The Week That Is – #WhyAlwaysLFC ???

Article by e-Liverpool's Tony Thorne

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Brendan Rodgers policy of having one 'nutjob' in his pack might actually make a lot of sense.

Daniel Sturridge scored 21 league goals last season, which was the second highest amount of any player. The half-season before, after he and Phillippe Coutinho were signed, they performed admirably and fans took a liking to their quality. But throughout their entire spell on Merseyside until early July, the man everyone spoke of was the biting, cheating, diving, racist named Luis Suarez.

Suarez was no doubt a headline generator. Indeed, just the fact that he has now played a pre-season friendly for Barcelona is newsworthy both in the UK and in Spain. His antics, including biting opponents while playing for Ajax, Liverpool and Uruguay (in order of toothy puncture), combined with a racial slur directed towards Manchester United’s Patrice Evra have or will force him to be suspended for over 40 football matches. This, as has been mentioned on the e-Football podcast before, is without even receiving a red card in that time.

So with Suarez gone, all seemed quiet in the world of red. Yes we’ve brought in a lot of players and the squad looks stronger than it has done in a long time. But with Luis Suarez out of the picture, there was a blissful quiet that, it now seems, has been obliterated by the sounds of footsteps from Italy. Super Mario has powered up.

Mario Balotelli is another player who courts controversy, although it tends to be more off-field shenanigans, such as his infamous bathroom fireworks display or shooting a youth team player with an air rifle. On the field, the most notorious element to Balotelli has been a lack of effort at times. But the overarching theme of both players is a bad boy.

What Brendan Rodgers did with Luis Suarez after all of his antics trying to get away from Liverpool (to join Arsenal in a £40,000,001 deal) was to get the best from his controversial player. And most feel that Rodgers’ man management skills will come to the fore again with Balotelli to be able to maximise what he gets from him and make him want to play and want to succeed for the club.

But what people might miss is that again, we will have a “crazy” card in the pack once again. And this card is used to attracting attention (much like Suarez), can perform in high pressure situations (much like Suarez) and can pull said attention, and therefore said pressure, away from other players in his team and on to himself (much like Suarez).

It actually could be a masterstroke that Rodgers utilises an unorthodox, headline grabbing player to do exactly that, which would give new foreign signings such as Lazar Markovic and Emre Can time to adjust without the spotlight of expectation, as well as players like Sturridge, Coutinho and Raheem Sterling to continue their fine progression without as much weight on their shoulders.

Let’s face it, however this works out, it’s going to be another incredibly entertaining season.

Why Always Us?

Do you agree? Can Mario Balotelli be effective in the way? Tweet @e_LiverpoolNet and @e_FootballNet using the hashtag #WhyAlwaysLFC

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