09 Jan 2015 19:40:38
Eds I wonder if you can clear something up for me. All this talk of Mario being hawked around is not going to help his confidence at Liverpool. I have been looking at the stats for his last season at Milan 2013/14. Mario basically played up top in a front two, 41 games 18 goals. It is clear that he is no lone striker. With the above stats would you be happy to see him given a chance alongside Studge? I think we should stick with him and see how he gets on as part of a top two, maybe reassess at the end of the season?

{Ed002's Note - Clearly it has not worked out at Liverpool. If Rodger's wants to change tactics to accommodate him then that is entirely his decision.}

1.) 09 Jan 2015
He scored 14 in Serie A proper last year with three of those being penalties and four being direct free kicks, so 7 from open play all season. He also took a ridiculous 152 shots to score those (by comparison, Sturridge took 99, scored 21).

I think you could stick him up front with whoever you want and, if he takes say 300 shots and takes all the penalties, he might bag 20 league goals.

2.) 10 Jan 2015
Have to agree with RDL here, as well as never having a stellar scoring record, look at wherever he's been and look how many goals are scored from free kicks, penalties and defensive errors. Then consider how many chances he wastes and how many pointless long shots he has, then consider how despite being the main man, free kick and penalty taker he only managed to score 17 goals in the serie A.

It was incredibly poor judgement by the comittee, one of the mos poorly judged signings any team has ever made.

3.) 10 Jan 2015
Fair call big Al, especially given BR modified his tactics to accommodate no-one on several occasions this season to a disastrous outcome.May as well try and get some benefit from changing tactics. Him and sturridge looked good the one game they played together.

4.) 10 Jan 2015
My favorite of all Anonymous Woolback- last season in Serie A, Balotelli took 95 shots outside the box and scored two that weren't from free kicks. That's just laughably awful.

5.) 10 Jan 2015
Agrred he takes a million shots per goal but why purchase him if you know he can't play up top on his own? The only way he can play to any degree is with a strike partner. I don't mind him taking shots as long as he puts some away, that was never going to happen whilst playing as a lone striker. I have always championed BR but I am left wondering what influence if any he has? And why can't he or his transfer commitee see the blatantly obvious when it comes to recruitment!