Rodgers Must Be Careful Not to Make Mario Balotelli a Scapegoat at Liverpool

Liverpool's sticky start to the season was alleviated a little at the weekend by their 2-1 win over West Bromwich Albion, largely inspired by a terrific performance by Jordan Henderson, who has become one of the finest midfielders in the Premier League.

The victory came in the absence of Mario Balotelli, relegated to the bench after a disappointing start to his career at Anfield. Replacing the Italian with Rickie Lambert was not an unreasonable decision, given Liverpool's relative struggles up front thus far: If a player isn't doing what is required and a team has a different option, why not try it for a game?

It's true that Liverpool might have expected a little more in terms of goals from their new signing, who has only found the net once in six starts, albeit a crucial goal against Ludogorets in the Champions League.

However, there is a danger that Balotelli is becoming a scapegoat for their relative struggles. While his performances have been slightly below what has been expected, some of the criticism levelled at him smacks of confirmation bias. On Sky Sports after the defeat to Basel in the Champions League, Graeme Souness accused Balotelli of "not doing enough," and implied that his work rate was not up to standard, as per the Daily Mail. Furthermore, Jamie Carragher suggested that Balotelli wasn't working hard enough, and not "sacrificing" himself for the team, as per Eurosport.

However, it has seemed from watching Balotelli this season that of all his problems, work rate is not one of them. He has seemed very keen to work hard, almost to a fault, as if he knows what his reputation in England is and is trying to prove people wrong. Unfortunately for him, he is traditionally thought of as a lazy player, and such things tend to stick despite current evidence to the contrary.

The Italian will always attract more attention than most, and certainly more than any of Liverpool's other summer signings, even though he has been far from the worst. It's premature to write any player off when arriving in a new division, but Lazar Markovic has thus far looked out of his depth in the Premier League.

Balotelli's reputation, personality and the identity of the man he was ostensibly replacing will always ensure that he will be high profile and the first to attract criticism when things aren't going to plan, but he might not quite expect that from his manager.

Brendan Rodgers has seemed to handle Balotelli in a rather curious manner since signing him. Rodgers described the striker as a “calculated risk” and that signing for Liverpool was “probably his last chance,” as per the BBC, a statement that seemed just plain incorrect given that Balotelli is still only 24.

Furthermore, Rodgers suggested last week that Balotelli was not his first-choice signing and something of a last resort. He was quoted by The Guardian as saying:

"

I always said it was about availability and affordability of players. Mario was the one right at the very end who was available for that. I said when he came in that it was a calculated risk and it’s something I have to work on to try to make it work for the team...

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?

"

At a push, one can see the tactic that Rodgers is trying to pursue in order to get the best from his striker. "Tough love" is one way of putting it, the Liverpool boss trying to harness Balotelli's frustration and inspire him to prove the criticism wrong.

Rodgers may also reason that the support Balotelli has and will receive from the Anfield crowd will balance this out. It's as if he's playing a high-level game of "good cop, bad cop" with a player who has proved problematic for managers in the past.

However, there is a fine line between this and plain demoralising criticism, and Rodgers must strike a delicate balance between the two. At the moment, the tactic doesn't appear to be working, and he must be careful not to single out Balotelli and paint him as being responsible for all of Liverpool's problems.