Earlier in the season, Former Liverpool manager Graeme Souness labelled Carlos Tevez a 'disgrace to football', and then, after Mario Balotelli's red card at Anfield, he accused the Italian of being an 'unreliable passenger'. Clearly, Souness doesn't like some of Manchester City's players (!), and over the weekend, he was on the volatile Italian's back once again.
Speaking to the Daily Star, Souness scathed:
"So Mario Balotelli’s agent feels his client is being victimised in this country and is threatening to find him a new club. My reaction to that is: So what?
"Would he be any great loss to Manchester City and, for that matter, the Premier League in general? The answer to that for me is “no” because my view of him is that he is a liability.
"You only have to look at his list of misdemeanours, which now effectively includes four red cards in his short time at City after his retrospective punishment last week for stamping on Scott Parker, to understand why I call him a liability there.
"He is the type of player who would get himself sent off after five minutes of a cup final, leaving his team-mates to battle on a man short for the remaining 85 minutes. Yes, he is a young man with a fair amount of talent but can you rely on him? Again, the answer is 'no'"
Souness's wrath clearly doesn't stretch to Liverpool's players; he's entitled to his opinion, but why wasn't he similarly damning about Luis Suarez's one-fingered salute against Fulham, or his self-inflicted spat with Patrice Evra, which caused one of the most negative periods in Liverpool's recent history?
Jaimie Kanwar
Speaking to the Daily Star, Souness scathed:
"So Mario Balotelli’s agent feels his client is being victimised in this country and is threatening to find him a new club. My reaction to that is: So what?
"Would he be any great loss to Manchester City and, for that matter, the Premier League in general? The answer to that for me is “no” because my view of him is that he is a liability.
"You only have to look at his list of misdemeanours, which now effectively includes four red cards in his short time at City after his retrospective punishment last week for stamping on Scott Parker, to understand why I call him a liability there.
"He is the type of player who would get himself sent off after five minutes of a cup final, leaving his team-mates to battle on a man short for the remaining 85 minutes. Yes, he is a young man with a fair amount of talent but can you rely on him? Again, the answer is 'no'"
Souness's wrath clearly doesn't stretch to Liverpool's players; he's entitled to his opinion, but why wasn't he similarly damning about Luis Suarez's one-fingered salute against Fulham, or his self-inflicted spat with Patrice Evra, which caused one of the most negative periods in Liverpool's recent history?
Jaimie Kanwar
Because Souness is ex-Liverpool player and a fan of club just like us.
ReplyDeleteIf you ask the question about Saurez then why not continue to ask about Terry and any other player that fits the bill?
ReplyDeleteDon't worry about it Graham, he'll never play a club fighting for midtable superiority so he's non of your concern. Maybe he should be commenting on how laughable Andy Carrolls efforts are! NOW we're talking liability!
ReplyDeleteNobody in Liverpool is remotely interested in what Souness has to say. He was the architect of Liverpools demise after ripping apart Kennys team when he was manager.
ReplyDeleteJaimie, I just appreciate your non biased review on things, which in my opinion makes you a very healthy Reds fan. We always need to see things from different points of view.
ReplyDeleteFor me about Balotelli, I see it 50-50, as some players are treated bad (not saying that they are angels in anyway) but still compared to some british players who go unpunished I believe the media and FA hit on some players and leave the others. Sometimes the pressure on certain players of that caliber (Suarez, Balotelli) just pushes them to fall in the trap!!! I feel for both of them.
I remember Benitez also used to get that pressure from all around including ex-Liverpool players and IMO it was not fair.
Well done Jaimie, Thanks for the post.
big big difference isnt there ?
ReplyDeleteWell said DFRUK, souness ruined LFC and even now we still havent fully recovered. A system built up over years, systematically pulled apart by someone who should never have been incharge!
ReplyDeleteBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
ReplyDeleteNO NEW SIGNINGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I don't think we have money to buy....bank is empty
ReplyDeleteget off luiz' back - don't you think this has gone on long enough - just eff off will you !!
ReplyDeleteJameie kanwar. You defo have a small willie! Go and write about another club. This sham of a website which i unwillingly clicked on whilst browsing newsnow, is one of the most ridiculous sites i have had the misfortune of reading. Do you have an agenda? are you actually a journalist or reporter? Do you actually have any sources of information from around or within the club. OR! are you as it seems? a joke of a blogger who needs to find his vocation in life. because this isnt it. its such a shame that the demographics of the internet allows people like you put this in peoples faces! TRASH !
ReplyDeleteHow can a supposed unbiased reporter, make comparisons of two different situations, one an assault in the height of a match between two teams going for the title, the other a reaction to systamatic abuse by so called fans, with out getting into the rights and wrongs of either incident (as they are both old issues) the two events are incomparable. stop trying to create situations.
ReplyDeleteSouness has obviously never heard about a mild mannered meek player called Wayne Rooney who was playing in the premier league before this foreign abrassive young chap landed on these shows to become such a liability along with the other one called Tevez.
ReplyDeleteBefore these chaps sullied the premier league, there were leading lights such as Lee Bowyer, Joey Barton, Jonathan Woodgate and John Terry who never had to drag the footballing world into court with their role model behaviour.
Souness is also in good company with Mr PFA Gordon Taylor who is now proposing Liverpool fans listen to him for directions on how to be fans.
He never said a word when Suarez was called a cheat up and down the country by rival fans but is now is concerned about how Evra is treated for being a United player at Anfield.
It will be unlikely Mr Taylor will have anything to say after Suarez has been to Old Trafford just like he has no issues when QPR players are forced decide to not take part in pre-match formalities something the PFA could have addressed beforehand.
Oh well what a wonderfull world we live in..
If you were at Hillsborough did you see a girl with her top pulled up after attempts to resuscitate her If you did then did you say' send her down here We'll fuck her' ???? because the Daily Star said you did and this shite hawk writes for them and clearly Jamie Kanwar reads it
ReplyDeleteTaylor one of the worst players ever to fluke a living out of the game. Don't expect any negative coverage of Suarez's treatment at Old Trashford because there will be non
ReplyDeleteCorrection they owners are not giving Kenny any money after his poor signings
ReplyDeleteTrue...but lets pretend we have no money....or maybe kk has million to spend because he earn it doing brewsters millions...so not doom and gloom
ReplyDeleteFirstly, Souness, great player but an A1 idiot. As has already been said, Rooney, Bowyer, Woodgate, barely played 15 games a season, Barton, Terry, etc, etc, why has he never come out with that language about them? And how did Crouch getting away with poking opponents in the eye on the same weekend Balotelli got done?
ReplyDeleteNot even going to go there regarding the difference between 30000 screaming at a man for reporting an alleged incident of abuse and the alleged antagonist getting booed. And before some of you start whining about injustice and people being liars, you should ask yourself how 30,000 supporters can all be so sure that Suarez is innocent that they are happy to behave in a way that makes the next genuine victim decide that it is not worth reporting. Well done to our club and to our supporters. Put the entire cause back years on the basis of Suarez's word vs Evra's. There were better ways to support Suarez without creating a lynch mob.
And if some of you wonder why there will be less negative comment when Suarez cops it, it is because many neutrals are seriously starting to dislike us more than ever and think it will be deserved. And, no, it is not because they are jealous of our history or our trophy haul. It is because, as a club, we have behaved like paranoid psychos. Most neutrals, the same neutrals who have been happy to support our Hillsborough petitions over the years, have thought our behaviour has been appalling, and we, quite frankly, have told them that we don't care what they think. We've been totally insensitive and ignorant about the wider issues here and it has damaged our standing in the eyes of many, whether some of us would like to admit it or not. I do not have one friend who supports another club who does not feel that we should have been punished further for our part in all of this mess. Dalglish, in particular, has looked like an old Dinosaur totally out of his depth in dealing with an issue like this. A throwback to the 80s.
sounes was the first bad manager but not the last one...and that was 22 years give him break. Look how many manager l.pool had after him.
ReplyDeleteHe should leave his manager to worry about Balotteli, besides, I'd like it if Dalglish had to chose who to play with Suarez, Balotteli or Tevez.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. We're basically the new Millwall. No one like us, we don't care.
ReplyDeleteWTF are you doing?
ReplyDeleteI vote close this site down who agrees?
Oh no, a player momentarily flashed the finger at a hostile crowd of people who have been verbally accosting him for hours vs a deliberate, intentional stamp / backheel into a fellow pro's face........ hmmmmmm, can't see any distinction between severity of offences
ReplyDeleteBalotelli is a liability, although undoubtedly supremely talented
Tevez is an utter joke, one wonders if he has any input into his own career / decisions at all. Kia Jorbaachian seems to control everything. Wouldn't be surprised if he's taking half his weekly wage too!!!
Just pointing out that Evra has made countless racial claims, it definitely goes into double figures although I couldn't give you the exact number. Suarez may not be innocent but in the heat of the moment things can be said that you don't actually mean to say. Now that I've got that cleared up Rooney was the same, Balotelli has some anger management problems of some sort but at the same time he is being targeted because of his problems, no wonder he's loosing his cool. Also I've seen the video and I honestly think he just fell over after trying to avoid standing on Parkers hand, and I'm a Liverpool supported so I have no need to defend him.
ReplyDeletewhen seen in real time its clear balotelli didnt deliberately stamp on parker but in the media they show the slow motion clips 99% of the time so i agree with you on that. i actually dont like him as a person on what ive seen of his attitude but im just giving an unbiased view. also i feel sorry for suarez, im fed up of all the stick him and the club are getting. the whole t-shirts thing wasnt saying we support racism, the team were supporting someone they were convinced were inocent and considering all he said was the equivalent of black im inclined to think suarez did little wrong. its our country which has a complex about racism, so much so we cant say coloured any more, so technically suarez actually just said the countrys preferred word 'black'. people are too quick to call others racist for the simplest of things.
ReplyDeleteThat's a good objective closer there. Too many of these in house FC sites are clumsily lopsided..
ReplyDeleteWhy are you comparing Balotelli impetulance with Luis Suarez incident. give it a rest?
ReplyDeleteIf we don't start scoring more goals we will be the new millwall on the pitch as well!!
ReplyDeleteI'm going to take a stab in the dark here and suggest that the reason Souness isn't having a similar dig at Suarez is because, unlike yourself Jaimie, Souness hasn't had fairly irrational and hilariously pious problems with Suarez since before the Uruguayan signed for us.
ReplyDeleteAlso, out of the 3 players in question - Suarez, Balotelli and Tevez - it's unfair to compare Luis to the other 2, in my opinion. Suarez hasn't to date displayed a similar selfish streak to them; he hasn't constantly agitated for a move; acted bigger than the club; or undermined the manager.
Seriously Jaimie, you might yet be proven right about Luis Suarez, but at least give the poor bastard a chance to change your mind first.
Lewis, Evra has not made racial claims in double figures. He did not even make the claim that everyone accuses him of at stamford bridge.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't care less about balotelli but i do care when crouch is filmed doing something that is definitely deliberate and he does not get charged. Rooney does just as much and the FA appeal the ban he got, which was less than 4 games.
Not sure why people are dismissing suarez reacting to fulham supporters, because if he does that at old trafford there will be riot and it will be taken every bit as seriously as balotelli's stamp. And, rightly so, considering how our fans would have reacted had evra inflamed the situation on saturday.
So if it happened to you, do you think all this booing, by 30,000 people, and receiving a bullet in the post would make you more or less likely to report it? Is that what we were trying to achieve? Make it less likely that people will report this?
ReplyDeleteMost of you don't get it, or want to get it, it doesn't matter what happened, the next genuine victim will just look at how the last person to complain was treated and he will see 30,000 people who really could not know for sure abusing the alleged victim who made a complaint. And he'll know that the people abused him for complaining, not because they knew he was lying. That is LFC's part in the fight against racism.
unlike the bloke who writes these articles obviously.
ReplyDeletebecause he obviously likes a wind up. dont dare critisice youll get banned or belittled
ReplyDeleteyank manc thats why
ReplyDeletelook at what Souness inherited and then tell us who ruined LFC.
ReplyDeleteThe inconsistencies in english football are what frustrate me the most. First all, for those of you saying the booing of Suarez is just, what made that so before the Suarez/Evra incident when he took tons of abuse, being called a cheat and a diver? Why was that condoned then? Why should it be now? Two wrongs don't make a right.
ReplyDeleteMy entire problem with the Suarez/Evra situation is how the FA handled it. They took their sweet time compiling the reports and drawing out the situation putting Suarez under needless stress. What were they thinking releasing a statement saying Suarez used racist words and then not publishing the evidence for weeks? I also think it sets a HUGELY dangerous precedent by charging a player with racism based on one mans testimony against another's. For me, that's completely retarded. Suarez will have to go years to put this incident behind him, if he ever can. Is that the sort of sentence you give to a player because one man's testimony was taken as more credible than another's?
On the other hand, I think Liverpool/Suarez/Dalglish/Our Fans could have handled the situation better. I say hats off for the way we all stood up for Suarez and got behind him to help him through. But it could have been done with more grace. You can defend the man without defending the incident, which is what we should have done. Instead, we have often times looked as though we don't care about racism (which I don't think is hte case). I say let the past be the past now. Suarez has (almost) served his suspension, lets all move forward now and try and clean the game up. As for the booing of Evra, get real. Pool fans have never liked Evra. You give them the slightest excuse and they're going to be booing him. Do you really think 30,000 liverpool fans are racist? No, they just don't like Evra/United and were voicing their opinion. Is it commendable? No. Is that football? Yes. And no, I'm not saying I think "that's football" is a good excuse. I'm only saying liverpool fans are always gonna find reasons to hate united players, and united fans are always going to find ways to hate liverpool players. Such is life.
YNWA. I for one cannot wait to see Suarez back in a red jersey at spurs, and I hope he can light up Wembley.
See this is the kind of club sponsored smear campaign that we have fought so hard against with regards to The Sun. The funny thing is that Liverpool had the opportunity to cite Evra's past 'form' as part of the defence. They declined. You know why? Because it doesn't exist. Yet the club alluded to this smear in their official statement. And thus fans pick up on this misinformation and use it to tar and feather Evra. A shameful chapter in the history of the club and a chapter which will run and run unless fans take off their blinkers.
ReplyDeleteSo you are one of the muppet's who takes one man's word over another, if it was a proper court of law it would have been laughed at and deemed a waste of public money, who told you you are a LFC fan or supporter everything i have read in here off you has alway's been negative, dont bother replying as this is the last time i visit this shite, oop's sorry, site.
ReplyDeleteThe FA have awarded today’s FA Cup tie to Manchester United, accepting
ReplyDeletePatrice Evra’s claim (after the referee had blown for full time) that his team
had in fact scored at least ten goals and not just one.
The fact that no players, supporters or officials, nor TV cameras’ were able
to confirm the other ten or more goals, did not mean that Mr. Evra’s claim was
false.
When interviewed (through an amateur interpreter) immediately after the game,
the accused Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina admitted conceding one goal. This
damning confession was enough to convince the FA panel that he must have
conceded the other ten or more as claimed by Mr. Evra.
The FA found Mr. Evra to be a very convincing witness on account of the fact
that he is such a lovely bloke, has never been in trouble before, and claims to
be fluent in several languages.
Mr. Reina’s testimony on the other hand was found to be totally unreliable in
that he is Spanish (and we all know what they are like) and spoke mainly in
Spanish through an interpreter.
As Mr. Reina had admitted to conceding one goal, the FA panel concluded that
the probability was that he had conceded more than one. Mr. Evra would not have
been so adamant if he hadn’t.
The FA has therefore settled on Manchester United winning by a margin of 7
goals to 2 as the true final score
Well said. The only people that used to hate us were Man U & Everton. The handling of Suarez affair by the club and it's representitives and the arrogant attitude of the fans in respect to it has turned the whole of the football community against us. I have read the FA report through, twice. Quite frankly, Suarez was banged to rights - the statements of his own witnesses and his own inconsistent statements convicted him. He got off lightly with an eight game ban. He was serving a 16 game ban in Holland when we signed him. Had that incident happened here, the recent charge would have resulted in at least a 12 game ban, more likely 16, with the very real possibility of a permanent ban. As it stands he's on 'strike 1'. Two more similarly serious charges and he's out of the English game - for good.
ReplyDeleteCompared to that, I'd hardly say Balotelli's a liability. Suarez could prove unsaleable, if he misbehaves again. If I was in the owner's shoes, I'd be giving serious consideration to moving Suarez out in the summer, while he's still worth money.
Its a fucking soap opera
ReplyDeleteI'm hoping that this farce will be a landmark for him and he will just not get involved from now on. No more pinching or grabbing anyone's head, etc, etc. He should know that he will be a marked man now and he needs to behave accordingly, otherwise more incidents will follow. Balotelli is in the same bracket and, both Dalglish and Mancini have to stop blaming other people and start to rein their players in before their problems start to affect the whole team. And if our supporters had not realised it, their stance against Evra has probably ensured that Suarez will get it even worse now. I wonder if Kenny will call it 'just banter' then? I hope he is prepared for it and is able to keep his cool, because the backlash he will face will be fierce.
ReplyDeleteHe would go for Carroline over all of them! LOL
ReplyDeleteWell said.
ReplyDeleteJust because Souness is a Liverpool supporter doesn't mean he can't try to be objective.
ReplyDeleteJaimie makes a good point here, Souness does show a double standard. Suarez, whether you think he is guilty to the extent that Evra said, or not, has a long list of misdemeanors but he has said nothing, to my knowledge, about Suarez.
To be honest I think he is wrong about Mario and I see him a bit like Luis, both get more stick than they deserve. I think the pair are a bit misunderstood.
that is class!!
ReplyDeleteBallotelli is uncontrollable, he will do whatever he wants, it depends on his mental state at the time, same with tevez. Surez on the other hand is to passionate, all his mistakes like the hand ball in the world cup, the finger to fulham where down to frustration and the will to win. Like Wayne rooney, he wil be passinate and frustrated on the pitch, but if you try and tame that passion and frustration in these types of players then you will not get the same results. As for the players being racist, sleeping with grannies, beating people up on the ale and just being a general dick then unlucky, if you get caught you will face the full wrath of the media and so they should.
ReplyDeleteDomt waste time discussing over Tevez. COUNTDOWN is almost over. No news of any strker coming. I reckon Kenny will lose his job in the summer.
ReplyDelete@Jamie Kanwar .... What the hell has Suarez got to do with the HEADLINE AND ARTICLE? Very feeble effort of a dig there.
ReplyDeleteSay what you want,it doesn't matter.
Souness refers to Balotelli's unreliability in that you're not sure if he's going to get himself sent off or not. To my knowledge Suarez has never been sent off for Liverpool. Gerrard is far more likely to get himself sent off. I suppose we should get rid of him too.
ReplyDeleteBy the way how's that hounding Benitez out thing working for you? Marvellous idea that.
Why don't you just grow up already? If you can't hack different opinions expressed in a fair manner then go elsewhere.
ReplyDeleteJamie the fact you allow comments on your articles suggest you want people to voice their opinion. If you don’t then remove the facility or just delete all those which you don’t agree with if that makes you happy.
ReplyDeleteI was merely pointing out that Souness’ concerns re Balotelli were based on the fact he is fairly likely to get himself sent off leaving his team down to 10 men and Suarez has never been sent off for us.
You suggest he’s a liability when in fact he’s our no. 1 asset.
i really dont think people booing once or twice a season will influence anyones decision to report an incident. fans have a right to boo any player they wish and football is something of a pantomime anyway with heroes and villains. other clubs wont boo evra so i dont see any issue wish the booing. according to your logic, does this mean no player will betray a club by leaving them to a rival for example in case they get booed by ONE club a season. no it doesnt, so this wont make players think twice about reporting racist abuse if they feel they have actually been abused. the only reason evra got the abuse is A. he plays for man utd and B. he blew it all out of proportion, as too did the people who made the decisions.
ReplyDeleteJaimie Kanwar.....not a Lliverpool fan.
ReplyDeleteI do not understand why people read this site other than the fact the misleading headlines lure you in?
Horrible, negative, anti Liverpool blogger.....nothing more.
No? So tell me why it is believed that more than 50% of rapes still are not reported in this country? Could it be because of how the alleged victim is treated? You really think that people getting a bullet in the post is not going to make people think about not reporting it?
ReplyDeleteThe fact is that if you want to get rid of racist abuse and such like, abuse in general, you do not do it by abusing people who make the claim. That looks more like standing alongside the racist to me.
Your argument makes no sense, leaving for more money or champions league football is one thing, and usually does not get booed, report abuse is another, there is no money to be gained by it and if, all things considered, your life becomes harder by making the allegation, many will not do.
You still don't get it and you still think that Evra just made it up to get Suarez into trouble.
Also, does anyone who was horrified about the comments about Suarez's sister realise that Suarez does not have a sister? He has 6 brothers, so all this nonsense about Suarez's sister being insulted, etc, etc, is embarrassing. We should stop all this nonsense before it gets past the point of no return, our club is looking silly now.
There are some real pearlers on here today. Balotell = unreliable, Suarez = too passionate. Suarez has never been selfish or agitated for a move - apart from when he took his former club, Groningen, to a tribunal to agitate for a move to Ajax. Ajax upped their offer that same day and his club caved in.
ReplyDeleteSouness ought to tone it down when slating other players, liabilities? If he wants liabilities he ought to look no further than Julian Dicks and co. The rubbish he bought into the club when he was managing it.
I'd be happy if we had a 21 year old liability like Balotelli.
Hi Carl, good post. of course, nowhere near 30,000 of that crowd is racist.
ReplyDeleteBut for all those who think that our club has handled this well :
Would you have been happy with that explanation if it was 1940 and it was a load of Bayern Munich supporters booing a jewish player from Hertha Berlin? Are you happy that some supporters will stand alongside racists and other opportunists in booing a player because he plays for Man Utd? Do you really think that 0 out of 30,000 LFC supporters are racist? If anyone thinks that some are, you can pat themself on the back for give the racists in the crowd a free pass in the 'boo the black man' day at Anfield. And then standing alongside the racists so that they can hide in amongst the well meaning, but misguided, LFC anti racist support that is booing a black man.
It is strange how people standing near the idiot making monkey gestures stopped booing, isn't it? Barely one person in that picture is looking like they are having a go. They realised what their actions were encouraging, maybe? What would you do if that man was standing next to you? Keep booing, safe in the knowledge that you are not racist? Or feel a bit guilty because all this encouraged this guy to kick off?
And I'm looking forward to seeing Suarez back also, but i think he is in for an ordeal that may lead to him wanting out in the summer unless we change our strategy with this in the coming weeks. And to change now will look hypocritical and just like an attempt to ensure Suarez avoids what Evra got.
Well done to all those who want to string Evra up for 'lying'. You all pass, with distinction, as LFC supporters, but fail as thinking human beings. Man Utd will have just as many who fall into the same category and if you don't think that they are equally capable of deluding themselves into a frenzy, as well as supporters and players elsewhere, i hope you are ready to sit there and watch our man suffer. And that you will be a philosophical about it as you are about the Evra abuse.