I think he's rated quite fairly to be honest with you. I could just as easily make the same statements about someone like Immobile, who as it stands still has had only one noteworthy season on his resume in top flight football, yet is constantly being regarded as the second coming of Bobo Vieri. I'm not saying that I don't have full confidence in Immobile's abilities and what he's capable of achieving as a player, however I noticed numerous limitations in his skill-set as well. You mention Balo's weaknesses (which he does have), however there are few italian strikers out there that can be just as equally dangerous both within the penalty area as well as 20-30 yards away from the goal.
Amen. The fact that he put up phenomenal stats during his two seasons in EPL at just 20-21 years of age speaks volumes as well, playing in one of the biggest club in the world in the biggest league in the world.
Agreed. Verratti signing with PSG is proving to be a fantastic move with all the playing time he's gotten and the CL experience. Immobile can be a star with Dortmund and also get valuable big game CL experience. Going abroad is the best move these two players could have made.
What phenomenal numbers ? He scored a couple only in his 2nd season and maybe 12-13 in his first season? What part of that is phenomenal? Lol
I'm not sure about that one. He was there already once and all the media did was focus on the dart throwing, house burning and other stupid things he did. Do you remember his first press conference with Milan? He outright refused any of the English media asking him questions. So while the media does sensationalize, it's not like he didn't give them ammo. He played for my team the last two years. There are people here who claim he did nothing, and that's not true. They also want to blame him for all of Milan's problems and that's not true either. He wasn't the sole reason Milan sucked last year. The issue is that he can be so much more than he already is with a bit of a minor attitude adjustment and that is all we want to see. I wouldn't mind if Conte kept him off the team for some time, until he's proven that he doesn't react to provocation by sulking or retaliating or stopping play for Liverpool for some time. Imagine a Balotelli on the team with the same work rate that Zaza gave last game? I think we'd all be happy with that.
When Balotelli scores 22 goals in season without a PK....well...actually that will never happen. Why? He's never been great around the net. He pads his stats with PKs. 30 yard blasts don't help much if they rarely happen and you aren't a finisher in front of the goal.
I was thinking the same thing. The Brits were hounding Balotelli during his whole stay with Manchester City. Media scrutiny will be much worse in Liverpool. In fact they are already starting by claiming Balotelli head butted someone during a scrimmage (a story which sounds so fake/sensationalized). I was lolling at that as well. Domenico Berardi at 19 for Sassuolo already scored more goals that Balotelli has in any one season. Phenomenal numbers are what Ronaldo, Messi, and Suarez put up. To be fair Balotelli has played for big clubs that didn't always start him, but he also has a habit of missing club matches due to suspensions and other internal infractions. If Verratti stayed in Serie A his career would probably already look like Giovinco's. Young Italians must be passed over by second rate foreigners or turn 28 before getting a chance. Going abroad or playing for Sassuolo are your only options.
Name me another Italian player that has experienced anywhere near the same level of success in EPL in the last decade... Considering his age and the pressure that comes with playing for such a massive club in the biggest league in the world, I'd say that those numbers were pretty damn impressive. I swear to god it honestly sounds like you people just WANT the kid to fail lol.
How many of Immobile's goals last season were scored off of penalties? I find it laughable that we're suddenly downplaying a guys stats because he's scored of the penalty area. Typically if you're the one being selected to take so many of the team's penalty kicks it's because they have faith in your goal scoring, no?
not to be offence to anyone, but i am tired to hear ppl still keep saying "lets give him some times to grow up" "he's young and talent, so just wait him" "he is promising, a long journey for him, for azzuri and for us"… I had heard this kind of fairy tales since euro 2012, so its time to move on and lets read something real
Absolutely. He's had all the time in the world and he hasn't improved in years. If he improves on his own with Liverpool, then by all means bring him back, but I see no reason to have him on the squad right now.
Like Suarez, all 22 of Immobile's goals last season were in the run of play. 0 were penalty kicks. The fact that you don't know that means you are not watching Serie A very closely (unlike almost every other poster here). You said Balotelli put up "phenomenal" numbers. The definition of phenomenal is "very remarkable or unusual in a way that is very impressive". His goal figures throughout his club career are (full seasons)… 2008-2009: 8 2009-10: 9 2010-11: 6 2011-12: 13 2012-13: 13 2013-14: 14 Not bad, but far from unusually impressive. You could argue that some posters here are reluctant to give Balotelli any kind of praise, but you go comically in the absolute other direction. You used hyperbole, and Daei accurately nailed you for it. You are now building a strawman with this comment and sidestepping his point. Exactly. If he has a great season than Conte will bring him back. Right now other forwards are staking a claim.
Interesting debate we're having here. I put these stats up before the world cup in another thread. Looks like they'll be good for debate here too Interesting how many goals inside and outside the area. Assists as well. Balotelli had 3 goals from the PK last season and 4 from direct free kick. He also had more assists than 4 of the other 5 strikers. I'd suggest that neither camp are 100% correct, and that happens when you look at just one stat; goals and not the big picture. There a bit of a bigger picture here. Of course, either camp is free to extrapolate how they please on these numbers
From the above stats and focusing on finishing only: How well they convert chances - Goal to Shots Conversion Ratio (excludes penalties): Destro 33% Immobile 22% Rossi 15% Balotelli 7% Cerci: 7% Average shots per 90m: Balotelli 6 Rossi 3.9 Cerci: 3.6 Immobile 3.5 Destro 2.9 Average goals per 90m: Destro 1.0 Immobile 0.8 Rossi 0.6 Balotelli 0.4 Cerci: 0.2
Interesting stats. Where are they from? (I'm a stat-aholic). Also what's the difference in key passes vs chance created? I don't usually see the two as separate stats and the numbers on each player ended up pretty similar in both areas. Anyway, based on this the minutes per goal (non pk or fk) would be as follows: Balo 327 min/goal Immobile 118min/goal Destro 95 min/goal Rossi 152 min/goal Cerci 372 min/goal Personally my favorite strikers are usually the ones with the highest actions per game (which here would probably be goals from open play + key passes/minutes). It shows players who are better all around and tends to be more SS/Treq. type players (Del Piero, Totti, Di Natale, Rossi are the only one's whose numbers I remember being rather high in both categories the last couple years in Italy; Tevez, Hulk and Reus are foreigners with decent numbers). My guess is it would be Rossi (maybe Cerci) out of these five, but I'm in a rush atm. Also it's pretty entertaining that Destro and Immobile have even worse defensive ratings than Balotelli, but that's neither here nor there. My preference would be Rossi but he needs to retire for his own health. Destro Cerci or Immobile Cerci would probably be my personal choices if I were coach at this point. Idk though. I'm currently in the anti-balo crowd. He reminds me too much of Cassano. Loads of potential + no brains = bouncing around and never achieving anything.
If we were to look at it from strictly a goal scoring perspective, since all goals scored go towards a result and add assists/goals created to that, then it looks like this Rossi 80 min/goal Destro 88 min/goal Immobile 103min/goal Balo 115 min/goal Cerci 131 min/goal Anyway, I think it's interesting how stats can be isolated to show almost anything we want them to. Does everyone else look at this and feel bad for Rossi? Just as he enters his peak he's plagued with a series of knee injuries I really pray that the guy can overcome this. Id take a year off, if I were him! Anyone interested in doing minutes per infraction?
Those stats aren't really useful since there are so many intangibles - those players' teammates, overall team, quality of opponent, tactics used by their manager, etc. Those variables can mean a lot and make a massive difference. A guy like Destro may look gold in Roma's system and talent base while a guy like Zaza may not look as favorable because he's playing with less talent around him.
chances created = assists + key passes On the actions criteria you mentioned it is Cassano who comes out in front of all of these players with daylight between him and those trailing.
Statistics provide accurate and objective information. It is how that information is utilised and hopefully not misinterpreted in the context of other factors which determines whether or not it is useful.
That is quite the generalization. Statistics tell a story. I said they weren't very useful in this PARTICULAR case (goal scoring per minute) because there are too many (important) uncontrolled variables. If you know anything about research at all, you'd know that you need controlled variables and this 'study' lacks that. Therefore, it isn't very useful.