Mario Balotelli not the only weak link for tepid Liverpool against Hull

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/oct/26/mario-balotelli-weak-link-liverpool-hull-city

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It was not the best performance from Mario Balotelli, though neither was it the worst. If nothing the Italian produced on the pitch was really worth talking about, the same was true of the other 27 players involved in a forgettable contest. Balotelli dominated the post-match conversations because that is what £16m, non-scoring misfits tend to do. Never mind that Adam Lallana cost £25m and was hauled off early after another anonymous game, that Raheem Sterling was largely unproductive on the right wing, or that Philippe Coutinho was easily Liverpool’s most effective attacker when he came on for the last half-hour.

How to solve a problem like Mario has become the default discussion on Merseyside, a situation that will continue until he loses his place in the team or scores his first league goal.

“You are never too old to learn,” Brendan Rodgers suggested, when asked if Balotelli was finding it difficult to adapt to the way Liverpool want to play. “The key is whether you want to learn, and I think Mario does. He will be disappointed because he had two big chances. There was a great opportunity when the ball came into the box for a header, I could see John Aldridge scoring that type of goal. Then there was one right at the end but it wasn’t to be. The ball just didn’t fall for him. But Mario will get all the support he needs at this club. That is what happens at Liverpool. The people here back every new player. You don’t have any excuses.”

If the Liverpool manager is beginning to wish he had listened to the many people who advised him not to bother with Balotelli, even at a knock-down price, his opposite number from Hull had words of encouragement. “When you sign someone like Mario you have to understand the one thing they ain’t going to do is change,” Steve Bruce said. “It’s a bit like me taking Hatem Ben Arfa. You have to find a way of getting the best out of them without changing them. Balotelli has been unfairly criticised in my opinion because of his body language, it looks like he doesn’t care. But he was Liverpool’s best player against us, better than Sterling, better than Lallana. The only reason Hull ended up with a player of Ben Arfa’s ability is that he is obviously not everyone’s cup of tea. You have to accept that.

“It reminds me of the time at United when Eric Cantona turned up to a civic reception in jeans and flip-flops. As captain I had to ask Fergie on behalf of the rest of the squad whether he was going to let him get away with that. It turned out he was. He said: ‘Tell the rest of the team if they play like he does, they can all wear jeans and flip-flops too.’”

Before anyone gets carried away, there was nothing produced by Balotelli or Ben Arfa at Anfield that was in any way Cantona-like. The former was booked for an elbow on Alex Bruce and found it difficult to get on the end of anything Liverpool produced, largely because Rodgers’s players produced so little. The latter showed up with a threatening run in the first couple of minutes, then disappeared until just before half-time when, with another apparently effortless bound behind the Liverpool defence, he conjured a shooting chance for Jake Livermore, who placed his shot too close to Simon Mignolet.

Liverpool dominated the second half but failed to build up a sufficient head of steam to bother Hull. It was significant that for all the home side’s possession and intent, Hull’s third-choice goalkeeper did not have a second-half save to make until stoppage time, when he denied Sterling, Coutinho and Balotelli in quick succession. Eldin Jakupovic was making a rare Premier League start because Hull were without several key players, including both senior goalkeepers.

“We’ve come quite a long way in a short time,” Bruce said. “Eighteen months ago I wouldn’t have thought it possible to come to Anfield and get a result without five of our big players.” Last season it probably would not have been but Liverpool are struggling to reach those heights again.

Keeping a clean sheet for the first time since August was the home side’s only small consolation; yet despite Rodgers bigging up the Hull attack – “They are a threat going forward, they scored two at Arsenal and Newcastle” – it was clear the visitors would be happy with a point and the home defence was never under concerted pressure.

Rodgers’s old club Swansea City, up next in the Capital One Cup here on Tuesday, could be a different proposition.

Man of the match Eldin Jakupovic (Hull)