and played on top.  He doesn't dezone much either.

Dude your going miles off track.

Forget naming positions, it dont matter.

All that was ever said was simple Balo has poor movement off the ball.

If you play him as a 9, then his lack of movement is disasterous in the wrong situation.

Put him with an actual 9, just off him (like various others players have played) and it would help his game alot more. And when you look at his goalscoring, it makes even more sense because he doesnt go in for the "easy goals" so it will be hard for him to be a prolific goalscorer until he learns. So putting him as a 9, plays more to his weaknesses than his strengths.

That's all thats been said. All this side stuff means nothing.