29 Oct 2014

Axe Him: Aldo tells BR to replace €20m LFC 'maverick' with £4m star. Madness?

Hours before Liverpool's last-gasp victory over Swansea, Reds legend John Aldridge called for Brendan Rodgers to drop Mario Balotelli for a few games, but after the Italian's vital game-levelling goal against the Swans, it's arguably the wrong time to take him 'out of the firing line'.

In his Tuesday column for the Liverpool Echo, Aldo argued that Balotelli is 'desperately short of confidence'; 'struggling to handle the pressure' of playing for Liverpool, and suggested the following solution to LFC's goalscoring woes:

"I'd take Balotelli out of the firing line. Sometimes you have to take someone out of the fold for a few games, so I’d play Lambert [up front] until Daniel Sturridge is fit enough to return. In the meantime you could always bring Balotelli off the bench".

Well, if tonight proved anything it's that Lambert is not a credible goalscoring solution for Liverpool. Overall, the £4m striker had an indifferent match, and failed to effect the game in any meaningful way, and to be brutally honest, that's the story of his season so far.

For me, the prospect of having to rely on Lambert in the Premier League is, quite frankly, frightening. From Lambert to Suarez in a few short months; talk about going from the sublime to the ridiculous (!) Even with Balotelli misfiring, I'd still play him - and Borini - ahead of Lambert ever day of the week.

I do't begrudge Lambert his move to LFC, but as Rodgers reiterated last week, he is a back-up player, and that's the way it should remain. Of course, if, at some point, Lambert starts scoring goals, then things might change, but until then, there's no way (IMO) that he should get the nod over Balotelli.

The only striker at the club who should start ahead of 'maverick' Balotelli is Daniel Sturridge, and when LFC's number one striker is finally fit again, that will probably happen on a regular basis.

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39 comments:

  1. Lambert has been really disappointing.

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  2. I thought borini was really good with his movement and maybe unlucky not to score....If rodgers gives him some game time and play balotelli and Borini up top might just favor us.

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  3. Lambert is best our backup striker for a striker in domestic cup games only. all the scouting for striker and none with quality brought in last summer shows Rodgers naivety at the top of the game.

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  4. Borini was played out wide and out of position. Something Brendan likes to do with most players constantly. Still a mystery why he keeps doing that. Or just pure stubborn and egoistic in his ways.

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  5. JK - there are some annoying popup ads which were troubling me with using this site on my mobile..i went to some forum and read that the site admin can block such ads..it is mt.moneyandroid.com which prompts a download..i m sure others are facing this problem too..plz fix it

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  6. Mr. Point Of View7:34 am, October 29, 2014

    Markovic is the real let down

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  7. Nevergonnacrackthecode8:15 am, October 29, 2014

    Brendan should see how italy in 2012 set up:


    ....................................mignolet
    .................skrtel.............can..........lovren
    manquillo.......................................................moreno
    ........................ ..............gerrard
    ......................henderson......................lallana
    ..............................balotelli........markovic




    with coutinho rotating with lallana and gerrard


    i really believe markovic with his pace and movement would be better suited up front one on one he is alright


    this is how prandelli set it up when balo got two goals vs germany

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  8. I can see a lot of potential in Markovic. The problem is that he is only 20 and its his first season in the prem and unless he gets a run of games he will always find it difficult to adapt

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  9. Nevergonnacrackthecode9:18 am, October 29, 2014

    i bet i visited the site atleast a million times
    how would i know?

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  10. for gods sake why gerrard!! he's 34 should be used as a impact player

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  11. I think the cameo against City showed what he's capable of.

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  12. He played the whole of last season out wide at Sunderland and did pretty well

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  13. Its strange, I can only access this site after IST 5:40 p.m. from my office (Capgemini, Mumbai).

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  14. Play Borini and Balotelli, both Italians can build up good understanding. Lambert can remain as a super-sub.

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  15. Lucas Leiva is still a terrific DM, BR should take notice and make him relevant again instead of selling him cheap.

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  16. Use Balo off the bench for the last 20 mins and start Sterling and Borini up front

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  17. We need goals, our defence need no further investments. The only player who can come close to replacing Luis Suarez and who can actually play like him is Carlos Tevez. Despite his age, he will be an unbelievable signing if we managed to get him. Signings like Tevez, Shaqiri, Schneiderlin, Jay Rodriguez (I rate him highly) and Pedro... will make us formidable for some years to come.

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  18. Mr. Point Of View1:05 pm, October 29, 2014

    i know he having same problem like hendo had b4 ! As a fans we hope we r title contender should purchase a confirm talent to helping us push fwd instead of potential gamble

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  19. Just watched the highlights. We had 4 or 5 good plays and they scored off two rebounds in the one out of two good plays they had. We played a mixed team in a nonsense cup against a very good side and eventually won the game that comes after a dissapointing league game before very important few matches in weeks to come.

    Our under pressure striker and under pressure defender scored, we came back after conceeding, this was a good match, right?

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  20. Balotelli has always been the best off the bench.

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  21. he is too much of a liability to have the responsibility of the full 90 mins. If he started yesterday he would have been sent off before half time

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  22. i seen moments of our good form last season last night

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  23. Looking at the highlights, I'd say that too.. What was our formation?

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  24. Lucas Leiva(27) is a descent Defensive midfielder but he does not have the energy, legs, mobility or pace to do it for us week in week out in the premiership. And he would be perfect for Italian football and he should be sold in January for no less than £9-£11M


    And replaced by young mobile tough tackling DM ( Y M'Vila (24) Of R Kazan currently on loan at Inter Milan for £10-£14M


    And B Rodgers should also bring in C Tiote(28) Of Newcastle for £7-£12M to come offer the club more protection to defence and centre of park.

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  25. B Rodgers needs to ship out these 5 dead wood players in January:


    GK: B Jones(32) Offers S Mignolet(26) no competition at all at club


    RB: G Johnson(29) for last two seasons has been abyzmal and shocking to say the least. QPR or West Ham will take him off our hands


    CB: K Toure(33) is an accident waiting to happen and he should be sold in January


    DM: L Leiva(27) is a class DM, but does not have the energy, legs, mobility, pace or speed to cover and make up ground and in the premiership now he easily gets exposed.


    FD: F Borini(23) is a top 9-18 club striker, he is not a top 1-7 club striker at all and we aim to be in the top 4 season in season out.


    Whilst B Rodgers needs to bring in these 6 players: 3 Defensive players who will actually make a difference to side and help us stop CONCEDING GOALS FOR FUN HOME AND AWAY:


    Defensive players: Three Class:


    1: GK: K Casilla(28) Of Espanyol Or Neto(25) Of Fiorentina for £7-£9M to dislodge/displace S Mignolet(26) as first team GK.


    2: DM: Y M'Villa(24) Of R Kazan( On Loan at I Milan) For £10-£14M to come and displace or Captain fantastic as the DM in side, so S Gerrard(34) can take up a position on the bench or compete AM role with Lallana(26) and Coutinho(22).


    3: DM: C Tiote(28) Of Newcastle for £7-£12M to compete with Y M'Villa(24) for DM position at club. And so when in Champions league, in games where we may need to shut up shop and nick a 0 1 or 0 2. Both Y M'Villa(24) and C Tiote(28) could be used in front of the back 4.


    Attacking players: 3 World class players:


    4: CM: Y Cabaye(28) Of PSG for £15-£18M to replace J Allen(24)


    5: RWF /LWF: Pedro(27) Of Barcelona for £23-£27M to come and compete with Markovic(20)


    6: FD: Not S Berahino(21), L Adriano(27) Of S Donesk for £14-£18M to come and compete with D Sturridge(25) to bring the energy, pace and speed club are missing when D Sturridge(25) is out.

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  26. Nevergonnacrackthecode3:01 pm, October 29, 2014

    cant find a place for him
    impact sub when everyones tired

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  27. was gone for two days....someone please tell me what happened

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  28. Just watched the highlights. We had 4 or 5 good plays and they scored off two rebounds in the one out of two good plays they had. We played a mixed team in a nonsense cup against a very good side and eventually won the game.
    Our under pressure striker and under pressure defender scored, we came back after conceeding,

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  29. Nevergonnacrackthecode3:37 pm, October 29, 2014

    So newcastle game is very close:


    ......................................balotelli
    markovic.........................coutinho............borini
    .........................henderson...........gerrard
    moreno..............lovren.................toure......johnson
    .....................................mignolet


    it is really hard to pick a team right now so many players
    manquillo vs johnson was tough
    lallana vs coutinho touch
    allen and can also deserve to play

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  30. Nevergonnacrackthecode3:38 pm, October 29, 2014

    skrtel vs toure another hard decision
    but toure and lovren done well together so let taht carry on

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  31. Lambert is the type of player who needs to play consistently in order to score. Not to say he's going to light it up with 15 goals this year, but if he plays more often, I could see him getting us a goal here or there, and they would add up.


    There's really no point to having him if he's going to play once or twice a month.

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  32. Descent is a bit harsh ;-)

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  33. The team is better balanced with two strikers up front. Lambert and Balotelli could play well together, as could Borini and Balotelli. But Lambert on his own? No chance.


    Maybe Aldo is reflecting on his own early times with Liverpool. He didn't exactly start with a bang and had only 2 goals in 10 games. Then when Rush was gone he flourished. I suppose then maybe he knows what he's talking about and Kenny used him sparingly for those first few months while Rush was still around. It probably did him some good to have the pressure off, take some time to settle into the club and then hit the ground running the start of the next season. However Balotelli doesn't have that luxury and neither does Liverpool.

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  34. It is the truth, L Leiva(27) can tackle . But he is not a tough tackler and he does not have the energy,legs, mobility , pace or speed to Break down attacks and cover the ground well.


    Liverpool for 6 years have still not replaced the world class engine room we had in centre of park: Alonso and Mascherano.


    Those two would dominate games away and at home, Alonso and Mascherano at Liverpool . J Allen(24), J Henderson(24), L Leiva(27) and E Can(21) will never ever get to the class quality level those two players set in centre of park. we were awesome in centre midfield in 2008/2009.

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