The only person who should be ashamed in the incident we shall now dub ‘subgate’ was Mancini, who let his emotions control his usually icy cold persona, and by replacing Balotelli with James Milner made City look more ordinary than they already did, with only Dzeko to rely on up front. The game, unsurprisingly, went to Penalties, with Joe Hart enhancing his already stellar reputation by both saving and scoring the winning penalty.
For Mancini to sub the striker, it created a huge furore, and made the incident much larger than it should have been. Clearly Balotelli’s reaction should not be condoned or encouraged, but it is natural for the player to be disappointed and probably confused as to the reaction to his attempt to liven up the crowd and score a wonder goal.
Roberto Mancini was being more than slightly hypocritical when accusing Balotelli of being unprofessional. It was hardly the Champions League final and City were a goal to the good – scored by Balotelli himself. By taking the lad off the only thing Mancini managed to do was cause a huge scene and make City look like they were lacking in creativeness and a striker who could actually score. Isolating yet another player is less than advisable for the manager, with Adebayor and Bellamy already languishing in the reserves – is Balotelli now to join them?
If Mancini is not careful he will have more players in the reserves than in the first team. If Tevez does leave and Aguero is not signed or fails to acclimatize to the move, Balotelli will become an even more important player for the team -something he cannot do from the Siberia of the reserves Mancini is seemingly creating.
Should Balotelli live up to his prodigious skill and manage to tone down certain aspects of his personality, which seems as much to do with surrounding himself with the right people around him and PR team as anything, the boy has truly frightening skill, with aerial ability, strength, speed, agility and most of all an eye for goal. At times leadership skills are also displayed from the young boy, and it is not impossible to envisage Mario as a captain of the future, and one who terrorises defences too.
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As the manager, Mancini has the right to sub a player anytime he wants. I don’t think what Mario did was that big of a deal, but I won’t question Mancini either. Mancini has been trying to work with Mario to make him more professional and responsible, so if he chooses to be extra tough on him, then good. Mario needs to realize it’s not the “Mario Show” all the time.
Agreed, mancini overeacted, Balotelli has real ability when subbed City looked toothless in attack. Fergie, Wenger and King Kenney would know how to deal with the player better and any advice or action would be in house and behind closed doors. As stated in the article too many talented City players on Big, Big wages have been exiled to the sidelines by Mancinis ego.
Trashy article. Ballotelli is undoubtedly a prodigious talent. Mancini is a fantastic manager who does not not drop people into the reserves on a whim. The players you mention who are playing in the reserves are there because they are not (or have stated that they do not want to be) part of the project.
The project is going well and I think Ballotelli will see plenty of first team action this year.
Absolutley agree.
Give the lad a chance and he’ll be the world’s best in a year or two. Hope he doesn’t go the way of Roinho- they have a similar attitude.