Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini has been highly critical of Mario Balotellu, before and after the weekend’s game. Is he right?
Roberto Mancini is becoming increasingly tense as he strives to hold together Manchester City’s faltering title bid.
You can understand his frustration, with City dropping their first league points of the season against Sunderland on Saturday.
He surely cannot be helping by constantly slating Mario Balotelli – scorer of 17 goals this season.
Balotelli is a maverick, and it is likely he always will be that way. So why try and change him?
Mancini is increasingly sounding like Jose Mourinho, in his repeated public barracking of his fellow Italian.
It was former Inter boss Mourinho who remarked that Balotelli ‘has a single brain cell, and is impossible to work with.’
Mourinho had a very public falling out with Balotelli, even warning City against signing him.
Mancini has clearly tried his best with the 21-year-old and is showing increasing signs of exasperation with both his behaviour, and his on-pitch performances.
He should take a step back and give the youngster some slack.
Balotelli has been a consistent performer this season, as his 17 goals have shown, and he netted twice to rescue a draw on Saturday.
But despite this, Mancini saw fit to lambast him publicly again post-match.
“He didn’t play well, in a game like this the striker should be the difference. Not in the last two or three minutes but before.”
He also criticised his bickering over who should take a free-kick, saying authoritatively it would be the ‘last time it happens’, while before the match Mancini said he ‘did not trust’ the forward.
Sure, have a go at Balotelli privately, but why do it in public so consistently?
Using the same approach as Mourinho will only alienate the striker, as has been proven in the past.
Balotelli will not change, so just let him be. Accept his idiosyncrasies, and accept he may have his wild moments like the odd argument with a teammate.
His return is worth it, his 17 goals have been crucial, and his clinical performance against Manchester United in the 6-1 win was unforgettable.
Let him get on with it, stop slating him in public, or risk losing him for good.
For if Balotelli gets fed up and decides Mancini is a manager and a man he no longer wants to play for, there could be a parting of the ways and public falling out every bit as acrimonious as the striker’s feud with Mourinho.
Do you agree – or should Mancini continue his public criticism of Balotelli?
image: © praguegallagher
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