Leave Mario Balotelli Alone
By Ron Orchard
It appears that Mario Balotelli has finally overcome a huge obstacle, or so nearly the entire media would have you believe, after he scored his first league goal for Liverpool. We’ll all agree, it’s no small potatoes to score a goal in the EPL, adding to that the context of Balotelli’s late (87th min) strike. It was of course the game-winning goal in an exciting 3-2 matchup against a hot Tottenham team.
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Prior to this “breakout,” most fans of this club were ready to give up on Balotelli, having all but forgotten his potential. Many were calling him an overpaid and a waste of a roster spot. This is unfortunate for a player with huge upside, who hasn’t even come close to his greatest performances for his current club. The cloud that hung over Balotelli’s arrival has only grown darker as peers like Diego Costa and Alexis Sanchez have hit the ground running.
While it’s easy for us to say, “Yeah, you should score. You’re getting paid millions of dollars. I get paid X and still have to do my crappy job from day one,” we must appreciate how uncommon the great performances of newcomers has been this year. If Costa wins the Golden Boot, and he is currently leading the race, it would be the first time a foreign newcomer has won that distinction. The majority of strikers entering this league regularly encounter a slump. Unfortunately for the perception and context of Balotelli, this hasn’t happened to some of his peers.
Of course he has played in the league before, but his arrival to Liverpool has been rougher than most. His signing complete, nearly at the end of the transfer window. Liverpool, having actually played two games prior to his arrival. He was brought to the club to play his best role, as a support striker. Only to have his potential strike partner, Daniel Sturridge, fall prey to injuries after only playing a single match together. That match was their away leg at White Hart Lane, obtaining the best scoreline they had all year, 3-0. This was arguably Liverpool’s best performance of the season, against a team that had yet to concede a goal and who has since still looked strong. In that game Balotelli only played 60 minutes, having only joined the club days ago.
After that game, with Sturridge’s injury, Balotelli was thrust into becoming the regular starter, much sooner than he or Brendan Rodger’s planned, on a schizophrenic side. Balotelli played in eight games following their triumph at Spurs. During that time, Rodgers tried five different formations. He often forced strike partnerships together to fit Balotelli’s style, or forcing him to play in his less effective role as a single strike. This would make it difficult for even the world’s greatest to find cohesion. The club also racked up a 2-2-4 record during that span. This is not good, but nowhere bad enough to be considered terrible or unsalvageable.
Since that run of eight games, Balotelli hasn’t started since the November 8th loss to Chelsea, and he’s actually only come off the bench three times, totaling 52 minutes. Fans would say that he deserved to sit on the bench, and most neutrals would agree. It made sense, Balotelli is a volatile character, who has spoken previously how factors off the pitch affect his game. But we all must acknowledge that during the Balotelli-less stretch the club amassed fewer points than it had during the stretch that saw him on the field.
We must also say, “Well no kidding it’s taken Balotelli so long to score his first goal. He’s been on the bench for more than two months.” I have to take a moment to bring up that while this goal was his first EPL goal it wasn’t his first Liverpool goal, that came in the club’s 9/16 Champions League matchup with Ludogrets. So come on with the first goal rhetoric. This goal has been dismissed to punch up the drama of Balotelli getting his “first” goal so late in the season.
Since that goal, we’ve seen Balotelli put in another strong performance, essentially creating a chance with his deflected shot that fell to the feet of Lallana, who then scored the winning goal in their FA Cup game at Crystal Palace.
We could’ve seen Balotelli pull another stunt, or let loose another cheeky jab like the “Why Always Me?” shirt. But this time, he has shown he’s become a professional and has handled this difficult transition well, with no acknowledgement from the media. People may want to point out the “racist” Instagram post he made (A bad joke, poorly placed), and the subsequent one match ban as evidence. The obvious counter is that this post is nowhere near as inflammatory as the treatment he has received on the pitch, or from a patriarch of his nation’s footballing elite.
The other obvious point is that he took his punishment like a professional, unlike other previous Liverpool strikers, and has since rebounded. We’ll also continue to see more from the young Italian as he works his way back onto the squad, and we’ll eventually see him reach his true potential once Rodgers plays Balotelli with the man destined to be his strike partner, Daniel Sturridge. But until then, take it easy on him.
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