Mario Balotelli

Lazy said:

From what I've heard from people/players/coaches, off the pitch he isn't that bad of a person. A joker and a bit of an idiot, yes, but what proof do you have of him being a TRULY AWFUL person? I consider "truly awful" people, murderers and rapists and con artists of the like. I guess we have different standards.

Also, I'm not excusing him of what he did. It WAS disgraceful and I was one of the people that wanted him gone. Even after this I still think it was a good decision. I don't think it would of worked here if he had stayed.

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Alright, you're correct that my definition of 'truly awful' is exaggerated a bit, clearly he doesn't count as a rapist. but I think that was immediately obvious anyway.

What pisses me off about him is his ability to piss of those who are trying to help him. From what I understand, Materazzi is practically one of his best friends, and look at how that ended up during the Milan derby.

I understand that a large part of it is a product of his upbringing, but at the same time, that does not excuse it.


I'm sure a psychologist would love to get their hands on him for a few hours. The kid has a lot of problems and issues, a lot of anger inside, and he's unable to open up to anyone who wants to help him.


His siege mentality is atrocious, and the sooner he realizes that, the sooner he might blossom into the person he should be.

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Wallace said:

This is where we don't agree.

The talent of Balotelli doesn't come by everyday, and I completely disagree we could have ever properly replace Balotelli without investing a sky-high figure, which we were never able to do.

I definitely understand why some of you wanted him out though. If we have gotten 40-50mil figure for Balotelli, I'd have less of a problem with offloading him.



When was the last time we spent 20 on a player, let alone 30?

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Honestly, I think we have quite a lot of good stock in the youth team now. I know these situations always arise, but I personally believe Longo (Having watched Longo play regularly for over a season now) can challenge Balotelli for his talent level (I'd point out that I'm probably one of the first people to see Balotelli play, as well. I saw him play in the Sheffield FC 150 year old match, in 2007).


And Longo only cost 70k. Thats less than half the price of Balotelli!



Ranocchia's book cost value comes to over 23m (mainly cash), for one. Alvarez+Jonathan is pretty much bang on 20 as well.


If I remember correctly, we paid 10.5m for half of Mariga + the last half of Biabany, and then an additional 10m for Pazzini (swapping in Biabany).

Not like the money isnt there, but my Branca incompetency rant is one I know you've heard a few times

browha said:

nice two goals by balotelli so far, but taking his shirt off and getting a booking in the 36th minute is 100% facepalm

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As I said, 100% true hater. Dude had almost 100% perfect game. On the world stage against tournament favorites, no malicious tackles, no arguing with the refs, no arguing with teammates, not getting riled up even after being fouled, no diving, working hard on defense and chasing opponents down, applauding teammates for attempted passes, AND SCORING 2 BOSS GOALS...


and after all that, you talk about him taking his shirt off? Really? Yeah, balotelli is the first player to take his shirt off and get a yellow






It's better you don't try to "explain" anything tbh. You are the definition of a hater. You are looking for ANYTHING to make a negative comment. I am done responding too so don't look for me to comment again. You're hilarious dude....

Wallace said:

When was the last time we spent 20 on a player, let alone 30?

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I know, the point is we COULD have gotten Kun. We really Kud. And 30 mils were available to us that summer, but we decided to get Biabiany and not spend the money.

nerazzurri4life said:

As I said, 100% true hater. Dude had almost 100% perfect game. On the world stage against tournament favorites, no malicious tackles, no arguing with the refs, no arguing with teammates, not getting riled up even after being fouled, no diving, working hard on defense and chasing opponents down, applauding teammates for attempted passes, AND SCORING 2 BOSS GOALS...


and after all that, you talk about him taking his shirt off? Really?





It's better you don't try to "explain" anything tbh. You are the definition of a hater. You are looking for ANYTHING to make a negative comment. I am done responding to so don't look for me to comment again. Hilarious dude....

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I congratulated him on his two goals, but his tendancy to get in trouble means him being on a yellow card from the 36th minute is fucking dangerous.

You cant deny that, based on his past record....... Because if he got sent off for some dumb foul later on, to get booked for taking his shirt off I can guarantee you I wouldnt be the only hater tomorrow in Italy


Also, its just a dumb booking. If you haven't realized, I'm very critical of dumb bookings. I've criticized PLENTY of our own players for it in the last few years.. its not just some hate for Balotelli. Needless bookings are always retarded, let alone in a semi final in the 36th minute.

The money might have been there, but rather than choosing to replace just one player, we chose to invest to reinforce multiple positions on the field.

That is perfectly valid IMO, considering the age of our squad. The only problem was that the wrong players were bought for the team. However, if that was done, then surely there won't be enough money to cover Balotelli's role in the team.

In that case, if we weren't ready to replace Balotelli, we should have never sold him.

Wallace said:

The money might have been there, but rather than choosing to replace just one player, we chose to invest to reinforce multiple positions on the field.

That is perfectly valid IMO, considering the age of our squad. The only problem was that the wrong players were bought for the team. However, if that was done, then surely there won't be enough money to cover Balotelli's role in the team.

In that case, if we weren't ready to replace Balotelli, we should have never sold him.

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Well, the idea was to put Eto'o up and let him wreck havock (which of course he did), and use Biabany as a winger to cover where Eto'o would 'normally' have played.


Its not like Balotelli offered us many goals or anything in the treble season, iirc he didn't even play any of the decisive final matches, he certainly didnt play the CL final, he was dropped for most of the last Serie A matches. He might have played against Roma, was that when Totti kicked him? Or was that the season before?

browha said:

Its not like Balotelli offered us many goals or anything in the treble season, iirc he didn't even play any of the decisive final matches, he certainly didnt play the CL final, he was dropped for most of the last Serie A matches. He might have played against Roma, was that when Totti kicked him? Or was that the season before?

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I can't remember the stats, but I recalled posting about him being the most efficient player for scoring/assisting in the least number of minutes in 09/10. The main point with Balotelli wasn't just his immediate impact, but the future ahead of him, and the future that he could have provided us with.

We wouldn't even need to think about this Pazzini guy who can't score anything unless someone spoon-feeds him, or when will Milito loses his form again.

browha said:

His siege mentality is atrocious, and the sooner he realizes that, the sooner he might blossom into the person he should be.

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I fully agree. It's all up to him to get his shit under control.

I'm really getting sick of this "Balotelli is a dressing room cancer" bs. And even if he is, who cares? Seriously, if the team is good enough and the player is good enough, it doesn't make a difference

FACT: When we had "troublemakers" in our squad we were competitive. Now we have a bunch of "saints" and how has that helped us? We're a joke now, but hey, at least we don't have troublemakers in our squad!

Look at Milan, with troublemakers such as Cassano, Robinho, Ibra etc etc. How many of you were saying bs like "they're not going to win anything, they will have too many problems in the dressing room" after the 2010 mercato? Now look at them, they won the league and they challenged Juventus to the end, despite having an injury pleaded squad and a rather average squad, as a whole. The big players, regardless of their personality, make a big difference.

Man City won the league as well, despite the Tevez situation, Balotelli and having a squad full of ego's, they did it. You'll probably say something like "they had the best squad, Man Utd had as many points" and things like that, but one thing they didn't have was the experience. They played for a team that hadn't won the league in like 40-50 years? Imagine the pressure, it has got to be immense. Like I said, most of their players are talented, but most of them aren't experienced, which has a lot do with Man Utd closing in and getting ahead of them. But at the end they prevailed, despite big egos and troublemakers. Big players make the difference.

With that said, I'd take a charismatic, potentially great and difference maker, that happens to be a "trouble maker" like Balotelli, over a dull and average "saint" like Pazzini any day of the week.


We gave up on Balotelli too quickly, yeah he was immature, yeah he was inconsistent and yeah he did act like an asshole, and still is some of those things, but he's still only 21. On his day, he's unstoppable. He's got the tools to be the most complete forward in the world, only thing holding him back is his inconsistency and his temperament on the pitch. The off the pitch bs is irrelevant, as long as he cools down ON the pitch he will be a star, and I truly belive that with time and with trust from his managers he'll mature. Remember Italy's game vs Spain? Balo was pretty shit, Di Natale replaced and scored…but Prandelli kept giving Balo chances and now he got them to the finals by scoring to goals against Germany. Even at City last season, he was benched in the last few games, came in against QPR and assisted the league winning goal. Balo still has a lot of time to mature, he's only 21 ffs, he's got all the time in the world.



You guys want a good example that off the pitch bs doesn't matter? One of our biggest legends was, in fact, a troublemaker. Giuseppe Meazza. He used to party most nights, drink, at one point he even showed up late for a game! But he made a difference on the pitch, and that's what's important.

Deeno just brought tha FIYAH!!!!!!Some OG loving 4 ya....:slick:

browha said:

Its not like Balotelli offered us many goals or anything in the treble season, iirc he didn't even play any of the decisive final matches, he certainly didnt play the CL final, he was dropped for most of the last Serie A matches. He might have played against Roma, was that when Totti kicked him? Or was that the season before?

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11 goals and 7 assist for a guy that spent as much time as he did off the pitch is pretty impressive. And he did start in the final game vs Siena and replaced an injured Sneijder in the Coppa final.

blackmore said:

Deeno just brought tha FIYAH!!!!!!Some OG loving 4 ya....:slick:

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x's and o's :slick:

browha said:

I personally believe Longo (Having watched Longo play regularly for over a season now) can challenge Balotelli for his talent level (I'd point out that I'm probably one of the first people to see Balotelli play, as well. I saw him play in the Sheffield FC 150 year old match, in 2007).


And Longo only cost 70k. Thats less than half the price of Balotelli!

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I hope you are right...

Wallace said:

I hope you are right...

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Which i doubt. Ballos talent level is IMMENSE. If Longo can have half of Ballos potential, he can be starter at Inter. But god knows if Ballo can live up to his potential if he continues this hot and cold behavior.

The guy has a great game and suddenly people are acting as if he is a saint. Did you all forget what he was like? The guy was a headache for the club.

No one will deny his talent, he is a great footballer. But do I want back? Hell no. Not unless he drastically matures. In a short tournament you might be lucky to only see the good side of Ballotelli, but over the course of a long season his dark side will inevitability show.

Even Man City fans know its like roulette with the guy every time he steps on the pitch, he could end up great or cost you the game.

Cassano was the same when he was younger, tons of talent and a shit attitude, and his career never really reached the heights many thought he was capable of. Balotelli will very likely be the same if he doesn't get his act together.

MANTA said:

Cassano was the same when he was younger, tons of talent and a shit attitude, and his career never really reached the heights many thought he was capable of. Balotelli will very likely be the same if he doesn't get his act together.

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How the hell is Cassano a good example? Cassano actually matured and is now an undisputed starter for his NT and a starter for one of the biggest clubs in Italy. If anything, he's a bad example, since Cassano actually proves that a it is possible for Mario to mature.

MANTA said:

The guy has a great game and suddenly people are acting as if he is a saint. Did you all forget what he was like? The guy was a headache for the club.

No one will deny his talent, he is a great footballer. But do I want back? Hell no. Not unless he drastically matures. In a short tournament you might be lucky to only see the good side of Ballotelli, but over the course of a long season his dark side will inevitability show.

Even Man City fans know its like roulette with the guy every time he steps on the pitch, he could end up great or cost you the game.

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Yeah people forgot that it is like every fifth game that Mario turns to Super Mario. The point is that how you can cope the other four games that Mario looks like he wouldnt give a damn.

Analrapist said:

How the hell is Cassano a good example? Cassano actually matured and is now an undisputed starter for his NT and a starter for one of the biggest clubs in Italy. If anything, he's a bad example, since Cassano actually proves that a it is possible for Mario to mature.

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He is a starter now that he has matured at age 29. A player of his talent should have been a consistent starter for Italy for the last 8 years. He wasn't selected for WC 2006 and started 2 matches in 2008.

Coaches don't bench problematic players because they aren't talented, the do it because it becomes a pain in the ass putting a player on the field and never knowing what kind of performance you are going to get.

Fair enough. Cassano did mature too late, hope the same wont happen to Ballo. If he matures soon enough, in 3 years time he will be the best CF there is, along with Aguero.

Pajo said:

Fair enough. Cassano did mature too late, hope the same wont happen to Ballo. If he matures soon enough, in 3 years time he will be the best CF there is, along with Aguero.

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So what happens to Messi in 3 years?