Bad choice by balotelli.

[just cool]

I firmly believe that balotelli made a the wrong decision by choosing to represent italy. from here on in any thing that goes wrong with italy balotelli would get the blame.

that kinda scapegoat business does always follow the lone blackman, he always have to be ten times better than the rest in order to be well accepted and seen as an asset.

IMO balo shoulda forget international football, or chose to rep ghana, bc these mdnt racist white boys will never give him a moments rest. just look how fat boy bob lee, lalas and wonalda have ah serious hard on for the bredder.

[Dynamite Warrior]

I would prefer for him to keep playing and score the winning goal for the Italians during the Euro championships. However its just like the question do you walk off the field when receiving racist chants or keep playing to win the game. Neither is the wrong choice i just feel like i would like to keep playing because it would get back at the racists more.

[biga84]

I firmly believe that balotelli made a the wrong decision by choosing to represent italy. from here on in any thing that goes wrong with italy balotelli would get the blame.

that kinda scapegoat business does always follow the lone blackman, he always have to be ten times better than the rest in order to be well accepted and seen as an asset.

IMO balo shoulda forget international football, or chose to rep ghana, bc these mdnt racist white boys will never give him a moments rest. just look how fat boy bob lee, lalas and wonalda have ah serious hard on for the bredder.

1) He isn't the only black player on the team:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angelo_Ogbonna

2) I disagree...He is a born Italian so I don't see what ties he has to Ghana besides his parents being born there. I'm sure that he sees himself as an Italian.
He will be under the radar as will any other player however with the good comes the bad so as a pro you have to take it as it comes. His personality is one of the things that brings about the extra press but he is an excellent player whether you like him or not.

[Peong]

All he has to do is not fall asleep on the ball like today and the goals will come.

[elan]

All he has to do is not fall asleep on the ball like today and the goals will come.

Dude did not fall asleep, the angle was a difficult one and apparently he did not want to just blast it. Keeper had good position, defenders recovered well and only one Italian made a run to support in the box and his run was very poor.

Hope next time he just rip it and then everyone will say he selfish.

[Big Magician]

dais cacahole yuh talking dey Just Cool...so is Birchall in the same boat ??...

[Bakes]

All he has to do is not fall asleep on the ball like today and the goals will come.

Dude did not fall asleep, the angle was a difficult one and apparently he did not want to just blast it. Keeper had good position, defenders recovered well and only one Italian made a run to support in the box and his run was very poor.

Hope next time he just rip it and then everyone will say he selfish.

Balotelli could piss on your head and you'd call it rain...  shoot or pass, either choice would have been better than acting like he was at a fete match.

[just cool]

dais cacahole yuh talking dey Just Cool..so is Birchall in the same boat ??...

How so? The man only got picked for that team bc italy is starved for offense, and macini popped the question "why marrio not on the team ?", but if that was lippi, marrio would not get ah sniff on that team.


like you forgetting that this is italy ? you must remember, to be italian is not popularly viewed as a nationality as much as it is a heritage. it's almost like being chinese or indian, it's more of an identity/ origin than a culture.

in places like protugal and france black fellas could get away with playing for their teams bc they had a lot of colonies in africa and the biggest colony of them all, being brazil.

 italy had only two african colonies, and they held on to them as long as the red house fire. so italians don't know shyte about integration, and they certainly don't accept the fact that another european could be italian, let alone a black african.

as for birchall, bad comparison bro. take this in your pipe and smoke it, if birchall was ah top player in england, and his both parents were trinis, eating doubles and drinkin mauby, he would not even consider T&T as an option.

you have to admit that the circumstances were different in birchall's case. here's a fella playing in the third tier of english football, with not a snow ball's chance in hell of playing for the country of his brith. here comes and opportunity to be an "international" , BTW do you know how much of a status that is in england to be an "international" ??

fellas would chop off their right nut to get an opportunity to play in a WC, one of the biggest stages for football marketability, and here's a kid in league one getting an opportunity to play for leo beenhakker against some of the world's best players, i'm sure this was a dream come through for birchall.

so you see, it's ah different set of circumstances, not to be compared @ all. when a whiteman goes to africa he's treated like a king, but when a blackman goes to europe he's treated like a dog! unless he's on vacation of course 

[just cool]

All he has to do is not fall asleep on the ball like today and the goals will come.

Dude did not fall asleep, the angle was a difficult one and apparently he did not want to just blast it. Keeper had good position, defenders recovered well and only one Italian made a run to support in the box and his run was very poor.

Hope next time he just rip it and then everyone will say he selfish.

Balotelli could piss on your head and you'd call it rain...  shoot or pass, either choice would have been better than acting like he was at a fete match.

Come on sharks, elen have a point here. the angle was tight, the keeper had the goal covered well and there was no support on hand. i'm sure if balo drew the foul and a penalty was awarded , ppl would be saying something totally different.

[Brownsugar]

All he has to do is not fall asleep on the ball like today and the goals will come.

Dude did not fall asleep, the angle was a difficult one and apparently he did not want to just blast it. Keeper had good position, defenders recovered well and only one Italian made a run to support in the box and his run was very poor.

Hope next time he just rip it and then everyone will say he selfish.

Balotelli could piss on your head and you'd call it rain...  shoot or pass, either choice would have been better than acting like he was at a fete match.

Come on sharks, elen have a point here. the angle was tight, the keeper had the goal covered well and there was no support on hand. i'm sure if balo drew the foul and a penalty was awarded , ppl would be saying something totally different.

I cuss on the initial play and then I watched the replay about 3 - 4 times since and I agree with Bakes.  He had time and space to compose himself and do something with the ball.....he just looked really clueless in the end.

[Mango Chow!]

All he has to do is not fall asleep on the ball like today and the goals will come.

Dude did not fall asleep, the angle was a difficult one and apparently he did not want to just blast it. Keeper had good position, defenders recovered well and only one Italian made a run to support in the box and his run was very poor.

Hope next time he just rip it and then everyone will say he selfish.

look at the replay again and you would see Casillas gave him plenty last post (the shot he supposed to take from that angle anyway) to shoot at and he also had help across the box.  I agree that Balo will have his (harshest of) critics no matter WHAT he do in any situation but hopefully, over time he will learn to focus on the things that will garner him the success his natural abilty warrants.  For the time being, though, all that his coaches and teammates really would have required of him with that opportunity he had yesterday was to put the ball on target and force Casillas to make a save or retrieve the ball from the net.  Nobody else's opinion woulda matter.

[Brownsugar]

All he has to do is not fall asleep on the ball like today and the goals will come.

Dude did not fall asleep, the angle was a difficult one and apparently he did not want to just blast it. Keeper had good position, defenders recovered well and only one Italian made a run to support in the box and his run was very poor.

Hope next time he just rip it and then everyone will say he selfish.

look at the replay again and you would see Casillas gave him plenty last post (the shot he supposed to take from that angle anyway) to shoot at and he also had help across the box.  I agree that Balo will have his (harshest of) critics no matter WHAT he do in any situation but hopefully, over time he will learn to focus on the things that will garner him the success his natural abilty warrants.  For the time being, though, all that his coaches and teammates really would have required of him with that opportunity he had yesterday was to put the ball on target and force Casillas to make a save or retrieve the ball from the net.  Nobody else's opinion woulda matter.

Boy, I already saw the ball in the back of the net on that side of the goal....de man had acres of last post.....

[Mango Chow!]

All he has to do is not fall asleep on the ball like today and the goals will come.

Dude did not fall asleep, the angle was a difficult one and apparently he did not want to just blast it. Keeper had good position, defenders recovered well and only one Italian made a run to support in the box and his run was very poor.

Hope next time he just rip it and then everyone will say he selfish.

Balotelli could piss on your head and you'd call it rain...  shoot or pass, either choice would have been better than acting like he was at a fete match.

Come on sharks, elen have a point here. the angle was tight, the keeper had the goal covered well and there was no support on hand. i'm sure if balo drew the foul and a penalty was awarded , ppl would be saying something totally different.

I cuss on the initial play and then I watched the replay about 3 - 4 times since and I agree with Bakes.  He had time and space to compose himself and do something with the ball.....he just looked really clueless in the end.

  He WAS using the time and space to compose himself, he just used poor judgement in using too much of both.  He will have plenty opportunity (especially being only 21) to redeem himself.  It's just funny that the young man's biggest critics when he do wrong does be awfully quiet when he do right. *(and is not you ah talkin' 'bout)*

[Mango Chow!]

All he has to do is not fall asleep on the ball like today and the goals will come.

Dude did not fall asleep, the angle was a difficult one and apparently he did not want to just blast it. Keeper had good position, defenders recovered well and only one Italian made a run to support in the box and his run was very poor.

Hope next time he just rip it and then everyone will say he selfish.

look at the replay again and you would see Casillas gave him plenty last post (the shot he supposed to take from that angle anyway) to shoot at and he also had help across the box.  I agree that Balo will have his (harshest of) critics no matter WHAT he do in any situation but hopefully, over time he will learn to focus on the things that will garner him the success his natural abilty warrants.  For the time being, though, all that his coaches and teammates really would have required of him with that opportunity he had yesterday was to put the ball on target and force Casillas to make a save or retrieve the ball from the net.  Nobody else's opinion woulda matter.

Boy, I already saw the ball in the back of the net on that side of the goal....de man had acres of last post.....

 He sure did....Casillas really didn't come out to challenge him....butthen again, he probably didn't have to, seeing that Ramos was recovering to make the tackle.

[andre samuel]

I cannot believe this is a topic........this is so silly.  Firstly, Ballos isnt the only black player on the Italian national team.

He didnt just decide to play for Italy as an adult, he was called up to play for Italy's national U15 and U17 teams, but couldn't answer the call up becuz he had to wait till 18 to get official citizenship.  As soon as he got that citizenship in 2008, he was quickly called into the U21 squad.

Black players are scapegoats? There's a kid playing for the Czech Republic at right back, first black player to play for them, but they get 4 in dey backside from Russia, was he said to be the reasons for the goals?

And to suggest that Ballos is on the Italian national team becuz they are starved for offense is stupid.  He is there becuz he is one of the best players available for Italy in that position.  Nothing is wrong with him not being picked if there were better options available.

I think they took a huge chance with Balotelli, he is an immensely talented player, but he is easily wound up.  Much in the same vein as Rooney a few years ago. 

The american commentators like to have a go at him becuz his approach to the game makes him a headliner.  Look how no one talk about how Torres basically threw away 3pts yesterday, but rather they wanna talk about Ballos's one chance in the match.

Torres tried to chip the keeper with a teammate in miles of space on his right.

TALK ABOUT THAT!! 

[dinho]

I have not watched much TV or been online since the Italy game, but maybe I missed it.... Who is blaming Balotelli??

From what I saw he had a good game, but I thought the coach made a good decision in taking him off when he did as he was looking like a red card liability. Turned out an even better decision as his replacement Di Natale scored.

But before that, Balotelli was the only striker giving Italy a physical presence up front and was doing well connecting with Cassano. Problem is he was letting the frustration get to him and he has to learn to channel his emotions. A more mature striker would've pull out of some of the tackles he went in for that end up with him earning that yellow.. Especially as he was already in the referee's thoughts after beating up the poor turf.

As for the chance... I feel that was nerves. He did great to outmuscle the marker for the ball but like he end up with too much time and too much room to think about it. Yes Casillas was cutting off the angle but Balo was supposed to unleash a demon and hope for the best in that situation.

He'll get more chances. Lets see if he gets the start in the next game v Croatia, right now Di Natale put himself in pole position.

More chances will come his way.

EDIT: Oh, is imps man Lalas allyuh dey with? I just glad Rossi stand up and talk some sense, i myself was wondering where all that venom was coming from.

[Mango Chow!]

I have not watched much TV or been online since the Italy game, but maybe I missed it.... Who is blaming Balotelli??

From what I saw he had a good game, but I thought the coach made a good decision in taking him off when he did as he was looking like a red card liability. Turned out an even better decision as his replacement Di Natale scored.

But before that, Balotelli was the only striker giving Italy a physical presence up front and was doing well connecting with Cassano. Problem is he was letting the frustration get to him and he has to learn to channel his emotions. A more mature striker would've pull out of some of the tackles he went in for that end up with him earning that yellow.. Especially as he was already in the referee's thoughts after beating up the poor turf.

As for the chance... I feel that was nerves. He did great to outmuscle the marker for the ball but like he end up with too much time and too much room to think about it. Yes Casillas was cutting off the angle but Balo was supposed to unleash a demon and hope for the best in that situation.

He'll get more chances. Lets see if he gets the start in the next game v Croatia, right now Di Natale put himself in pole position.

More chances will come his way

I missed some of the tackles that earned him the referee's attention, but the one that actually got him the yelllow was absolute bullshit!  It was no even a foul!  The beating up of the turf, I doh even know why the referee got involved with that like he did, Balo was just using the turf as a metaphor for himself.  If anything, I as a referee mighta even make a joke aout of it with the player rather than make a disciplinary note of it.  Maybe the charged occasion was a little much for the ref's nerves, too, and he saw Balo as an easy escape to ground.

[dinho]

I have not watched much TV or been online since the Italy game, but maybe I missed it.... Who is blaming Balotelli??

From what I saw he had a good game, but I thought the coach made a good decision in taking him off when he did as he was looking like a red card liability. Turned out an even better decision as his replacement Di Natale scored.

But before that, Balotelli was the only striker giving Italy a physical presence up front and was doing well connecting with Cassano. Problem is he was letting the frustration get to him and he has to learn to channel his emotions. A more mature striker would've pull out of some of the tackles he went in for that end up with him earning that yellow.. Especially as he was already in the referee's thoughts after beating up the poor turf.

As for the chance... I feel that was nerves. He did great to outmuscle the marker for the ball but like he end up with too much time and too much room to think about it. Yes Casillas was cutting off the angle but Balo was supposed to unleash a demon and hope for the best in that situation.

He'll get more chances. Lets see if he gets the start in the next game v Croatia, right now Di Natale put himself in pole position.

More chances will come his way

I missed some of the tackles that earned him the referee's attention, but the one that actually got him the yelllow was absolute bullshit!  It was no even a foul!  The beating up of the turf, I doh even know why the referee got involved with that like he did, Balo was just using the turf as a metaphor for himself.  If anything, I as a referee mighta even make a joke aout of it with the player rather than make a disciplinary note of it.  Maybe the charged occasion was a little much for the ref's nerves, too, and he saw Balo as an easy escape to ground.

The actual tackle he got the yellow for was not in itself a yellow, but it was for a culmination of fouls up until that point. Before that, he gave up quite a few fouls when he was trying to close down a defender or reach late for tackles.

As for the beating up on the turf, the ref can book players for over-reacting to calls. It's called dissent. The ref had a quick word with him and let it pass. I can't see how you could blame the ref here.

[just cool]

I cannot believe this is a topic........this is so silly.  Firstly, Ballos isnt the only black player on the Italian national team.

He didnt just decide to play for Italy as an adult, he was called up to play for Italy's national U15 and U17 teams, but couldn't answer the call up becuz he had to wait till 18 to get official citizenship.  As soon as he got that citizenship in 2008, he was quickly called into the U21 squad.

Black players are scapegoats? There's a kid playing for the Czech Republic at right back, first black player to play for them, but they get 4 in dey backside from Russia, was he said to be the reasons for the goals?

And to suggest that Ballos is on the Italian national team becuz they are starved for offense is stupid.  He is there becuz he is one of the best players available for Italy in that position.  Nothing is wrong with him not being picked if there were better options available.

I think they took a huge chance with Balotelli, he is an immensely talented player, but he is easily wound up.  Much in the same vein as Rooney a few years ago. 

The american commentators like to have a go at him becuz his approach to the game makes him a headliner.  Look how no one talk about how Torres basically threw away 3pts yesterday, but rather they wanna talk about Ballos's one chance in the match.

Torres tried to chip the keeper with a teammate in miles of space on his right.

TALK ABOUT THAT!! 

Fardder, i watch balotelli as an under 21, yuh think is ah johnny come lately football fan yuh talking too or what. when i was watching glenn huddle and trevor mc demott play football, you probably didn't even know what a football was as yet.


i started the topic bc of the way the english and the yankee commentators was harping on every thing the bredder did in the prem, and they on it again here @ the euros.

i also believe it's not only them know, remember the incident with the milan shirt, and the car bombing? i also would like to think that the ITIS must have some dread opinions of their own as well, and even stronger than the ones that bob lee and lalas has, since i also had my taste of the italian massive, and they are very unforgiving tribal ppl, just ask salvator scilachi.

i just felt that if he played for his parents country he mihgt have had less ppl on his arse , that's all, but to say the subject was "silly" was ah bit pumpus and condescending. after all, isn't this the reason for the site? plus the board ded these days anyway, so we might as well talk about something, anything to get the board going and opinions flowing.


PS:As for your scapegoat comment, you didn't see how much they want to make this boy a scape goat in europe?? had mancity lose the title who do you think would have gotten the bulk of the blame?? nothing was mentioned bc they won, but had it gone the other way, balotelli would  have been the focal point, and his stay @ city would've been under scrutiny.

didn't you hear lalas say that if italy lose the game balo would be to reason bc he missed a grand opportunity? and you still had to ask me who's making a scape goat out of him?



PS: tell me this, yuh think lippi would have picked balotelli if he was still in charge? one of the best strikers in italy my arse!!

[kicker]

Whoever defending Balotelli miss yesterday just feelin' sorry for him.  He do sh*t - full stop.  No way you supposed to let the defender come back on yuh on that play...Have a shot at goal, try to square it (Cassano was in the middle)... do something - if it eh come off, ah well... it happens - it was not a sure goal....but it was a good opportunity to force casillas into a save and he did crap...full stop.

That said, he was ok throughout the rest of the game - his yellow was harsh in my opinion, and I do think he's a target...but the nature of that miss was not really excusable.

p.s. what's the fuss about him beating up the turf... I don't see that as being the ref's business... That was not the first time I see a player beat the turf in frustration.

[dinho]

This look boss though...

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/700BUy6N4X0" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/700BUy6N4X0</a>

[Peong]

All he has to do is not fall asleep on the ball like today and the goals will come.

Dude did not fall asleep, the angle was a difficult one and apparently he did not want to just blast it. Keeper had good position, defenders recovered well and only one Italian made a run to support in the box and his run was very poor.

Hope next time he just rip it and then everyone will say he selfish.

Balotelli could piss on your head and you'd call it rain...  shoot or pass, either choice would have been better than acting like he was at a fete match.

Come on sharks, elen have a point here. the angle was tight, the keeper had the goal covered well and there was no support on hand. i'm sure if balo drew the foul and a penalty was awarded , ppl would be saying something totally different.

I cuss on the initial play and then I watched the replay about 3 - 4 times since and I agree with Bakes.  He had time and space to compose himself and do something with the ball.....he just looked really clueless in the end.

A play like that is cause to get subbed immediately!
He was good otherwise, and who saw his back-heel trap to keep the ball in play?  Nice touch.

Edit: dinho beat me to it.

[Mango Chow!]

I have not watched much TV or been online since the Italy game, but maybe I missed it.... Who is blaming Balotelli??

From what I saw he had a good game, but I thought the coach made a good decision in taking him off when he did as he was looking like a red card liability. Turned out an even better decision as his replacement Di Natale scored.

But before that, Balotelli was the only striker giving Italy a physical presence up front and was doing well connecting with Cassano. Problem is he was letting the frustration get to him and he has to learn to channel his emotions. A more mature striker would've pull out of some of the tackles he went in for that end up with him earning that yellow.. Especially as he was already in the referee's thoughts after beating up the poor turf.

As for the chance... I feel that was nerves. He did great to outmuscle the marker for the ball but like he end up with too much time and too much room to think about it. Yes Casillas was cutting off the angle but Balo was supposed to unleash a demon and hope for the best in that situation.

He'll get more chances. Lets see if he gets the start in the next game v Croatia, right now Di Natale put himself in pole position.

More chances will come his way

I missed some of the tackles that earned him the referee's attention, but the one that actually got him the yelllow was absolute bullshit!  It was no even a foul!  The beating up of the turf, I doh even know why the referee got involved with that like he did, Balo was just using the turf as a metaphor for himself.  If anything, I as a referee mighta even make a joke aout of it with the player rather than make a disciplinary note of it.  Maybe the charged occasion was a little much for the ref's nerves, too, and he saw Balo as an easy escape to ground.

The actual tackle he got the yellow for was not in itself a yellow, but it was for a culmination of fouls up until that point. Before that, he gave up quite a few fouls when he was trying to close down a defender or reach late for tackles.

As for the beating up on the turf, the ref can book players for over-reacting to calls. It's called dissent. The ref had a quick word with him and let it pass. I can't see how you could blame the ref here.

As I said, I did not see all them other tackles you talkin' 'bout so ah cyah comment.  As far as the beating on the turf is concerned, if you think that was directed at the referee's call or non-call or anything other than his frustration at the play not playing out as he would have liked, you would make a bad referee.


*and ah have to correck meh self....the yellow card tackle wasn't even a foul so it still make all them previous inciidents a non-issue and a bad call by the ref.*

[Peong]

I have not watched much TV or been online since the Italy game, but maybe I missed it.... Who is blaming Balotelli??

From what I saw he had a good game, but I thought the coach made a good decision in taking him off when he did as he was looking like a red card liability. Turned out an even better decision as his replacement Di Natale scored.

But before that, Balotelli was the only striker giving Italy a physical presence up front and was doing well connecting with Cassano. Problem is he was letting the frustration get to him and he has to learn to channel his emotions. A more mature striker would've pull out of some of the tackles he went in for that end up with him earning that yellow.. Especially as he was already in the referee's thoughts after beating up the poor turf.

As for the chance... I feel that was nerves. He did great to outmuscle the marker for the ball but like he end up with too much time and too much room to think about it. Yes Casillas was cutting off the angle but Balo was supposed to unleash a demon and hope for the best in that situation.

He'll get more chances. Lets see if he gets the start in the next game v Croatia, right now Di Natale put himself in pole position.

More chances will come his way

I missed some of the tackles that earned him the referee's attention, but the one that actually got him the yelllow was absolute bullshit!  It was no even a foul!  The beating up of the turf, I doh even know why the referee got involved with that like he did, Balo was just using the turf as a metaphor for himself.  If anything, I as a referee mighta even make a joke aout of it with the player rather than make a disciplinary note of it.  Maybe the charged occasion was a little much for the ref's nerves, too, and he saw Balo as an easy escape to ground.

The actual tackle he got the yellow for was not in itself a yellow, but it was for a culmination of fouls up until that point. Before that, he gave up quite a few fouls when he was trying to close down a defender or reach late for tackles.

As for the beating up on the turf, the ref can book players for over-reacting to calls. It's called dissent. The ref had a quick word with him and let it pass. I can't see how you could blame the ref here.

As I said, I did not see all them other tackles you talkin' 'bout so ah cyah comment.  As far as the beating on the turf is concerned, if you think that was directed at the referee's call or non-call or anything other than his frustration at the play not playing out as he would have liked, you would make a bad referee.

Nah I'm sure he was angry with the call.  He got his foot ahead of Pique and Pique kicked him, so he did not foul but got whistled anyway.
If anything Pique fouled him but I wouldn't expect a ref to give a penalty becuz it was hard to see.  If anything he should have let play continue.

[kicker]

ok cool - it wasn't clear to me that he was reacting to the call - he didn't seem to appeal much to the ref (it didn't seem that way) - it looked like he was beating the turf in general frustration.

Wha bout Cassano was ballin' in the first half..

Iniesta like he find back his form too jed...damn!! He had to be carrying a slight injury (or fatigue) toward the end of the season with Barca because the Iniesta from yesterday is the Iniesta I know...that was missing for Barca toward the end of this past season.

[elan]

All he has to do is not fall asleep on the ball like today and the goals will come.

Dude did not fall asleep, the angle was a difficult one and apparently he did not want to just blast it. Keeper had good position, defenders recovered well and only one Italian made a run to support in the box and his run was very poor.

Hope next time he just rip it and then everyone will say he selfish.

look at the replay again and you would see Casillas gave him plenty last post (the shot he supposed to take from that angle anyway) to shoot at and he also had help across the box.  I agree that Balo will have his (harshest of) critics no matter WHAT he do in any situation but hopefully, over time he will learn to focus on the things that will garner him the success his natural abilty warrants.  For the time being, though, all that his coaches and teammates really would have required of him with that opportunity he had yesterday was to put the ball on target and force Casillas to make a save or retrieve the ball from the net.  Nobody else's opinion woulda matter.

Boy, I already saw the ball in the back of the net on that side of the goal....de man had acres of last post.....

 He sure did....Casillas really didn't come out to challenge him....butthen again, he probably didn't have to, seeing that Ramos was recovering to make the tackle.

Hit that back post and that was well wide. How many players will try to score that, That's a ball across goal for a tap-in. Again, Casillas show back post cause, that is the correct thing, force him to shoot across the goal. If he score that then is either a mistake by the keeper or a Golasos.

[Mango Chow!]

All he has to do is not fall asleep on the ball like today and the goals will come.

Dude did not fall asleep, the angle was a difficult one and apparently he did not want to just blast it. Keeper had good position, defenders recovered well and only one Italian made a run to support in the box and his run was very poor.

Hope next time he just rip it and then everyone will say he selfish.

look at the replay again and you would see Casillas gave him plenty last post (the shot he supposed to take from that angle anyway) to shoot at and he also had help across the box.  I agree that Balo will have his (harshest of) critics no matter WHAT he do in any situation but hopefully, over time he will learn to focus on the things that will garner him the success his natural abilty warrants.  For the time being, though, all that his coaches and teammates really would have required of him with that opportunity he had yesterday was to put the ball on target and force Casillas to make a save or retrieve the ball from the net.  Nobody else's opinion woulda matter.

Boy, I already saw the ball in the back of the net on that side of the goal....de man had acres of last post.....

 He sure did....Casillas really didn't come out to challenge him....butthen again, he probably didn't have to, seeing that Ramos was recovering to make the tackle.

Hit that back post and that was well wide. How many players will try to score that, That's a ball across goal for a tap-in. Again, Casillas show back post cause, that is the correct thing, force him to shoot across the goal. If he score that then is either a mistake by the keeper or a Golasos.

Elan.....once you have any angular approach to a goal you are ALWAYS supposed to shoot across the GK's body and put it last post.  Casillas did a poor job of covering his goal, he was supposed to have come out a couple more feet against balo (and he didn't quite do his legendary status any favours on the goal he conceded either) so I wouldn't study too much what you think Casillas was attempting to do.  to me, he was setting himself up for failure, Balotelli spit the bit and didn't use the chance he earned for himself.  Furthermore, the only man close enough to Balotelli for a tap-in wasn't close enough to the goal for a tap-in.  Balo was supposed to plant that ball in the back of the net.

[elan]

All he has to do is not fall asleep on the ball like today and the goals will come.

Dude did not fall asleep, the angle was a difficult one and apparently he did not want to just blast it. Keeper had good position, defenders recovered well and only one Italian made a run to support in the box and his run was very poor.

Hope next time he just rip it and then everyone will say he selfish.

look at the replay again and you would see Casillas gave him plenty last post (the shot he supposed to take from that angle anyway) to shoot at and he also had help across the box.  I agree that Balo will have his (harshest of) critics no matter WHAT he do in any situation but hopefully, over time he will learn to focus on the things that will garner him the success his natural abilty warrants.  For the time being, though, all that his coaches and teammates really would have required of him with that opportunity he had yesterday was to put the ball on target and force Casillas to make a save or retrieve the ball from the net.  Nobody else's opinion woulda matter.

Boy, I already saw the ball in the back of the net on that side of the goal....de man had acres of last post.....

 He sure did....Casillas really didn't come out to challenge him....butthen again, he probably didn't have to, seeing that Ramos was recovering to make the tackle.

Hit that back post and that was well wide. How many players will try to score that, That's a ball across goal for a tap-in. Again, Casillas show back post cause, that is the correct thing, force him to shoot across the goal. If he score that then is either a mistake by the keeper or a Golasos.

Elan.....once you have any angular approach to a goal you are ALWAYS supposed to shoot across the GK's body and put it last post.  Casillas did a poor job of covering his goal, he was supposed to have come out a couple more feet against balo (and he didn't quite do his legendary status any favours on the goal he conceded either) so I wouldn't study too much what you think Casillas was attempting to do.  to me, he was setting himself up for failure, Balotelli spit the bit and didn't use the chance he earned for himself.  Furthermore, the only man close enough to Balotelli for a tap-in wasn't close enough to the goal for a tap-in.  Balo was supposed to plant that ball in the back of the net.

We gonna have to disagree, because I believe Casillas actually did well in that situation. What stopped him from coming out further was that Ballotelli slowed down immensely after charging into the box. If Casillas had come further out then he could have gotten chipped or make the first post available. The ball on the foot of the player will keep the keeper from moving forward.

There are no MUST in soccer, there is shooting at goal and then there is finishing, Ballotelli would have had a shot, but he would not have finished.

[dinho]

Elan.....once you have any angular approach to a goal you are ALWAYS supposed to shoot across the GK's body and put it last post.  Casillas did a poor job of covering his goal, he was supposed to have come out a couple more feet against balo (and he didn't quite do his legendary status any favours on the goal he conceded either) so I wouldn't study too much what you think Casillas was attempting to do.  to me, he was setting himself up for failure, Balotelli spit the bit and didn't use the chance he earned for himself.  Furthermore, the only man close enough to Balotelli for a tap-in wasn't close enough to the goal for a tap-in.  Balo was supposed to plant that ball in the back of the net.

We gonna have to disagree, because I believe Casillas actually did well in that situation. What stopped him from coming out further was that Ballotelli slowed down immensely after charging into the box. If Casillas had come further out then he could have gotten chipped or make the first post available. The ball on the foot of the player will keep the keeper from moving forward.

There are no MUST in soccer, there is shooting at goal and then there is finishing, Ballotelli would have had a shot, but he would not have finished.

I also think that Casillas did well in the situation.. Not always you have to come storming off your line in a 1 v 1 situation... Staying put as Casillas did limited Balotelli to one option, which is to shoot for the far post. If he had committed, Balotelli would have had 3 or 4 options, shoot far post, round the keeper, shoot through legs.... and even possibly a chip.

If you look at the replay, it seems that Balotelli is actually waiting for Casillas to commit to then decide what to do, and when that never happened he look like a deer in the headlights. I think staying at home  put him off.

[just cool]

Did anybody seen milners miss, what sayest the crowd?