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Mario Balotelli’s return to English football was less than auspicious. He was once labeled as unmanageable by Jose Mourinho, and very few indeed ever saw him as an adequate replacement for the loss of Luis Suarez to Barcelona. And this is something that rings especially true given his dismal goal scoring record last season, as his 21 appearances only yielded 3 goals.
With all that considered, I would like to make a case for the maligned forward to remain at Anfield for at least another season. There are two sides to this proposal, so please bear with me …
Balotelli did, on a number of occasions last season, request to be paired up front with another striker. This is something that never really materialized as Daniel Sturridge suffered another injury-ravaged season that allowed him only 14 appearances (and 5 goals). This meant that the two front men were never given a decent enough opportunity to form a meaningful strike partnership.
Playing Raheem Sterling alongside Balotelli also failed to bear fruit as Sterling, while being a skilled and agile attacker, is certainly not an out-and-out striker. This is something further evidenced by the amount of glaring goal-scoring opportunities that went begging at the youngster’s feet.
Rickie Lambert, I thought, proved reasonable value at £4m, especially given his role as super-sub. But again, Balotelli and Lambert rarely featured on the field at the same time, again not allowing any time to form an understanding between the two. And the same applies to Fabio Borini … but that’s a touch point for another time.
This coming season could prove more promising though. Liverpool Manager, Brendan Rodgers, has again seen fit to getting his transfer dealings over with as soon as possible. The arrival of Danny Ings – who alone scored more goals than all of Liverpool’s strikers collectively – a highly creative Roberto Firmino, and the effervescent James Milner mean that Liverpool have an attack that could see them elbow their way back into a top four position come season’s end.
In respect to attacking midfielders, Liverpool have at their disposal: Philippe Coutinho, Adam Lallana, Jordan Ibe, Roberto Firmino and Lazar Markovic, while Raheem Sterling is a virtual certainty to don something other than a Liverpool jersey by the start of the season. With the added surety of having a combination of Jordan Henderson, James Milner, Lucas Leiva, Joe Allen and Emre Can behind them, means that Liverpool do look a much more balanced outfit than the one used last time out.
Back on topic now, and the addition of Ings and Firmino, who can play either behind the strikers or lead the line himself, means that Rodgers has proper striking options at his disposal. This in turn means that the enigmatic Mario Balotelli can be fielded with a strike partner as required. In fact, Rodgers can once again tinker with tactics and formation whenever it takes his fancy – something used extensively in Liverpool’s 2013-14 season to great effect.
Please click on the following link to read the remainder of this piece: https://ballgeek.wordpress.com/2015/07/01/balotelli-in-or-out/
