Mario

[Ted Hughes]

Anyone know why he wasn't involved yesterday ? Tactical or 'other' ? Is it a sign that Bob has decided on Dzeko instead of him or just a one off ?

And, what do we do with him ?

I love the geezer but I have to say that since he's been sidelined, the whole club seems to have been more focused & that's with a bloke in the team who fucked off on a golfing holiday for most of the season !

I'm not missing the 'Mario ate my hamster' headlines at all (even though they've still been out there but nobody has been interested).

I think he can be a great player & I think he's great fun but I'm not missing him even 1%.

What should we do, go through it all again next season or just get rid ?

[mr_nool]

Just get rid, in my opinion. I'm more bothered what will happen to Johnson and Milner. Can't see that either of them will be content with just being an occasional bit part player next year.

[Pretty Boy Lee]

I honestly think bob just did it as AJ has come off the bench twice and terrorized the Geordies and we had Dzeko on the bench if we needed a target man.

Simple.

[ant london]

I think he's being taught a lesson by Bob....tough love.

I like him a lot but he needs to take a long hard look at himself over the summer and figure out just what it is he wants to be. I don't think we're looking to sell but if he doesn't come back focussed and committed and more mature I think we will chuck him out.

Can't disagree at all about the focus we've had since he's been out and I don't see any reason at all for him to feature again this season.

I thought Dzeko did well yesterday (albeit with a couple of bits of comedic ineptitude thrown in) and I'd happily have him coming off the bench again vs QPR.

Mario can continue in Coventry til the job is done for me

[Bianchi on Ice]

I agree Ant, maybe Mancini is quietly making a point with Balotelli. It will give him time to reflect this summer, hopefully. Maybe he doesnt have that in him, we will soon find out, cant imagine another soap opera season being allowed from anyone, let alone him.

[john@staustell]

I agree with the non-City press wisdom that Mario's sending off at Arsenal has played a major part in us (hopefully) winning the league.

[Grob]

The man responsible for us being 1 step from glory.

Had he not been so irresponsible and immature to get himself sent off at Arsenel and subsequently banned, he might still have been playing in the last 5 games.

I shudder at the thought.

[Yffi_88]

Let him go. We've seen the best and worst of him this season, and unfortunately, the bad has simply outweighed the good. Thanks for the goals in the 6-1, thanks for your last minute pen v Spurs, thanks for the laughs. But no thanks to another season of off-field headlines, stupid sendings off and an uncertainty of which player is going to show up.

I don't think he'll 'learn and mature', i think being a tit is permanently imbedded in him, I'm afraid.

[PeterParker]

Let him go, no doubt.

If you ask me, the real reason why we are top right now is because he was out.

[steveo_88]

The dilemma with Mario is for all the talent he possesses when are you ever confident we will leave the field with 11 men when he plays?

For all Tevezs' pricking about and Dzeko's poor touches/shots in row Z you know they'll play football and finish playing with/for the team. What Mario will do not even Casandra can predict!

[Renato_CTID]

I'm really bored of Mario, he must come back to Italy because he failed to be an important striker for our beloved City!

[belgian cityfan]

the problem with mario is that there is only a very slim chance that he will change, ever
because let's face it the man is simply crazy and there's not much anyone else can do about that

Mancini has tried to protect him as much as possible and he's perhaps the only manager in this world that can do a sort of decent job of managing Balotelli
but over the course of a season there will always be times you have to 'punish' Mario for the stuff he pulls
if he would end up with a discipline above all type of manager he wouldnt last longer than a month
and yet it cant be our intention to throw away Mario's ability

I dont think he will get one minute of playing time in the QPR game but I do expect Mario to be here at the start of next season

[blues2win]

I very much doubt that both Dzeko and Balotelli will be here next season. Dzeko is an infuriating player. He produces some lovely touches and can be a great finisher. On other days his touch is awful and he looks as if he can't be arsed. Balotelli is similarly inconsistent with the added danger of a red card round every corner. When you add in uncertainty about Tevez ( will he really stay and if he does how long before we get stories about the shittiness of Manchester restaurants etc etc) you feel as though there could be significant changes up front next season.

The players that have really made our season are Hart ( outstanding when we needed him) Kompany a real leader, Lescott ( a couple of howlers yesterday mind) Richards ( come on a ton) Clichy ( cracking buy) Silva ( less good second half of the season but what a contribution in the first half) Yaya ( how the fuck has he kept going after the Africa Cup of nations) and Aguero ( he's missed a few recently but his all round contribution is always top notch)

For me Cavani would be a great buy to replace Balotelli. We need someone to offer us pace and top class skill which means Hazard to replace Johnson. I suspect Mancini wants someone who is a more complete defensive midfielder than De Jong ( who is however better than a lot of people give him credit for). We really struggled without Yaya in January. Then we may replace Kolarov at left back ( but we haven't scored ONCE from a free kick in a League match). Finally Savic clearly needs to be replaced because we do need four decent centre backs. When Lescott and Kompany were both out we were desperately short and it nearly cost us the title. Obviously we have to get shot of some loan players too eg Adebayor, RSC etc.

That's a lot of changes but there'll be outs as well as ins because of FFP and actually because huge squads breed unhappiness and disunity. Still I would expect us to challenge far more powerfully for the Champion's League next season and when you add in the FA and League Cups we'll need to be able to rely 100% on every member of our squad which clearly wasn't the case this season.

[Mingchester Mingy]

Mario Who ?

[BobbyJ1956]

The world in general has never been very kind to eccentrics and near-nutters, the world of modern football & the ultra-professionals now in charge of MCFC have even less time for them. Sad but true (and maybe not even sad.)

[Beeks]

As much as I love the guy I think the Arsenal game made me take a step back

I'm starting to see him as a liability rather than the talent he obviously is

I reckon when he's 5 years older he will be unplayable and less 'unplayable'

It's just whether we can be arsed waiting that long

[Ted Hughes]

As much as I love the guy I think the Arsenal game made me take a step back

I'm starting to see him as a liability rather than the talent he obviously is

I reckon when he's 5 years older he will be unplayable and less 'unplayable'

It's just whether we can be arsed waiting that long

If we're to keep him, we need him to perform next season.

Sooner or later he will want to go back to Italy so there's no point in us nurturing him just so he can fuck off to AC Milan when his contract runs out. We either trust him to be a fully valued member of the squad next season or sell him imo, not something inbetween.

[Wooders]

I think we're gonna sell him - sounds like AC are serious about an offer and we'll probably hope he has a good euros, cash in and send him home
one of the few outgoing players we're set to make money imo

[ant london]

I think we're gonna sell him - sounds like AC are serious about an offer and we'll probably hope he has a good euros, cash in and send him home
one of the few outgoing players we're set to make money imo

where on earth have you got that "AC Milan are serious about an offer for him"......the only thing that has recently been in the news is Milan saying there were not going to be making any offers for him or Tevez

or have you other HPs?

[Douglas Higginbottom]

Anyone know why he wasn't involved yesterday ? Tactical or 'other' ? Is it a sign that Bob has decided on Dzeko instead of him or just a one off ?

And, what do we do with him ?

I love the geezer but I have to say that since he's been sidelined, the whole club seems to have been more focused & that's with a bloke in the team who fucked off on a golfing holiday for most of the season !

I'm not missing the 'Mario ate my hamster' headlines at all (even though they've still been out there but nobody has been interested).

I think he can be a great player & I think he's great fun but I'm not missing him even 1%.

What should we do, go through it all again next season or just get rid ?

To answer the question I am sure I heard somewhere that Mancini said it was a tactical decision to leave Mario off the bench.Very sensible I would say even if I am not convinced it's true.