what is exactly happening to Balotelli?

norton wrote:

sportsczy wrote:

ynwa wrote:

He's superior to every Newcastle player you currently possess...

False. Ben Arfa is better than Balotelli. He was actually just as crazy. But he turned it around when he as 22 going on 23. Balo is at exactly the same stage but not showing signs of changing.

Ben Arfa is a shadow of Balotelli in terms of talent. You can criticize Balotelli all you want, but he is far better than any player on Newcastle.

Then you've never watched Ben Arfa play.

norton wrote:

sportsczy wrote:

ynwa wrote:

He's superior to every Newcastle player you currently possess...

False. Ben Arfa is better than Balotelli. He was actually just as crazy. But he turned it around when he as 22 going on 23. Balo is at exactly the same stage but not showing signs of changing.

Ben Arfa is a shadow of Balotelli in terms of talent. You can criticize Balotelli all you want, but he is far better than any player on Newcastle.

Again so what? this has nothing to do with Newcastle.... still doesn't mean he's anywhere near as good as everyone claims he is.

Inb4 the excuses of attitude, ignoring the fact he's not as talented as everyone claims he is.

Don't know why people want to make it about my club, here's a fun idea why don't we attack peoples clubs every time we disagree with someone about a player when it has no relevance at all !

That will be fun.

ynwa wrote:

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:Nothing, he's just not very good....

He's superior to every Newcastle player you currently possess...

What a stupid ass post, Ronaldo is better than any Liverpool player doesn't mean you can't criticize him? Without being childish.

I'd go so far as to say Cisse is as good as Balotelli

Ben Arfa is definitely better than Balotelli at this point

Yep nothing special crap players score goals like that regularly.

No one said he's crap or nothing..... just he's nowhere near as talented people say or deserves anywhere near the hype.

Not even the most talented forward in Italy and if he came through Italy now he wouldn't get anywhere near the hype he got when he came through a few years ago.

Also score goals regularly? He has 1 goal this season, 13 last season ( majority being penalties) and 6 goals the season before....

Sounds like a regular scorer of goals to me.....

If I had a decent team with good service I'd take Cisse over Balotelli any day of the week.

RG told me to use this Naruto quote

A drop out can defeat a genius with hard work.

Not exactly a perfect fit, but you can get what he's trying to say.

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:No one said he's crap or nothing..... just he's nowhere near as talented people say or deserves anywhere near the hype.

Not even the most talented forward in Italy and if he came through Italy now he wouldn't get anywhere near the hype he got when he came through a few years ago.

Also score goals regularly? He has 1 goal this season, 13 last season ( majority being penalties) and 6 goals the season before....

Sounds like a regular scorer of goals to me.....

out of those 13.. only 3 were penalties, that's not majority... he also scored important goals, like tottenham last minute, 2 with united, 2 with germany.. Which was not bad for a player that was a sub most of the season..

I don't say balotelli is better than x or y , let's just use right informations when judging him.

Abramovich wrote:

A drop out can defeat a genius with hard work.

Not exactly a perfect fit, but you can get what he's trying to say.

Golden quote and its so true.

No it's not
Preparation and dedication always trumps a so called drop out..

cyberman wrote:No it's not
Preparation and dedication always trumps a so called drop out..

Think the quote refers to a hardworking drop out (prep and dedication) > a lazy genius.

Abramovich wrote:

cyberman wrote:No it's not
Preparation and dedication always trumps a so called drop out..

Think the quote refers to a hardworking drop out (prep and dedication) > a lazy genius.

Wish that was true, Lazy geniuses are the only one who got 4.0 in my university

It is more true in football though.

On topic, I disagree with Mole. I always thought that Balo was really talented. I didn't know his name then, but every time he played against us with Inter, I always feared him. He developed badly though. He needs to get his act together or he will pass into mediocrity.

tuddor wrote:

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:No one said he's crap or nothing..... just he's nowhere near as talented people say or deserves anywhere near the hype.

Not even the most talented forward in Italy and if he came through Italy now he wouldn't get anywhere near the hype he got when he came through a few years ago.

Also score goals regularly? He has 1 goal this season, 13 last season ( majority being penalties) and 6 goals the season before....

Sounds like a regular scorer of goals to me.....

out of those 13.. only 3 were penalties, that's not majority... he also scored important goals, like tottenham last minute, 2 with united, 2 with germany.. Which was not bad for a player that was a sub most of the season..

I don't say balotelli is better than x or y , let's just use right informations when judging him.

Tbf he should have been sent off vs Tottenham for stamping on Brave Scotty Parker's head.

Yet another thing. Not only is he not even that good whenever I watch him play, but he's always getting sent off. With Balotelli on, you're always risking playing a man down. Not only is that unacceptable for every player, it's even more unacceptable for a player that isn't playing as well as he should, and on top of that has no work ethic.

Overall, he's mediocre. He's not even getting there, in my eyes he's not that good.

He does have talent I just think it's highly overrated and unlike Spencer here I've never feared him. Man City play him vs Tottenham and I'm a happy man.

All that being said he's an entertaining figure and I love the kid. Gives me laughs.

CBarca wrote:

tuddor wrote:

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:No one said he's crap or nothing..... just he's nowhere near as talented people say or deserves anywhere near the hype.

Not even the most talented forward in Italy and if he came through Italy now he wouldn't get anywhere near the hype he got when he came through a few years ago.

Also score goals regularly? He has 1 goal this season, 13 last season ( majority being penalties) and 6 goals the season before....

Sounds like a regular scorer of goals to me.....

out of those 13.. only 3 were penalties, that's not majority... he also scored important goals, like tottenham last minute, 2 with united, 2 with germany.. Which was not bad for a player that was a sub most of the season..

I don't say balotelli is better than x or y , let's just use right informations when judging him.

Tbf he should have been sent off vs Tottenham for stamping on Brave Scotty Brave Scotty Parker's head.

Yet another thing. Not only is he not even that good whenever I watch him play, but he's always getting sent off. With Balotelli on, you're always risking playing a man down. Not only is that unacceptable for every player, it's even more unacceptable for a player that isn't playing as well as he should, and on top of that has no work ethic.

Overall, he's mediocre. He's not even getting there, in my eyes he's not that good.

He does have talent I just think it's highly overrated and unlike Spencer here I've never feared him. Man City play him vs Tottenham and I'm a happy man.

All that being said he's an entertaining figure and I love the kid. Gives me laughs.

Well, I wouldn't fear him now. He was more dangerous back then. For one thing, our defense didn't know anything about him.

Oh yeah I understand. I remember watching him back then and being impressed, even then I didn't rate him as high as some do, but it was clear the kid had talent.

Now I've got nothing to fear.

Also, can people please not compare him to Berbatov? It's insulting to Berba.

That's the thing Spencer, when players are kids they always look a lot better because defenses don't know how to deal with them.

I see it all the time kids being hyped and then suddenly they get worse its no coincidence.... defenses have adapted to them not because they fantastically special.

Which is why i pay no attention at all to players until they are at least 23 unless they are very very special.

The biggest thing in football is adapting once teams realise what your strengths are.... i never said Balotelli isn't talented, he obviously is but i honestly think his hype is still blinding people and i don't think he's anywhere near as good as people think.

Looking good as a kid when people don't know you is easy, looking good when your strengths are available to every coach around the world isn't and Balotelli has hardly adapted to that and i don't think he ever will.

While I dont disagree with Mole, I do also think that if this wasnt Balotelli the moronic douce-bag who does stupid things on and off the pitch people would say; he doesnt even get a chance for City so its unfair to criticise him to such an extent in terms of his performance.

But because he is who he is, nobody wants to hear all that.

Honestly, this season I hardly see him. Even if he was as talented as his biggest fans think, I dont think he would do well.

I think there are some people who overhype his talent, but I actually think there are more people who criticise him unfairly for certain things..like "not smiling".

Sort of a different subject from his talent but just wanted to add that.

At the risk of sounding like a hypocrite and making a connection to Berbatov when I said not to compare them- those things are some of the things that followed Berba through his whole career, sometimes unfairly. And you have a point there. It was annoying to see people ignore the utter genius of the Bulgarian man simply to criticize his work ethic (which was always not as bad as people made out) and general attitude.

I haven't watched Balotelli much pre Man City, however at Man City he hasn't really looked that special. He's just a generic goalscorer.

With all the hype he was getting, I thought he would an all round complete striker or something.

His personality is what is spoiling him and making him go backwards in development but i am sure if balo can find an environment he strives in there wouldn't be much people questioning him or his ability as a footballer.

Balo on his day is just as good as any top striker out there and maybe even better.

If so then I've never seen Balo on his day

The consistency

I think Balotelli has the potential to be a VERY good poacher/striker. However, he is in precisely the wrong situation for him to finish growing into his potential. I could see him being Italy's Mario Gomez. He may never be overly involved until the final third, but he can finish chances and can be a predator in the box.

In my opinion, he's another victim of Manchester City buying their way to a quality team. Like Scott Sinclair, like Jack Rodwell, like Adam Johnson: Balotelli is a victim of being employed at City for he sole purpose of stockpiling as much talent as possible. Tevez, Aguero and Dzeko are all ahead of him at the moment. On top of that, his attitude/antics hasn't endeared him to the management. He needs to go somewhere where he feels needed, can get a consistent run of games, and has good service built around his strengths... that's not going to happen at City. The question now is whther he's viewed as so poisonous that no club will take a punt on his quality.

If placed in the right situation he could be a very good (not WC, but reliable) striker for club and country. Unfortunately, he's flushing every ounce of talent at the moment with his attitude, antics and (lack of) workrate. It's certainly a pity, but he's far from the first player to do it, and he definitely won't be the last.

I really don't know what many of you are on about. Balo clearly has all the physical tools and is blessed in that regard. Obviously he is a hot head and is cursed by that restriction.

That said, I think he needs a change of scenery. He could legendary if he were to join the current Juve, imo.

daneq wrote:I really don't know what many of you are on about. Balo clearly has all the physical tools and is blessed in that regard. Obviously he is a hot head and is cursed by that restriction.

That said, I think he needs a change of scenery. He could legendary if he were to join the current Juve, imo.

Juve...

If Mancini had a go at him in training, what do you think Conte would do?

Conte might kill him...

nichabr wrote:Balo on his day is just as good as any top striker out there and maybe even better.

On his day, as good as RVP? Ibra? Aguero? Falcao? Cavani?