Mario Balotelli (pictured above, being a dick). This young man (now 20) made his debut at Inter Milan, which means he has won a treble. He has continually been praised as one of the top up and coming talents this side of Mesut Ozil. At Inter, Mario gained a reputation for being a complacent, cocky, ill mannered player. Not a lot has changed.
At one point in the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinal against Barcelona, Inter manager Jose Mourinho didn't think Mario was defending adequately. He yelled at Mario to do better at closing down on the ball. Balotelli stepped off the pitch and refused to play the last minute of the game. So the kid has a bad attitude. And, frankly, I don't think he's particularly great.
This summer when Manchester City began their temptation of the young Ghanaian, Balotelli said that he would accept no less than 180,000 dollars a week and full image rights. Now I'm not sure how much Man City felated that offer, but to offer some perspective, Robinho is currently the highest paid player in the world at 150k a week. Robinho, incidentally, also plays at Moneybags City. At any rate, Balotelli was signed at City for a reported fee of 24 mil, which is relatively high, but not Ronaldo high.
Those are the bad things about Balotelli, here are the good things: He's got a big body that he knows how to use, he's got impeccable balance, has a pretty decent shot, and has skills on the ball as well. This is also a pretty smart signing by City, since Shaun Wright-Phillips isn't getting any younger and is probably no longer a 90 minute player.
Now, as for this late winner that Balotelli scored, I have to say that I'm much more impressed with the play of Emmanuel Adebayor. It's late in the day, and he's still able to get the ball, take it to the byline, and whip in a ball that hits Balotelli in stride. Really, all Mario had to do was be in the right place, fight off the Timisoara defender, and swing his foot. But, a wise man once said a goal is a goal is a goal. One of my rising favorite players, Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez of Man U recently scored a goal by bouncing it off his face, so I'm not really one to talk.
But let's really break this goal down. First of all, City had to dip into their bench against FC Timisoara in the first leg of the Europa League. If that's not evidence of how wrecked this team is, I don't know what is. But, maybe Super Mario has found his home amongst the egotistical jackasses at Man City. First among them being Roberto Mancini.
That's all I've got on Mario, on to other news.
1. William Gallas has moved to Tottenham. This is massive news, I think. This means that Sebastien Bassong may never get to play again, because Spurs now have Ledley King, Michael Dawson, and Gallas. This move is also huge because it's stolen a key defensive man away from Arsenal. Arsenal also just lost Samir Nasri for a month to knee surgery.
Furthermore, King's knee will no longer be the most closely watched three major ligaments in London, because they know that even if he goes down, Gallas will be there. Which brings up the next point, I don't think Gallas will start for this team. I think Redknapp still has great confidence in King and Dawson in the middle, and they are actually one of my favorite pairings in the Premier League. Mostly because they're both actually English.
Anyway, I think Gallas is one of the physically strongest players in football, and he's got a firey temper. Because of that, I think Redknapp will want to play him and King together when he can, since King's cool collected approach will offset the raging Frenchman.
2. Liverpool slip by Trabzonspor. Because of how strange the team's name is that played the Reds, we're going to refer to them as "Trabbles." Awesome. Anyway, the only goal in this game was scored by Ryan Babel in injury time of the first half. Which is a big lift for the Reds because Babel is a long time fan favorite and getting him a goal is never a bad thing. Also, it's his last goal for the Reds, as he was linked with a move to Wolfsburg earlier this week.
However, the major story from this game was Joe Cole missing a penalty. Cole took the penalty because Gerrard wasn't there, but I doubt Roy will give him the opportunity again. This is yet another major setback for Cole after his dismal first game ended 45 early because of a red card. However, it was his great pass that put Babel in on goal, so perhaps the Englishman is breaking into his stride. And you have to applaud Cole's comments afterward, which were that he wasn't going to dwell on it. Hopefully Joe's time at Anfield will get better.
New signing Christian Poulsen apparently had a great game, getting a few chances and passing quite well.
That's all I've got for now, stay tuned tomorrow for comments on Bayern Munich's first game against Wolfsburg.
