Brendan Rodgers' management of Mario Balotelli has backfired By NICK MILLER

http://www.espnfc.com/club/liverpool/364/blog/post/2216930/brendan-rodgers-management-of-mario-balotelli-has-backfired-at-liverpool

"There is no question over his talent -- I have played with him and I know how good he is and how good he can be. It is the job of the Liverpool coach to manage him in the right way. He needs to be loved, he needs direction, but most importantly, he needs to know that the coach believes in him."

-- Andrea Pirlo on Mario Balotelli

Mario Balotelli spent Boxing Day afternoon on the bench at Turf Moor, as his Liverpool team huffed, puffed and scuffled their way to a 1-0 win over Burnley. And according to manager Brendan Rodgers, slumped on the sidelines wrapped in a large coat is how Balotelli will be spending a good deal of his time from now on.

"It's something he would have to get used to," said Rodgers earlier this week. "If the team is going to need him from the bench then it's something he would have to become adjusted to. It's the same for every single player, not just him. When called upon, whether it's to start a game or come off the bench, you ask your players to be ready."

Against Burnley, Rickie Lambert was called upon before Balotelli.

On form, Balotelli's place on the sidelines is merited. So much so that Rodgers has come up with a formation without a recognised striker partly because he doesn't have to use Balotelli -- or Lambert for that matter -- and the tactic of using Raheem Sterling through the middle is showing signs of success. Balotelli has yet to score a league goal for Liverpool since his move from AC Milan in the summer. He has cut a frustrated figure when he has appeared on the pitch, looking exactly like a man trying desperately to break a goal drought. He's trying too hard, it seems, shooting from all sorts of pointless and irresponsible angles after coming on against Manchester United, and is thus not a massive amount of use to his manager or team.

Mario Balotelli didn't get a chance to take off his coat against Burnley on Boxing Day.

While Balotelli's form is obviously primarily his responsibility, it's perhaps not a colossal surprise that he hasn't been at his sparkiest since returning to England, listening to what Rodgers has said about him. Others would suggest a gentler touch is needed.

Roberto Mancini has echoed Pirlo's words about Balotelli, that he requires love and confidence to get the best from him. Admittedly this approach, as his erratic form under Mancini at Inter and Manchester City demonstrated, is not a foolproof strategy, but it certainly has more logic to it than the way Rodgers has approached his summer signing.

A few years ago, when "Thunderbirds" had its second wind and was one of the most popular shows on UK TV, a large model of Tracy Island was the must-have toy for Christmas and thus sold out everywhere. Some desperate parents were reduced to making their own versions from toilet rolls and sticky-back plastic. Seemingly from the very start, Rodgers has acted as if Balotelli is the homemade version of the toy he really wanted, treating him with a shrugging dismissiveness, like a consolation prize that he looks at, puffs out his cheeks and says, "Well, I guess that will have to do."

"Mario was the one right at the very end who was available for that," said Rodgers in October. "We had attempts for other strikers that didn't materialise for one reason or another, so it left us right at the end of the window with a decision on whether just to go with what we had, when experience told us we were too light, or take a calculated risk on a player who has quality and then could we get it out of him consistently?"

Rodgers continued the theme later that month: "Mario is working hard on the training field. As long as he's doing his best, that's all I can ask for. Whether Mario's best is good enough longer term, that remains to be seen."

Is Mario Balotelli really the best striker Liverpool could find on short notice?

To say, in so many words, that Liverpool were looking for someone else but Balotelli is an extraordinary way to try to motivate a player. It's possible to argue that Rodgers was trying some sort of reverse psychology, to try something that perhaps had never been used on Balotelli before and get him to prove himself, but it was a long shot that has backfired quite emphatically. If Rodgers thought Balotelli was a gamble before, he lengthened the odds even further by publicly identifying the striker as a last resort and talking down to him in a remarkable manner.

Perhaps worse than that is Rodgers' seeming lack of ideas to fit Balotelli, a potentially talented striker, into the Liverpool team. Rodgers also said this week: "We have seen [high pressing is] not really his game. Working with him for the period of time he's been here we have seen that he's probably someone who's better in and around the box. That level of intensity and pressing isn't part of his game. But you try to get the best out of the players you have and the qualities they have."

It's another incredible comment, isn't it? Quite apart from talking about this Italian international as if he were a 17-year-old kid called upon in an injury crisis, if Rodgers didn't know that Balotelli isn't exactly an Italian Dirk Kuyt before signing him, it would appear that he hasn't watched him at all in the last five years. Which would make spending 16 million pounds on Balotelli as part of a plan to replace Luis Suarez a curious move at best, a move of utter incompetence at worst.

For a man so keen on talking about having a "philosophy" of football and a clear line of thinking, Rodgers' treatment and use of Balotelli suggests that in reality he has neither. I wrote earlier in December that Rodgers looks like a man managing without a plan. His comments about Balotelli only serve to further back up that view.