Mon Jul 25 06:22PM
Mario Balotelli's latest bout of bad behaviour has laid down the gauntlet for Roberto Mancini to prove his worth as a manager and deal with what is becoming a real problem for Manchester City. As far as I am concerned, the best way he can do that is to sell the player and rid his squad of a damaging element. However, they might struggle to find a buyer.Mancini was right to substitute Balotelli immediately after his ridiculous showboating against LA Galaxy on Sunday and most managers would have done the same. You would expect the player to understand why he had been taken off, hang his head in shame and apologise.
Instead Balotelli berated Mancini and asked him why he had been removed, before petulantly hurling a water bottle to the ground. You expect that kind of reaction from a 10-year-old kid, not from a professional footballer.
When you take a step back and survey the scene, it is clear Balotelli is a bad apple. It is counter-productive to have a player like him in the squad. When they are not playing they cause problems and their team-mates know they cannot trust him.
Look at what happened in the Europa League last season when Balotelli was dismissed for a ridiculous high challenge and City were knocked out by Dynamo Kiev 2-1 on aggregate. You can't trust him and you don't know what he is going to do next, so at the end of the day you need to move on.
Mancini has given the player yet another warning instead of actually confronting the problem head-on. The best way of dealing with him is for Mancini to go to his bosses and say, 'right, we have to cut our losses here' and get rid of Balotelli.
I don't see a long-term future for him at City. In truth I don't think anyone can. It isn't just Manchester City either; you begin to question his long-term future in the game itself. He is locked in a contract and is paid huge amounts of money, but he should be on a one-year deal and told to earn a longer stay and prove himself. How many clubs would want to take the gamble on him?
It seems unlikely that he will turn things around at City and so Mancini has to make a big decision for the sake of the team and the club. He has to look at his side ahead of what is a very important season and consider whether he needs a destabilising element in his midst.
Mancini brought him in from Inter believing he can change him, but he can't; it is as simple as that. He cannot control Balotelli and if Mancini keeps faith with him much longer, and if he keeps allowing him to get away with what he is doing, then players will start to question him as a manager.
He will lose some of his other players, and it is my opinion that he already fails to command the backing of the entire squad. The players have already seen how Carlos Tevez has conducted himself, only to remain as captain last season, when he got away with murder.
I have never been in a dressing room with a personality quite like Balotelli, but back when I played think my team-mates would have sorted it out. You also had managers who were more clinical back then and they would have prioritised the group over the individual and would have got to grips with the issue. In my opinion, Mancini hasn't done that. He hasn't got to grips with the situation from the off.
Every other top manager would have done. Even Arsene Wenger - who doesn't seem the ruthless kind in that respect, and can indulge his players - would have dealt with it somewhere down the line.
I haven't seen enough of Balotelli to really assess him as a player because he was restricted to just 12 Premier League starts last season. I've seen some flashes of brilliance, but far too many moments of madness. He hasn't yet demonstrated that he is worth all the hassle and that Mancini should stick by him.
Often it is said you should turn a blind eye to certain players' bad habits because if you get it right they could be world beaters, but Balotelli hasn't shown anything like that kind of ability. He still has to prove how good he is in Manchester before thinking about the world.
In all honesty, we shouldn't have to be talking about Balotelli's character quirks yet again with a new season approaching. We talked enough about him last season, what with his darts antics and repeated brushes with the media, and the next big story involving him should be news of a transfer away from the club.
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From emilyhaxzs on Mon Jul 25 06:30PMmore anti city @#$%!!! get over it parker, guys at utd cant even remember who you are..To sser!
From chromedome32666 on Mon Jul 25 06:32PMSpot on!
From funshorunsewe on Mon Jul 25 06:32PMBallotelli was very disrespectful. This game was not a blow out and was no place for a swivel kick, even if he was well insode the PK zone. A power kick would have got the score.
The States is new to the sport and soccer will never earn global appeal with this
From farewell_from_team_usa on Mon Jul 25 06:32PMParker you tit! Why are you writing about him if "In all honesty, we shouldn't have to be talking about Balotelli's character quirks yet again with a new season approaching. We talked enough about him last season"
From thanaip on Mon Jul 25 06:33PMfor once I agree Parker. the only leagues I can think of where this kind of circus act would be welcome would be Argentina or Brazil.
From shwnicus on Mon Jul 25 06:34PMShow Parker my a** more like
From michael_bramhall on Mon Jul 25 06:35PMparker why dont you do us all a favour and take a run jump
From andyandsue2 on Mon Jul 25 06:35PMTypical article from an ex-Man Utd player ...typical anti City feeling and bias view.
The game was a friendly and the incident has been blown totally out of proportion by the red loving media. No doubt Mancini had a word with Mario at half time and it has been forgotten about, no doubt if the ball had gone in the net the media would have said it was a lucky goal.
Who cares though, as the blue moon is rising!!!
From andyzuill on Mon Jul 25 06:41PMthere was already an article today titled 'in defence of Balotelli'. please, for once think outside the box?
From fcb_james on Mon Jul 25 06:42PMAnother ex-utd player panicking about the noisey neighbours.
Your always telling us how "fatherly" the great SAF was with the young ones - well now its Robertos turn to shine.
Paul Scholes spent the last 12 months going around kicking everybody and settling some old scores before retiring and nobody said a word.
Discipline - what about mobbing the referee next time a decision goes against you.From alanmcdonald on Mon Jul 25 06:43PMCraig Bellamy was also so called "bad apple" but Mark Hughes was able to sort him out I am pretty sure that only one who can grow Balotelli up is Mancini
From lollpardik on Mon Jul 25 06:43PMParker, can't agree with you more on this. Abu Dubai XI is full of cr-ap, but this guy tops it all. The most hated club in the whole wide world.
From qenner on Mon Jul 25 06:43PMi have to agree with people who continually abuse paul parker...total @#$%,get rid of him for what,for a bit of showboating?..plz......If he scored what then?....just another bad minded former football player who
wished he had half the talent....was watching some espn classic...parker you was rubbish mate!!...ive seen milk turn quicker.....dont know how you got picked for england mate...must of been some positive
discrimination...hahahaFrom dreadbingy on Mon Jul 25 06:44PMYep Balotelli seems like an @#$%. Too proud, very disrespectful, never professional on and off the field. If you dont know him well, read his twitter feed and you'll see how childish and unprofessional he act. He feels he's better than everyone on the field but he's just average.
From sulaimon_tb on Mon Jul 25 06:44PM"Balotelli was dismissed for a ridiculous high challenge"
Was it really though, by the time he made contact with the player it was sort of on his thigh and barely touched him, it was a bad attempt at a challenge but not a ridiculous one.I have a feeling if Rooney had tried this skill then you would be saying something very different, about how Rooney plays the game with raw enthusiasm and looks to entertain himself and the crowd. There is no doubt about it that Balotelli has an attitude problem but then if people are blaming him for when he had an allergic reaction to grass last season and had to come off, he isn't really being given a fair chance.
I'm not a Man City fan by the way, I just hate how everything Balotelli does is blown out of proportion.From tinkb15 on Mon Jul 25 06:45PMParker this lad has more talent than you ever had stop being a bitter old man move on in your life united dont remember you, infact nobody does so jog on.
From gotto63 on Mon Jul 25 06:45PMI think Balotelli obviously plays for the fun, rather than the job element. If you're going to have a talented squad, you're going to have to accept different characteristics - and egos. Balotelli clearly sees himself as an artist, and Mancini has to respect that, although of course there are limits.
From nyashamadavo on Mon Jul 25 06:46PMdont matter how much ya talk about it he wont go away o ya sorry im on about parker
From samgyte on Mon Jul 25 06:47PMI fail to see the problem. It was a friendly game, a warm up game, which is basically a glorified exhibition game. Did he attempt this loonacy in a game with any importance? NO. He's a buffoon and an overgrown kid, but so what if he showboated. People have done so for years. You show off the skill sets you have. Christiano Ronaldo performs 10,000 unneccessary step overs to show off, is he chastised? The great Eric Cantona played some audacious clips to teammates that made his opponents look stupid, but that was genious. David Ginola frequently went back to a guy he had skinned to skin him again, that was awesome ball control. Get over it and enjoy professionals having fun before the serious action starts again.
From shaung973 on Mon Jul 25 06:49PMthis guy is honeslty useless!! Balotelli has a bad attitude, we all knew that when he signed for City, so things like these are expected as we knew what he was like. But you cannot hide the talent the boy has, probably the most in the Premiership. So next we expect to read that El Hadj Diouf is not a very nice person? Please!!
From angelo.orsini2 on Mon Jul 25 06:50PM
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