12 Sept 2014

Dalglish raves: LFC is the 'perfect place' for 'fantastic' £16m attacker to go. Agree?

With Daniel Sturridge out injured, new signing Mario Balotelli is set to spearhead Liverpool's attack against Aston Villa on Saturday, and despite ongoing attempts by the media to unsettle him, Reds legend Kenny Dalglish is convinced that the Italian will not rise to the bait.

In his column for The Mirror this week, Dalglish insisted that Balotelli is a good signing for Liverpool, and backed Brendan Rodgers to manage him effectively. He explained:

"Liverpool is the perfect place for him [Balotelli] to go. He’s got a manager who is not confrontational but at the same time can instil discipline.

"So if he wants to settle down, I’m sure he will at Liverpool and that he’ll be a fantastic asset for the club."


Earlier this week, typically spurious reports in the media that Balotelli had to be subbed off during a friendly with Wolves after allegedly kicking an opponent in the head (!)

This, of course, was nonsense, and in his Thursday press conference, Rodgers slammed the media for manufacturing stories, and revealed the truth about what actually happened. He told reporters:

"Both of them tackled, they fell over. George [Saville} gets up, rubs his head, and the next thing I know it's reported that Mario kicked him in the head. It's incredible what people write. There was no incident at all. Mario's been as good as gold since coming in."

As noted several times over the last month, I'm a massive fan of the Balotelli transfer, and if he can ignore the inevitable media tomfoolery, then that will go a long way to eradicating some of the issues that many seemingly expect to arise.

The media want a reaction, and if Balotelli responds to the fake stories, embellishments, exaggerations, and downright lies, he'll just add fuel to the fire, and things will spiral out of control.

I have to admit, though, I'm slightly worried about how Balotelli will react to the possible goading/incitement he'll receive on the pitch. Like with Luis Suarez, it's inevitable that certain players will try and wind him up in an attempt to get a reaction and/or get him sent off, and it's crucial that he doesn't react.

Just look at the media circus over the fabricated Wolves 'story', and that's in response to a game that took place behind closed doors. If anything happens in front of the cameras, the media frenzy will be even more intense.

I fully expect Balotelli to make mistakes this season, though. He'll get some yellow cards; make rash tackles; backchat the ref/opposing players; maybe even get a red card at some point, but these things are part-and-parcel of the game, and it's important for fans not to follow the media lead and overreact.

Balotelli should not be treated any differently to the dozens of other players who make the same mistakes every week. I regularly criticised Luis Suarez for his on-field behaviour (i.e. diving/handball etc), but I never highlighted stuff like yellow cards, backchat etc, as these things are par for the course, and it will be the same with Balotelli.

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20 comments:

  1. aggression and unpredictability is part of balos game ..i for one dont want to curb it

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  2. I hope he scores at least one goal against villa, it will surely boost his confidence.

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  3. Nevergonnacrackthecode7:32 pm, September 12, 2014

    we should have got danny welbeck instead of him , always gives 100% , fast and very versatile all for the same price




    but come on balotelli!

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  4. Jamie you are already covering yourself well in advance (mentioning Suarez v Balo situation). I agree Balo will get into some problems but I doubt he'll be banned anywhere near the days Suarez was during his time at the club. At 16m it's a steal considering some of the stupid prices clubs were paying for players in the transfer window.

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  5. colonel cocknocker7:38 pm, September 12, 2014

    sorry my man but i have two problems with that comment.
    a)united would never have sold him to us.
    b)balotelli offers that awesome natural deadliness that is impossible to teach. Sure i actually really rate welbeck as i love the whole hendo hero work ethic in a player, it really makes me tick.
    But it's easier to teach balotelli to be a hero, especially with all the youngsters around him training like suarez, than it is to teach welbeck to think that regardless of the situation, he's just gonna worldy it in the top corner after dusting three defenders.

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  6. Nevergonnacrackthecode7:41 pm, September 12, 2014

    maybe borini can be our danny welbeck

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  7. colonel cocknocker7:43 pm, September 12, 2014

    Love it. Good work.

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  8. With Sturridge out Fabio Borini may have the chance to make a statement up front

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  9. I have been a big critic of his but so far so good. Even Sakho has said he is a great character in the dressing room.


    Now with Sturridge injured he has the opportunity to take centre stage.

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  10. I think back chatting the referee is unacceptable behaviour and is often merely a form of cheating aimed at intimidating or influencing the referee.


    I suppose one person's view of what constitutes cheating differs from another's ;-)

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  11. I would not want Danny E Welbeck at Liverpool

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  12. as far as scoring goals is concerned balotellie is a far better striker no question about it, balotellie 88 goals wellbeck 37 career total

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  13. Ballo has plenty of experience in this league, he will have faced all that stuff before, he should be able to handle it by now.

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  14. West Ham U21 (0) - (4) Liverpool U21.......................Seyi Ojo 2, Kent and Yesil scored at Upton Park....................top performance!!!

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  15. Nevergonnacrackthecode10:11 pm, September 12, 2014

    none of them will make it
    nothing to be excited about

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  16. As long as he doesn't bite anyone on the pitch, he'll have a head start

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  17. Hope he steps up to the bar, he's fully capable. I don't see the press letting up for a while but I also don't see it getting to him. The Wolves story for example was so ridiculous I don't know anyone who took it seriously. But there is one way to get them to stop writing about his apparent shennanigans, that's to have them write about his goal scoring and sublime displays :) hope it goes that way.
    Jamie, extra credit for "tomfoolery"
    Going to use it in a sentence tomorrow, see how it goes down.

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  18. A much-underused word, as is 'shenanigans' :-)

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  19. now where have i heard that last line before ?

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