I dislike Balotelli as much as Man City, so I'm glad he's sticking around to make a mess of things.
Although the ref HAD NOT BLOWN HIS WHISTLE, The turn was too half-assed to be a genuine effort, so I think he believes he heard a whistle. It's the only explanation that makes sense. Even someone as stupid as Balotelli wouldn't just go "ah, forget scoring. I'm gonna do a turn that doesn't even threaten the goal." - he's good enough to do a pirouette AND score if he wanted to.
Just as he gets into the box, there's a whistle or scream from the crowd, not the ref. Given that he probably thought he was offside anyway, maybe he put 2 and 2 together and got 7. Sure, even if he did hear a whistle, he could have played it safe and shot anyway. But Van Persie suffered that fate last year!
As for Mancini, if it was given offside, Mancini would have instinctively looked at the linesman, and had he seen a flag, would not have admonished the player.
Ultimately, I think this is a big misunderstanding!
"Because I am rich." After police demanded to know why a 20-year-old, who speaks faltering English, was carrying £5,000 cash in his back pocket aftrer crashing his Audi A8.
Bloke's a ledge, would rather have him around the place than a complete nobody generic footballer like Jenas, Barry or Carrick.
He thought the whistle had gone, so he flicked the ball out of play, yes it turns out that play was ongoing but ffs, some people just can't win either way.
Say this was a competitive match, the whistle had gone and he still smashed it into the roof of the net and wheeled away celebrating, I bet people would be able to cook up a storm about how disrespectful that is.
No-one takes friendlies too seriously, that's why they are called Friendlies! Balotelli has every right to be upset at being subbed over a misunderstanding, and if I was Mancini I would realise that a player like Balotelli needs that arm around him, that word in his ear about how good he can be if he applies himself, not a constant berating in public
He certainly creates headlines, couldn't believe that miss this morning , i know its only preseason , but it does look unprofessional , how angry would the North Stand be if Benson tried that in front of them and missed?
Isn't this a complete misunderstanding? Balotelli hears the referee blow for an infringement - you can see him slow up - and then mucks about with the back-heel shot.
Mancini must not have heard/seen the referee blow up and thought he tried the trick whilst the play was live.
I think Mancini probably owes Balotelli a public apology.
How on earth did you come to that conclusion? Their is suggestion that actually Balotelli had another allergic reaction to the grass and that is why Mancini brought him off, not that some how Mancini failed to hear the refs whistle (although he ws just yards away). Regardless of that fact if the manager wants to take a player off then he is entilted to do so, just because Balotelli throws a strop I don't see why the manager should apologise to him in anyway.
OK, let's put this another way.
Balotelli is through on goal and getting ready to shoot, the referee then blows - for reasons unclear - and with the ball now dead Balotelli decides to be have a bit of fun and produce the trick-shot maneuver.
What is the big issue with that? The ball is dead, all he is doing is showing a little skill to the fans in what is, after all, only a friendly.
For whatever reason - maybe because he did not realise the referee had blown his whistle to stop play - Mancini is furious with Balotelli and immediately substitutes him and publicly berates him in front of the stadium and TV cameras because he feels Balotelli has wrecked a chance to score by being a smart-arse.
Why should Mancini apologise?
Well, firstly, if he thought the ball was live and subbed him because he thought Balotelli was taking the piss the he was dead wrong because it was not, the play had stopped so there was no consequence at all to Balotelli's actions and he absolutely did not deserve to be subbed and humiliated like that.
There was no difference between what Balotelli did and what any striker in the country does when he gets called offside and sometimes shoots for goal anway or, realising the ball is dead, starts juggling the ball or whatever, its completely inconsequential behaviour.
Secondly, regardless of the specifics of the situation itself, Mancini was totally unprofessional in dealing with the situation like that. If he wanted to react by subbing him then fine but he did not need to carry on abusing him as he came off the pitch, that was humiliating a player publicly and was unncessary, the substitution itself was punishment enough - albeit erroneously.
The problem here is that people, because they already dislike Balotelli and he has form in this regard, decide he is 100% guilty and should be punished rather than look at the situation objectively.
You say Mancini carried on abusing him of the pitch? Have you seen the incident, because Mancini doesn't say a word to Balotelli as he leaves the pitch it is only when Balotelli stops turns around and shouts at Mancini that he reacts and gives him some verbal back. The way I see it if Balotelli is taken off he should accept what the manager says goes and 'IF' he was taken of because of his trick shot, so what accept it you're a professional.
Well, it is only a friendly. The score isn't important so why not showboat a bit?
Also, not too sure, but if you watch when he talks to Mancini, he makes a hand gesture to maybe suggest he heard a whistle and thought game might have stopped maybe?
Disagree completely he is Italian and the hand gesture is how Italians put the point across. He was clearly insulting Mancini by his reaction. Complete cock that guy!
He certainly creates headlines, couldn't believe that miss this morning , i know its only preseason , but it does look unprofessional , how angry would the North Stand be if Benson tried that in front of them and missed?
Nah .. the north bank would forgive Benson anything.
According to Talksport, Bally claims that he heard a whistle and thought he was offside .. that sounds feasible
All that article does is give Mancini's point of view, there is not a single quote from Balotelli giving his side of the story.
It does not disprove anything at all, Balotelli clearly stops playing because he thinks the referee stopped play, he may have been mistaken but that is clearly why he did what he did.
Only the referee can answer whether or not he actually did blow for an infringement.
Anyone who throws darts at people (let alone youngsters) and thinks it's acceptable is an utter cock - whatever the rights and wrongs of this particular incident.
So, I suppose the debate here should be 'does it make him even more of a cock?' - or for the philosophers amongst us, the question may be 'is it even possible for him to be more of a cock than he already is?'.
Somebody above was going on about allergies though.
Anyway, who cares really? All very comical either way you look at it. Either the player is a massive cock or the manager is. They can stew in their own for all I care!
OK, it took about 10 seconds to find this version of the tape which ends the debate.
On this one you can hear the referee blow up for offside and - more importantly - you can see that the other Man City player is not gesticulating at Balotelli for the trick-shot but at the linesman for giving the offside decision.
I don't see how anyone can see this and still condemn Balotelli, this looks like one of these things where people have seen the same incident completely differently.
Thanks for the clarification - indeed, we must prepare ourselves for the possibility that it may be that he is in fact truly a HUMONGOUS cock of Danny Mills-like proportions.
We may need to consult NLA for an expert opinion on this hypothesis, though.
Ormiston, are you sure you aren't just hearing what you want to hear there?
I hear a noise, but it sounds more like a high pitch scream that a refs whistle. They both look over at the linesman and shrug. I think he thought there was a whistle but maybe there wasn't, otherwise why is he looking sheepish?
Anyway, as I say, I don't really care which of then was in the right or wrong. But surely someone at the game would've seen the flag go up, if it did, or where Galaxy then kicked off from - i.e. goal kick or free kick? Either way that vid is still inconclusive imho - apart from proving bigstemarra's HUMONGOUS cock point.
Ormiston did you watch the whole game? If Mancini brought him of for not taking the game seriously i'm sure their are other incidents during the game where he felt Balotelli was not taking it seriously.
Ormiston - it took you ten seconds to find a link that's already in this thread....
How embarrassing for you, do your homework before being a smartarse, they are two different versions with the second version giving a longer and wider angle version of events in which you can hear what sounds like a whistle being blown. I doubt you'd make much of a lawyer.
Ormiston, are you sure you aren't just hearing what you want to hear there?
I hear a noise, but it sounds more like a high pitch scream that a refs whistle. They both look over at the linesman and shrug. I think he thought there was a whistle but maybe there wasn't, otherwise why is he looking sheepish?
Anyway, as I say, I don't really care which of then was in the right or wrong. But surely someone at the game would've seen the flag go up, if it did, or where Galaxy then kicked off from - i.e. goal kick or free kick? Either way that vid is still inconclusive imho - apart from proving bigstemarra's HUMONGOUS cock point.
Hmmm, you might be right, I have replayed it and it sounds like it could be a whistle or a scream, the sound is a bit muffled. Maybe Balotelli though he was offside and then heard the whistle/scream and stopped playing by mistake.
As you say, the only way to see what decision was actually given would be to see whether they re-started with a free-kick or a goal-kick....and I am not spending time looking for that bit of tape!
OK, it took about 10 seconds to find this version of the tape which ends the debate.
On this one you can hear the referee blow up for offside and - more importantly - you can see that the other Man City player is not gesticulating at Balotelli for the trick-shot but at the linesman for giving the offside decision.
I don't see how anyone can see this and still condemn Balotelli, this looks like one of these things where people have seen the same incident completely differently.
Ormiston did you watch the whole game? If Mancini brought him of for not taking the game seriously i'm sure their are other incidents during the game where he felt Balotelli was not taking it seriously.
No mate, I did not see the rest of the game. It's quite possible that this incident was the straw that broke the camel's back.
However, I have not seen any examples of other crazy behaviour from Balotelli in the game, although there are clearly issues there between the two of them.
Comments
Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3536493/Mario-Balotelli-wins-25000-then-gives-1000-to-a-tramp.html#ixzz1T7Jrvkrk
After police demanded to know why a 20-year-old, who speaks faltering English, was carrying £5,000 cash in his back pocket aftrer crashing his Audi A8.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iW5WvVcMYCY
Baliotelli is a prince amongst men.
Also, not too sure, but if you watch when he talks to Mancini, he makes a hand gesture to maybe suggest he heard a whistle and thought game might have stopped maybe?
Disagree completely he is Italian and the hand gesture is how Italians put the point across. He was clearly insulting Mancini by his reaction. Complete cock that guy!
Nah .. the north bank would forgive Benson anything.
According to Talksport, Bally claims that he heard a whistle and thought he was offside .. that sounds feasible
All that article does is give Mancini's point of view, there is not a single quote from Balotelli giving his side of the story.
It does not disprove anything at all, Balotelli clearly stops playing because he thinks the referee stopped play, he may have been mistaken but that is clearly why he did what he did.
Only the referee can answer whether or not he actually did blow for an infringement.
We already know why Mancini subbed him.
The unanswered questions are...
1] Did the referee actually blow for an offence and stop play?
2] If he did not blow up then why did Balotelli "stop" playing, was it a whistle from the crowd or what?
3] Does Mancini actually realise that the referee did blow but does not want to back down from the argument?
4] In Dzeko and Balotelli do Man City have the most expensively shite strike-force in the history of the game?
OK, it took about 10 seconds to find this version of the tape which ends the debate.
On this one you can hear the referee blow up for offside and - more importantly - you can see that the other Man City player is not gesticulating at Balotelli for the trick-shot but at the linesman for giving the offside decision.
I don't see how anyone can see this and still condemn Balotelli, this looks like one of these things where people have seen the same incident completely differently.
How embarrassing for you, do your homework before being a smartarse, they are two different versions with the second version giving a longer and wider angle version of events in which you can hear what sounds like a whistle being blown. I doubt you'd make much of a lawyer.Hmmm, you might be right, I have replayed it and it sounds like it could be a whistle or a scream, the sound is a bit muffled. Maybe Balotelli though he was offside and then heard the whistle/scream and stopped playing by mistake.
As you say, the only way to see what decision was actually given would be to see whether they re-started with a free-kick or a goal-kick....and I am not spending time looking for that bit of tape!
No mate, I did not see the rest of the game. It's quite possible that this incident was the straw that broke the camel's back.
However, I have not seen any examples of other crazy behaviour from Balotelli in the game, although there are clearly issues there between the two of them.
The noise in question is at 0.12 in the video, I am now thinking it sounds like a whistle again!
Oh well, now off to investigate other great miscarriages of justice in our times.....