Balotelli versus Benteke

[Hoorayforpeepee]

It may be my 2 day bender but fuck Cavani, the racist, Falcao, Jovetic, Villa, get Benteke, this boy can be City's Drogba, 10 million when the Vile are relegated should do it and any Belgians should help.

[Michael Brookes]

Ben..Te..Ke......... Ben...Te..KE!

[Dameerto]

qué?

[bigblue]

Anyone still think Benteke is better than Mario????

Maybe he was doomed to fail in England, but we've lost one of the best talents in the world for the next 5 years at least. Can see exactly why Mancini was so sad.

7 goals in 6 games for Milan
3 goas in 3 games for Italy (including a great one vs Brazil)

Everyone doubting his talent should wobble your head x1000. If Messi was a City player people would be complaining that he doesn't work hard enough and other little nit-picky shit. Get behind players while they are here.

[Nigels Tackle]

qué?

ben... te.... qué?

[freshie]

Anyone still think Benteke is better than Mario????

Maybe he was doomed to fail in England, but we've lost one of the best talents in the world for the next 5 years at least. Can see exactly why Mancini was so sad.

7 goals in 6 games for Milan
3 goas in 3 games for Italy (including a great one vs Brazil)

Everyone doubting his talent should wobble your head x1000. If Messi was a City player people would be complaining that he doesn't work hard enough and other little nit-picky shit. Get behind players while they are here.

He wasn't going to make it in England at this stage of his career (or perhaps any for that matter). He was clearly homesick, had a manager that one minute was castigating him, the next indulging him, a media who focused on everything but what he did on the pitch and a childish, self absorbed, petulant streak (which he may never lose). He is now at home, is happy and is consequently scoring for fun (and looks to be enjoying his football too). Can be a great player on his day, just not for us it seems

[twosips]

Anyone still think Benteke is better than Mario????

Maybe he was doomed to fail in England, but we've lost one of the best talents in the world for the next 5 years at least. Can see exactly why Mancini was so sad.

7 goals in 6 games for Milan
3 goas in 3 games for Italy (including a great one vs Brazil)

Everyone doubting his talent should wobble your head x1000. If Messi was a City player people would be complaining that he doesn't work hard enough and other little nit-picky shit. Get behind players while they are here.

Or ya know, he could be the next Adebayor. Capable of massive purple patches and lots of talent, but ultimately a fucking time waster..i'm not sold on the idea that he'll ever be a fearless consistent striker. He's having a honeymoon period in a considerably weaker league cos he's surrounded by his family near his home. He likes playing in Milan - great. I think he'd be totally fucked if he went anywhere else. He hasn't got the mentality or maturity.

I actually like Mario but i just don't think it'll end that well. I think he'll drift and just be a good striker at best.

[bigblue]

Or ya know, he could be the next Adebayor. Capable of massive purple patches and lots of talent, but ultimately a fucking time waster..i'm not sold on the idea that he'll ever be a fearless consistent striker. He's having a honeymoon period in a considerably weaker league cos he's surrounded by his family near his home. He likes playing in Milan - great. I think he'd be totally fucked if he went anywhere else. He hasn't got the mentality or maturity.

I actually like Mario but i just don't think it'll end that well. I think he'll drift and just be a good striker at best.

I think he's already achieved more and is playing at a much, much higher level than Adebayor and he's only 22. Think of another player his age who would put in a performance vs. Germany in a Euro semi-final or score a goal against Brazil like he did a few days ago. And heres some more:

http://www.101greatgoals.com/players/mario-balotelli/

He could be the next Gascoigne/Adebayor or he could be the next Herny/Drogba. The fact is that he has the talent (and is showing it) that he can perform in the top 1% of pro footballers. Many people can be good, only a select few have the ability to be great.

I think posters here let the media talking points get in the way of really appreciating what we had. Hopefully this doesn't happen with the next great young talent we get.

[DoomMerchant]

Anyone still think Benteke is better than Mario????

Maybe he was doomed to fail in England, but we've lost one of the best talents in the world for the next 5 years at least. Can see exactly why Mancini was so sad.

7 goals in 6 games for Milan
3 goas in 3 games for Italy (including a great one vs Brazil)

Everyone doubting his talent should wobble your head x1000. If Messi was a City player people would be complaining that he doesn't work hard enough and other little nit-picky shit. Get behind players while they are here.

Or ya know, he could be the next Adebayor. Capable of massive purple patches and lots of talent, but ultimately a fucking time waster..i'm not sold on the idea that he'll ever be a fearless consistent striker. He's having a honeymoon period in a considerably weaker league cos he's surrounded by his family near his home. He likes playing in Milan - great. I think he'd be totally fucked if he went anywhere else. He hasn't got the mentality or maturity.

I actually like Mario but i just don't think it'll end that well. I think he'll drift and just be a good striker at best.

not this. end of story.

[Im_Spartacus]

I think he's already achieved more and is playing at a much, much higher level than Adebayor and he's only 22. Think of another player his age who would put in a performance vs. Germany in a Euro semi-final or score a goal against Brazil like he did a few days ago. And heres some more:

http://www.101greatgoals.com/players/mario-balotelli/

He could be the next Gascoigne/Adebayor or he could be the next Herny/Drogba. The fact is that he has the talent (and is showing it) that he can perform in the top 1% of pro footballers. Many people can be good, only a select few have the ability to be great.

I think posters here let the media talking points get in the way of really appreciating what we had. Hopefully this doesn't happen with the next great young talent we get.

You have some reasonable points, but Mario was never going to be the player we built our attacking threat around.

At Milan he is the main man

The fact is that he isnt a team player most of the time when he cant be arsed, and doesnt do well playing where he is not the main man. If Italy and Milan are happy to give him that role, fair enough, but on the occasions he was made the main man in citys attack, he generally went missing, so either he was not upto the premier league at this stage of his career, or he wasnt prepared to fight to make that position his own.

He had every opportunity, but i will agree with the poster above who said that mancini was a big part of the problem

[sidSmith]

You have some reasonable points, but Mario was never going to be the player we built our attacking threat around.

At Milan he is the main man

The fact is that he isnt a team player most of the time when he cant be arsed, and doesnt do well playing where he is not the main man. If Italy and Milan are happy to give him that role, fair enough, but on the occasions he was made the main man in citys attack, he generally went missing, so either he was not upto the premier league at this stage of his career, or he wasnt prepared to fight to make that position his own.

He had every opportunity, but i will agree with the poster above who said that mancini was a big part of the problem

I agree. Mancini was a big part of the problem. I've questioned his man management abilities else where. The other obvious problem was the press. He never had a chance. Odd how he was the devil incarnate when playing for us, but is now a world class player. Funny that they even report how he's doing back home, he's hardly got the profile of Beckham or Messi, yet they do report it and I think it's just to rub it in that they fucked us over.

[Niall Quinns Discopants]

You have some reasonable points, but Mario was never going to be the player we built our attacking threat around.

At Milan he is the main man

The fact is that he isnt a team player most of the time when he cant be arsed, and doesnt do well playing where he is not the main man. If Italy and Milan are happy to give him that role, fair enough, but on the occasions he was made the main man in citys attack, he generally went missing, so either he was not upto the premier league at this stage of his career, or he wasnt prepared to fight to make that position his own.

He had every opportunity, but i will agree with the poster above who said that mancini was a big part of the problem

I agree. Mancini was a big part of the problem. I've questioned his man management abilities else where. The other obvious problem was the press. He never had a chance. Odd how he was the devil incarnate when playing for us, but is now a world class player. Funny that they even report how he's doing back home, he's hardly got the profile of Beckham or Messi, yet they do report it and I think it's just to rub it in that they fucked us over.

And how was Mancini part of the problem exactly? Giving him endless amount of chances and yet he rarely bothered to give full 100% for the cause never mind personal developement.

I was indifferent when he left but now I'm happy the fucker has gone. Every fucking idiot in this world who think football in Serie A and football in Premier League is somewhat comparable, eventhough showing one game from each league to fucker from Mars would tell they aren't, will keep wanking over him and the whole thing makes me laugh. I'm sure he'll score some goals in fucking slower than slow paced Serie A standing there between defenders and getting every single cross and throughball aimed at him. But he will and could never raise his game when 100% effort was needed. He couldn't deal with bit of kicking he got from defenders always fucking moaning and whining at refs or even worse, delivering some retarded avenge. And I'm sure he'll score some goals against mighty FC Tirol in Champion's League and I will have to read this fucking crap here over and over again.

And again, what the fuck does that have to do with Mancini? If anything, he deserves bollocking for giving him too many chances and dragging with us to this season where, let's face it, he did square root of sweet fuck all.

[Im_Spartacus]

And how was Mancini part of the problem exactly? Giving him endless amount of chances and yet he rarely bothered to give full 100% for the cause never mind personal developement.

I was indifferent when he left but now I'm happy the fucker has gone. Every fucking idiot in this world who think football in Serie A and football in Premier League is somewhat comparable, eventhough showing one game from each league to fucker from Mars would tell they aren't, will keep wanking over him and the whole thing makes me laugh. I'm sure he'll score some goals in fucking slower than slow paced Serie A standing there between defenders and getting every single cross and throughball aimed at him. But he will and could never raise his game when 100% effort was needed. He couldn't deal with bit of kicking he got from defenders always fucking moaning and whining at refs or even worse, delivering some retarded avenge. And I'm sure he'll score some goals against mighty FC Tirol in Champion's League and I will have to read this fucking crap here over and over again.

And again, what the fuck does that have to do with Mancini? If anything, he deserves bollocking for giving him too many chances and dragging with us to this season where, let's face it, he did square root of sweet fuck all.

Ah, rushing to your mans defence again, fuck sake man up. This isnt an anti mancini thread, but ffs lets have a bit of fucking balance here, mancini is very culpable for the outcome. Firstly, very few blues who had seen balotelli play expected him to fit in here, mancini indulged his idiocy after going out on a limb to sign the lad, but there was never, ever a spell when it looked like he was going to be a long term city player. Id question to start with mancinis judgement to sign him in the first place, to bring someone wi such insecurities out of his home country - all the red lights were flashing on this transfer, yet mancini clearly pressed in wi his agenda to get him.

So then more recently leaving out an in form striker and playing balotelli in the derby, substituting him then publically criticising him, is the way a normal manager operates? Thats the first example off the top of my head - balotelli shouldnt have been anywhere near the pitch that day, yet Mancini thought he would try to be clever, then acted surprised and hurt when an out of form player played poorly in our biggest game of the season. This sort of treatment, which was not a 1 off, not only confuses the player himself, but what about the players who were left out over time to accomodate balo?

Give me a fucking break pal.....dot get me wrong balotelli was the master of his own downfall, but to say Mancini wasnt part of the problem is just a ridiculous thing to say, especially as mancini chose to play lots of it out in public

[Foreverinbluedreams]

We all do realise that Mario showed this type of form for us last season, between his goal after coming on as a sub versus Everton and his ridiculous sending off against Liverpool he scored 7 goals in 5 starts.

I think Mancini went wrong with Mario trying to use him out wide, he's clearly a number 9 that a team should be built around.

[Im_Spartacus]

We all do realise that Mario showed this type of form for us last season, between his goal after coming on as a sub versus Everton and his ridiculous sending off against Liverpool he scored 7 goals in 5 starts.

I think Mancini went wrong with Mario trying to use him out wide, he's clearly a number 9 that a team should be built around.

Very much like dzeko, buy a player and make no effort to play to that players strengths. Its not that fucking difficult is it?

[Foreverinbluedreams]

We all do realise that Mario showed this type of form for us last season, between his goal after coming on as a sub versus Everton and his ridiculous sending off against Liverpool he scored 7 goals in 5 starts.

I think Mancini went wrong with Mario trying to use him out wide, he's clearly a number 9 that a team should be built around.

Very much like dzeko, buy a player and make no effort to play to that players strengths. Its not that fucking difficult is it?

He does play to Aguero and Tevez' strength though. I personally believe the whole Tevez situation fucked up Bob's long term plans.

[kinkylola]

I think if balo had had 1 main strike partner (like he has with el shaawary), and was played AS A STRIKER, we would have seen lots of the same thing as we are seeing now at milan.

the truth is having 4 could-be #1 strikers is not an ideal situation for anyone, not the players, not the team and not the fans. As it is ... the only striker we can put on the bench and have him reliably perform is tevez, because of his attitude and workrate, but he's still better starting. And we start aguero because he is our big money, title winning, goal scorer ... and he's also fucking good. SO then we had to figure out what to do with balo and dzeko, neither of which I think are great coming off the bench, though Dzeko is really unsuited to our style of play, so if you are going to play him, you gotta start him because he needs time to adapt to every game. And you have to start him sometimes, or else he'll be really pissed off and a waste of money.

So ... it was just a huge cluster fuck. I don't know who to blame for that ... I think that Mancini did not play Balo to his strengths/correct position, but I also think he had a shit hard job to try and please 4 top strikers. And i'm not even going to get into the discussion of who bought who, but it all became a mess.

[Blue Since 76]

As it is ... the only striker we can put on the bench and have him reliably perform is tevez, because of his attitude and workrate, but he's still better starting. SO then we had to figure out what to do with balo and dzeko, neither of which I think are great coming off the bench, though Dzeko is really unsuited to our style of play, so if you are going to play him, you gotta start him because he needs time to adapt to every game.

Tevez is generally poor when he comes off the bench / he really seems to struggle to get into a game. Dzeko on the other hand has been excellent, possibly as we've change the way we're playing by the time he comes on.

With the exception of Spurs away first game last season, I'm struggling to think of a game Dzeko started where you could see why he cost £24m

[Piccsnumberoneblue]

I think Mancini hanging Balo out to dry to deflect criticism from himself at Arsenal last season was the end of his chances.
The press treatment and the way referees dealt with him were also big factors.
It was a lot to overcome for him.

[Original Dub]

Tevez is generally poor when he comes off the bench / he really seems to struggle to get into a game. Dzeko on the other hand has been excellent, possibly as we've change the way we're playing by the time he comes on.

With the exception of Spurs away first game last season, I'm struggling to think of a game Dzeko started where you could see why he cost £24m

Tevez is at his best after a run in the team. He grows and grows as each game passes. This has proven again and again since he joined.

I also think balo could have made it as our main centre forward but between himself and bob they fucked it all up.