***Official Balo Watch Thread***

[Deyna]

And now he asks the fans to forgive him... What planet is this creature living on...?
http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/sport/football/manchester_city/s/1411312_i_am_very_sorry_mario_balotelli_asks_manchester_city_fans_to_forgive_his_europa_league_red_card


Mario Balotelli has apologised to his Manchester City team-mates for his red card in Thursday night's Europa League encounter with Dynamo Kiev at Eastlands.

Manager Roberto Mancini branded Balotelli "stupid" for the dismissal, for planting his studs into the chest and thigh of Dynamo defender Goran Popov.

Mancini felt the 36th-minute dismissal cost his side their chance of reaching the last eight and tonight Balotelli has expressed his regret.

"I am very sorry to my team-mates in particular that I got sent off so early in such an important game," said Balotelli.

It was the latest in a long line of controversies affecting the 20-year-old, who has mixed undoubted talent with an unerring ability to attract trouble since his summer arrival from Inter Milan.

In the past, Mancini has accused Balotelli of not listening to him and he claimed last night the Italy forward would be axed for Sunday's crucial Premier League trip to Chelsea.

However, the Blues have confirmed Balotelli will be available for the Stamford Bridge encounter as the forward tried to explain what went wrong yesterday.

"I was trying my best for the team as I always do," he said.

"The ball was in the air and I went for it with my foot high.

"I never tried to make contact with Popov and I certainly didn't want to hurt him. In retrospect, however, the tackle was poor.

"I should have showed more consideration but I was so involved in the game.

"It was not a good way to repay the manager who has shown so much faith in me or the owners and fans who have made me so welcome since I arrived from Italy.

"I hope they forgive me and see that I want success with Manchester City."

[Moonchesteri]

And now he asks the fans to forgive him... What planet is this creature living on...?

That would be planet earth. You make mistakes, you ask for forgiveness and try to learn from your mistakes. I just hope he's serious and actually does something to show it too (other than words).

[Deyna]

And now he asks the fans to forgive him... What planet is this creature living on...?

That would be planet earth. You make mistakes, you ask for forgiveness and try to learn from your mistakes. I just hope he's serious and actually does something to show it too (other than words).

And now, all of a sudden, after 24 hrs of slaughtering on this board, everything is forgotten since he said "pls forgive me, I'm just an unlucky man" to the M(U)EN reporter...? Pls give me a break... He's got his chances.

[Beefymcfc]

And why the fuck does everyone keep calling him a 'Boy', Nige was the latest! A 'Boy' is someone who is not yet a teenager, not yet a young adult, not yet lost his virginity and not yet learnt to masturbate to the god-damn womens underwear section in Littlewoods catalogue!

He is not a fucking 'Boy', he's a fucking adult you nancy bastards!

[BobKowalski]

And now he asks the fans to forgive him... What planet is this creature living on...?

That would be planet earth. You make mistakes, you ask for forgiveness and try to learn from your mistakes. I just hope he's serious and actually does something to show it too (other than words).

Pretty much. Apologising is the least Mario can do and having done so I'll accept that and move on. Equally he has to prove with deeds and not just words that he has learnt from this.

And whilst the sending off pretty much scuppered our chances last night I still think most of the blame lies with our unprofessional and sloppy attitude in the first leg. That was poor form by Mancini as frankly any team that harbours serious European ambition cannot lose away legs by 2 clear goals and expect to progress.

Ironically in talking to a couple of non City fans they did feel that the Balotelli red was a tad harsh although they did enjoy 'Mario and his bib' (yeah okay laugh you bastards). I have been slightly surprised by the level of vitriol that Balotelli has had heaped on him by City fans but then maybe not as feelings were high before last night so maybe its just something that will always be there. Lets hope he doesn't start practising Kung Fu kicks on the opposing fans and potentially costing us a title as that will have us spinning right off the deep end with no hope of getting back which would be fair enough after all no group of fans in the country would welcome back a player who did something like that would they?

[me_innit]

Mario will bounce back, he's capable of fulfilling his potential and proving doubters wrong.

[Arjan Van Schotte]

Mario will bounce back, he's capable of fulfilling his potential and proving doubters wrong.

welll thank fuck for that. i was worried there.

[carl_feedthegoat]

Apologies eh.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footba ... -card.html

MUST BE LIES..ITS THE MAIL.

[Blue in the face]

Apologies eh.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footba ... -card.html

MUST BE LIES..ITS THE MAIL.

No no, it's genuine alright................................. They copied it from private eye.

[Alioune DVToure]

Apologies eh.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footba ... -card.html

MUST BE LIES..ITS THE MAIL.

Hahaha

There's probably only 20 or so of us off-topic saddos who will get the context to this.

Still, a welcome return for the CAPS LOCK.

[ronk]

Mario obviously has talent but talent without hard work and the right attitude usually doesn't add up to much. I'm more worried about the effect he'll have on the rest of the team.... how would you like working alongside a spoilt brat that continously lets you down and doesn't seem to care???

Check this out for a quotation. Someone should translate it and send to the lad:

"Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent."– Calvin Coolidge.

Unfortunately, Mario might read that, and think; "So if I persist in acting like a nob, I might just prove the world wrong!"

The most interesting part of that quote is who wrote it, I have a lot of respect for aspects of what he did, but Coolidge was an apprentice trained lawyer with a modest political career who was almost accidentally made vice president of America and was promoted on the death of Harding. He served as President for 6 years until shortly before the start of the 1929 Wall Street Crash, so essentially he presided over the disastrous boom that collapsed the world economy.

He was an ordinary man who got where he was through luck, hard-work and not overreaching himself in terms of ambition or taking risks. It's small wonder that he should belittle the usefulness of genius, he had to manage without it.

[halnone]

While I agree that Balo is a bit of a cunt, I don't think he deserves some of the shit he's getting. He's the same age as Boyata, who also got a red card in a crucial game. But I don't see many people saying shit about Boyata.
Balo's only 20 ffs. Hopefully he'll learn from this and improve his game. Meanwhile Mancini should drop Balo for a few games to teach him a lesson.

[carl_feedthegoat]

While I agree that Balo is a bit of a cunt, I don't think he deserves some of the shit he's getting. He's the same age as Boyata, who also got a red card in a crucial game. But I don't see many people saying shit about Boyata.
Balo's only 20 ffs. Hopefully he'll learn from this and improve his game. Meanwhile Mancini should drop Balo for a few games to teach him a lesson.

Id been in the Army 3 yrs by the time I was 20.

Anyone would think 20 is fucking kindergarten !! By the way...Boyata is a perfect professional..how you can compare them is beyond me.

[halnone]

While I agree that Balo is a bit of a cunt, I don't think he deserves some of the shit he's getting. He's the same age as Boyata, who also got a red card in a crucial game. But I don't see many people saying shit about Boyata.
Balo's only 20 ffs. Hopefully he'll learn from this and improve his game. Meanwhile Mancini should drop Balo for a few games to teach him a lesson.

Id been in the Army 3 yrs by the time I was 20.

Anyone would think 20 is fucking kindergarten !! By the way...Boyata is a perfect professional..how you can compare them is beyond me.

their fucking age. did you even read my post? Also, I never said it was anything like fucking kindergarten. My point is, he's only 20. He has around 15 years left of his career.
Drogba was a cunt when he was younger. look at him now.

[Alioune DVToure]

While I agree that Balo is a bit of a cunt, I don't think he deserves some of the shit he's getting. He's the same age as Boyata, who also got a red card in a crucial game. But I don't see many people saying shit about Boyata.
Balo's only 20 ffs. Hopefully he'll learn from this and improve his game. Meanwhile Mancini should drop Balo for a few games to teach him a lesson.

Id been in the Army 3 yrs by the time I was 20.

Anyone would think 20 is fucking kindergarten !! By the way...Boyata is a perfect professional..how you can compare them is beyond me.

I agree that the Boyata comparison is nonsense. He got sent off because he got skinned. An honest mistake that he was devastated about.

Balotelli has been sent off twice and booked eight times for stupid, petulant shit.

I'm in the 'one more chance' camp but he does need to sort his act out. He needs to get the back pages for his ability, and he's capable of doing it.

[halnone]

I know my comparison with Boyata is very stretched at best.
I just mean that inexperience, and in Balo's case, also a bad attitude, is something that you will find in abundance if you look at 20 year old footballers.
I'm not saying he's any good. I'm just saying that he's not the monster many people seem to be portraying him as.

[Ted Hughes]

Imo, he's done what he needed to do as a 1st step. Rather than being a twat about it, he's apologised. I'd prefer if he'd owned up to deliberately kicking at the bloke, which was obvious even from 100 yards away but I suppose that could make for a bigger ban so at least he's accepted he's dropped a bollock & let us down.

Now we want to see an end to the niggly shit; flicking a foot out just to scrape people's ankles etc, & see a fully focused player doing his best for the team. If he does that, people will forgive him.

[Beefymcfc]

Anybody know how much his club fine was?

[Kladze]

Anybody know how much his club fine was?

50p?

two weeks wages?

Does it make any difference to him?

[Blue2]

He should start on Sunday, it will tell us alot about him. We will either see a changed man with better attitude or it will confirm the opinion of many on here that he is a prick who should be sold.

Personally I think this could be a turning point and we may at last see the player we know he can be. I hope so.