For those criticising Balotelli I think it's a little unfair because his problems where not of his making. Every time he got the ball, against Villa on Saturday and again tonight, three or four players would immediately surround him and prevent him from doing anything with it. When you don't have the trickery that Suarez brought to the team, or the pace you get with Sterling, this is the consequence of playing a single striker. Balotelli needs a strike partner to provide him with space. He likes to hold the ball up and lay it off but not enough players were getting ahead of him, or use his strength to turn a player which is difficult when he's got three more to worry about. We lost Suarez to Barca and we've lost Sturridge to injury and we're trying to squeeze a square peg in to a round hole with Mario were as what we should be doing is finding a system that brings the best out of him.
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