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Does Balotelli deserve to go to Brazil?

Does Balotelli deserve to go to Brazil?

8K views 223 replies 37 participants last post by  TorontoCalabria 
#1 · (Edited)
As I type Balotelli starting on Marocchi and Boban. Yeah Prandelli's code will only work for Destro though because Balotelli is one of our big names. I suppose it's a different but I'm sure off field stuff still counted in Prandelli's code

Right now I see Balo as a liability. Just a shame he's our only 'proven' CF
 
#122 ·
So, I think we have the answer, which is obviously "no, he is full of shit". If you have a marble head an are not convinced yet you have just to read the interviews of Prandelli, Buffon and De Rossi after the game with Uruguay.
My hope is that he is not called up again until he proves at his club that his attitude has changed.
 
#124 ·
:thumbsup:

Unfortunately he will never even prove himself at club level, but we also have people (and managers) out there that believe in his stardom no matter what and feel he can make a difference.

Balotelli's actual ability is what I question aswell, never mind he walks around as if the football World owes him something, but his skill set is not that good. He is not really a clinical finisher (thankfully aside that great night v Germany)... he doesn't have the ability to take players on and he is not even extremely fast. When he is working hard he can be very useful and do good things, including he has a good shot too, but that's not enough.

Immobile did not play well yesterday either, but he is a forward who relies on chances create like Inzaghi did and unfortunately yesterday we did not give him much, but at least he left his sweat on the pitch as he ran and moved all game and was trying his best to be the out ball for our midfielders.

Our problem is we do not have a great number 9, but we have to believe in Destro and Immobile for now and hope 1 of them become big for their club and then for us. Balotelli's NT career is not finished, but as Toni said lets wait for him to prove something with the club before he comes back to the NT because if he is not doing it, he becomes a useless player completely. He lost every ball yesterday that went into him and I thought his hold up play was meant to be pretty decent.
 
#125 ·
The only thing I will add is there is more wrong than Balotelli as to why we were eliminated in the Group Stage this World Cup.

Prandelli seemed to change 3 years of planning in 1 disastrous year where we only beat England in all fixtures.
 
#126 ·
dint balotelli score vs england nd win da game fo u?


its like sum of u believe he is this baggio type player who will make a run from da halfway line and score a goal and LEAD italy to glory.balo is not dat type of player.he is a clinical finisher who when given da service will provide da goods.

what service was provided 2 him vs costa rica and yday?he had 1 chance vs costa and he didnt take it.yday frm da 1st min italy were defensive and dat was da plan.

immobile gave u sweat?wot good was dat sweat?wot did he create?instead he became way offside twice in da game when balo could have passed to him but could not coz immobile was dat full of crap.he was also very slow and never got into any decent position.

euro 12 had pirlo standing up for italy and balo delivered and won u a huge huge game against the favourites for that tie.

wc 14 had nobody standing up and everybody is now ready to make balo a scapegoat.

nothing wrong with prandelli going ultra defensive from the get go yet atleast for dat u need 2 work a few counters and yday nothing came frm da midfield and defense for that and when balo did get into decent positions immobile instantly became offside so balo had 2 do it all himself which he failed at.


cavani and suarez didnt do all that much yday either.

da blame lies at how pathetic da team was physically dat they couldnt cope with costa rica and then couldnt cope after going 2 10 men vs uruguay.and if there r senior plyrs trying 2 blame balo then that shows u exactly hw shitty da attitude of da dressing room is and what cowards were representing italy this wc [ even if they were not cowards in previous tourneys for the team].
 
#128 ·
yes i m fine with that butt dont up immobile for being very crap yday.u cn rewatch da 1st half to see he was actually a mile offside twice wen balo got into decent positions 2 pass 2 him.nd for a young dude he lacked da pace when da defender got to it before him when he could have had a clear chance.
 
#129 ·
I didn't up Immobile as he was crap too as I stated, but that least he gave his all. I think like Balo, Immobile can offer more and the tactics yesterday made both look bad. Of course there were more problems than Balotelli as I also explained, but Balo needs to be given time out of the spotlight with Italy. He can still play again, but not until his club form is good enough anyway.
 
#130 ·
fair enough.

if italy has plyrs who create many chances nd balo is in da team and then he does nothing i can understand him getting the blame.

when da team is setup to not create anything but 2 nullify da opposition [ which italy did pretty well till da red card] and then posters and evn senior plyrs :eek: want 2 put da defeat on a striker .... dat imo is jst being cheap.

if plyrs r now actually coming out and hinting balo is da problem then that dressing room is full of cowards who got exactly what they deserved this wc

balo should have been treated as a normal plyr instead there is way 2 much drama around him and whilst he creates a lot of it da media da populace and da othr players also play their part in creating it.
 
#132 ·
Immobile is a good striker IMO, but he is one who needs players who can deliver quality plays. Immobile will never do it himself. He realises this and that is why he did the odd decent lay off at times when he held the ball, but our midfield sat too deep for yesterday and both Immobile and Balotelli were isolated and not good enough to link up with each other, even worse when Parolo came in as Immobile was basically on his own.

Neither will Balotelli do things for himself, unfortunately Balo himself and others think he has this ability, which he doesn't have. Where he can beat players or go on runs. Only thing Balo has in his locker outside of good centre forward play is a spectacular shot, which is inconsistent aswell when he uses it.
 
#133 ·
I am actually not criticising Balotelli as such for our exit, but I am criticising the people who believe he is something he is not.

Until Balotelli proves himself with a club (e.g scoring more than 14 goals in a league season, which is currently his record) and until he proves to have more to his game than I have seen, I just do not want Italy to have faith only in him. Right now he is not better than any ordinary number 9. Even Paloschi with a full season as starter for Milan and on penalty duties could probably score 14 goals.

The only good thing was until this World Cup Balotelli normally always looked better for Italy, but thanks to Prandelli's sterile system which relied too much on him, he was made to look very bad
 
#135 ·
Do you think there's anything contradictory in saying that balo is not baggio or totti but still way better than immobile? With immobile.i know what we can achieve: mediocrity. With balo we cqn achieve nothing but also he is our only chance of fielding a.good.forward.
 
#134 ·
hmm yes perhaps its best 2 play balotelli only in games where italy hv a very attacking mindset with many creative/wing type plyrs to provide him wid da service

games where italy take a more defensive approach need othr plyrs who r willing 2 run and workj their bums off nd balo cn proly b an effective super sub in these gamez?
 
#136 ·
I like Destro more than both but that may coz I'm a Roma fan. I think Immobile can be a good sub. Balo needs a break. Call him still maybe but not start him.
 
#137 ·
I agree that Balo is a difficult character and a player to handle BUT putting all the blame on him is unfair, when:

- Prandelli uses a new (5-3-2) tactics on a crucial game
- Immobile was useless
- Pirlo played one of his worst games
- Marchisio's red card
- The subs did nothing
- Playing a negative football
- Playing for 0-0 since minute 1
etc
 
#138 ·
the entire fault was pandrelli i mean why take 5 forwards if u have no intention of using them look at his selection aside of balo he had no intention of using them
how cud he select forwards whom he had never used before
look at immobile 1 good season but he had never tried him n he starts his international carrier in wc
same cud said about ceci n immobile he tried him before so why not use him in wc n if u dont want to use him than why take him

players like dimianti sud have been taken before cassono n immobile who had been into brazil

wtf was about this changing formations u have successfully acclimatised an entire squad into changing formations after so much work n u disintegrate entire work by selecting new squad what was ****er thinking was he thinking it was another confedrations cup for ****s sake u ****ed up wc for italy because u r a media whore who doesnt have the balls to against pepoles choice???

where were his players like gia whom he believed in i thnk he already knew he had ****ed up wc squad selection n just was waiting for axe to fall in him hoping that pope wud save him
 
#139 ·
Balotelli is not nearly good enough for his terrible attitude and laziness to be tolerated. He can't score more than 14 goals in a season, he is completely useless in something like third of the games he plays, his finishing is not that great. He has a great shot and that's pretty much the only special skill he has. Italy's current generation of strikers isn't all that really, sure, but he's really not superior to the rest.
 
#140 ·
Mostly I agree with this BUT football is a team sport and using only one player as a scapegoat is really wrong. He didnt even play the half when Italy lost the game, Imobile didnt do anything and the Uruguay defense was relieved of some marking duties. If Italy doesnt have a quality strikers, why go and attack the best striker they have?!

Balotelli while he was playing Italy was qualified ;)
 
#141 ·
i do believe immobile had better n more chances where he cud have score in match but no one is giving him stick n r crucifying balo for missing golden chances against costa rica same thing happened with saurez against us but no one is blaming him
balo in first half was trying to do something maybe trying to bring ball in attacking half or to create something .
the problem with him is whenever u try to play negative football balo tries to act as mid fielder often leaving his position resulting in no presence in penalty area same thing happened with him in milan maybe he sud have been winger
 
#142 ·
Balo is too dumb to be an outfield player. It's as simple as that. Has all the skill to be a #10 or an offensive winger but has no patience or intelligence for it. He's always going to be a card liability because his challenges are terrible. As a CF he does the least damage, but even there he doesn't score.

Gullit said on bein sports last night that he is simply unmanageable. Italy have a real problem with Mario
 
#149 ·
Wow they are very strong words from Prandelli. I would not be surprised there was an argument in the dressing room at HT and thus why Balotelli came off at that moment.
 
#150 ·
I still dont quite understand, Balo is made the scapegoat a bit imo. All attention is on Balo criticism. Sure he is a brat but it could have been worse also. I mean Balo is getting more heat than Suarez for instance.....

Just saying that Prandelli picked the team, and Prandelli was the one who thought Balo the main guy will get us far. I still think these questionable tactics/formations played its part.

I also thought Balo got injured against Uruguay, he was holding his knee a lot in the last game, got a knock there during game.

Im not saying Balo is a nice guy, him now coming out in media (instagram what ever) is not the way these things should be dealt with but at least Balo didnt bite anyway in this wc.

And his form, well, he plays for Milan and look where Milan finished last season? Its not like his form should be surprise.

Prandelli didnt work out a working formation, couldnt put Immobile into good use either, lets remind Immobile only started playing for Prandelli in March this year and made call-up in May. 2 months build-up for him. No surprises it didnt work out.

And u know the rest.
 
#151 ·
I think something happened at HT, there is no way Prandelli, Buffon and De Rossi would be so harsh if there was not something and Balo got replaced at that stage too. Just feel something went down.
 
#152 ·
For those of you didn't hear the latter comments or too lazy to google...


“We need real men, not Panini stickers or characters. These are of no use to the national team,” veteran midfielder Daniele De Rossi was quoted as saying after the loss.

“On the pitch, you see who shows up. Those that don’t show up, don’t show up,” Buffon said.



Interesting read, not sure of the validity of the article.

http://www.forterietimes.ca/2014/06/25/mario-balotellis-world-cup-performance-largely-insufficient


Balo's weakness has always been his anger management issues, and his ability to be easily distracted at the task at hand.

If he buries those chances against CR, we are likely into round two.

New manager will likely still choose him, but not rely on him. More of a supersub if he accepts the role.

EDIT: something did happen, he pouted in the team bus for an hour or so.
 
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