Saturday, February 21, 2015

Rodgers unhappy with Balotelli work rate against Besiktas

Brendan Rodgers insists Mario Balotelli must work harder than he did after scoring a late penalty for Liverpoolagainst Besiktas in Thursday's Europa League round of 32 first-leg clash at Anfield.
Balotelli coolly slotted in from 12 yards on 85 minutes after a brief dispute with captain Jordan Henderson over who should take the kick to give Liverpool a narrow lead to take to Turkey later this month.
But despite scoring for a second time in three games the Italian's overall contribution failed to impress Rodgers, who believes his striker effectively stopped running after scoring his goal.
Asked whether he was satisfied with Balotelli's performance, the Liverpool boss replied: "No, not really, no.
"We need to ensure that whatever level of the game we are playing at we have everyone working as a team and once we got the penalty he stops working. So he needs to improve on that facet of his game to play in his position, rather than standing on the side of the football field.
"He has contributed against Besiktas, he has got the penalty and scored the goal but that is what he is paid to do. He needs to keep that efficiency in his game and show that he can affect the team whether he is asked to play from the bench or from the start. In a different country and a different style of football that [goal] would be all that matters but in this team there is more to it than that."

Source: goal

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