Alan Hansen in scathing *hypocritical* attack on £23m striker. Fair?

Liverpool legend Alan Hansen is on the warpath again. Earlier this season, his repeatedly harsh criticism of Chelsea sparked an ongoing war of words with Andre Villas Boas, and along with former team-mates Graeme Souness and Mark Lawrenson, he's gleefully stuck the knife into Manchester City at every opportunity. The three-time European Cup winner was at it again today with a scathing critique of City striker Mario Balotelli.

In a particularly mordacious column earlier in the season, Hansen called Chelsea's Jose Bosingwa a 'terrible' and 'embarrassing' defender, who made David Luiz look like a 'world beater'. He also claimed that Luiz 'wouldn't know what a good position is if it was staring him in the face'.

Hansen, Souness and Lawro have also regularly attacked Balotelli and Carlos Tevez; indeed, only a couple of days ago, Lawro argued that Mancini should 'use and abuse' Tevez and then kick him out of the club at the end of the season.

It's funny how we never hear Kenny Dalglish's buddies publicly eviscerate Luis Suarez, a player who, throughout his career, has caused more damage than Tevez and Balotelli combined.

In his column for the Daily Telegraph today, Hansen was on Balotelli's back again, and some of his statements are so breathtakingly hypocritical, it's hard not to be amused. For example:

"He [Balotelli] has become a damaging distraction and Roberto Mancini must shoulder the blame for allowing the situation to develop to the point where the player is beginning to affect [the club]".

I didn't hear Hansen saying this kind of thing when Suarez was banned for making an abusive gesture at Fulham fans, or for his stupidity during the Patrice Evra fiasco. Hansen continued:

"Mancini has handled it badly because most top managers would identify a problem and get rid of the cause"

Never in a million years would Hansen say the same about Dalglish, even though the same applies: Dalglish handled the Suarez-Evra situation badly, and the club's reputation suffered as a result. Hansen added:

"You don’t need ‘characters’ like Balotelli who seem to want only to seek out confrontation with referees and opponents"

Suarez spends 89% of his time on the field arguing with referees, yet does Hansen argue that he should be kicked out of the club as a result?

Hansen went on to make the ridiculous argument that Balotelli would be 'culpable' if Mancini loses his job (!) How, exactly? As we are repeatedly reminded - especially by Hansen on 'Match of the Day' - football is a TEAM game, yet we're expected to believe that Man City's problems on the field are all down to one player?

Hansen can attack Balotelli till the cows come home, but it won't change one simple fact: Balotelli does what he's paid to do, i.e. SCORE GOALS, and in that regard, he has succeeded where Liverpool's expensive flops have spectacularly failed:

* Balotelli has 20 goals in 26 starts for Man City
* That's more than Carroll, Suarez, Kuyt, Henderson, Adam and Downing combined.
* Hansen laid into Balotelli despite the fact he score two more goals on Saturday.
* Balotelli is younger than Carroll, with less experience of English football, yet he still outscores him.

I'm not denying that Balotelli has problems, but it's just shameful hypocrisy from Hansen, Souness and Lawro to continually attack him and stay silent about Luis Suarez.

Like most LFC fans, I have great respect for Hansen, and I totally understand his allegiance to the club, but when is he going to stop ignoring Liverpool's slide into abject mediocrity?

I'm not suggesting that Hansen should suddenly come out and publicly eviscerate Liverpool, or that he should stop criticising other teams, but surely this kind of naked hypocrisy is unwarranted?

Jaimie Kanwar