Is this the end of Mario Balotelli’s Manchester City career?

I have to apologise to my regular readers about the amount of Manchester City stories I have been writing recently but City are simply impossible to ignore at the moment.

One particular story that is hard to ignore is Mario Balotelli’s behaviour.

Senseless

The Italian striker was sent-off late-on in City’s 1-0 defeat at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium.

In truth the young striker was lucky to be on the pitch as long as he was. The challenge he made to get his second yellow card was a booking all day, yet he had the cheek to claim his innocent.

Balotelli should have been sent-off in the first half for a terrible lung on Arsenal midfielder Alex Song, which could quite easily have broken the Cameroon midfielders leg. Referee Martin Atkinson must have missed the incident because he didn’t even book Balotelli for the challenge.

To be fair to Atkinson it isn’t the first poor decision he has made this season, after he shown Jack Rodwell a very dubious red card in the Merseyside derby at Goodison earlier this season. However we will put this poor decision down to him not being able to see the incident properly.

Liability

At the moment Mario Balotelli is a liability. He is one of the reasons why Manchester City are going to finish runners-up in the Premier League instead of champions. It’s hard to blame one player but his behaviour has unsettled his teammates.

When he was sent-off yesterday you could see how frustration in City keeper Joe Hart. The reason for the England keeper’s frustration was Balotelli’s habit of letting his teammates down when he is needed most.

By all accounts the City keeper is very professional and diligent. He obvious knew that Balotelli getting sent-off late-on in the game had given City no chance of even snatching a point. If only Balotelli was as professional as Hart.

Balotelli just cannot be trusted to do the right thing on the pitch. He knew he had already been booked, yet he decided to put in a poor challenge anyway. Just idiotic.

Ego

I remember a few years ago we had a discussion on Soccernews about which is more important temperament or talent? It was a very interesting debate and inevitably Mario Balotelli’s name got brought up. The 21 year-old doesn’t seem to have matured at all since that debate.

Mario Balotelli’s temperament is still outweighing his talent, and nothing seems to have changed from his Inter days. His ego is writing cheques that his talent can’t cash at the moment.

Mario Balotelli is a good player on his day but his attitude towards the game at the moment is only showing his bad side. Sometimes he sulks around the pitch like he just can’t be bothered playing the game. Yet in some games he produces pieces of magic.

Unfortunately for City in recent weeks they have seen more of his bad side than his football talent. Balotelli goes around thinking that he is already a superstar, despite the fact that he doesn’t seem to be able to control himself.

Unmanageable

The striker seems unmanageable at the moment. Even the great Jose Mourinho got rid of him of from Inter because he just couldn’t control Balotelli’s unpredictable behaviour. He knew it was better for the team as a whole to sell the striker. The Portuguese boss was right of course.

Future

City boss Roberto Mancini is now in the same situation. It is unclear whether Balotelli’s future lies at City or not. It seems that Mancini has had enough of Balotelli’s antics but Balotelli’s agent has said that he will be staying with the club.

I believe that Manchester City have to sell the player for the good of the club. Balotelli’s behaviour has been unnecessary and it will cost City at the end of the season, when arch-rivals Manchester United inevitably claim the Premier League title.

I also can’t imagine there will be a queue of clubs waiting to sign the Italian international striker either. However as we have previously discussed some people rate talent as more important than temperament. If he does move clubs then all I have to say to his new boss is good luck, you’re going to need it!

Has Mario Balotelli played his last game for Manchester City?