Mario Balotelli needs to up his work-ethic during matches, according to Liverpool boss, Brendan Rodgers.
The Reds manager has stated that his new striker needs to work as hard as his old striker did on the pitch, referring to Luis Suarez, who joined FC Barcelona in the Summer after another biting incident during the World Cup.
The Italian scored his first goal for his new club on Tuesday night during their 2-1 victory in the Champions League, and after the game, Rodgers admitted he was delighted to see the 23-year-old register his first goal for the club, but he knows that he needs to work harder to ensure he scores more.
Rodgers was a massive fan of Suarez due to his goalscoring record, but also due to how hard he worked for his team-mates, and the boss wants a similar job done by Balotelli.
“Mario’s a boy who’s really looked into the history of the club. He understands the great strikers of the past,” said Rodgers.
“We’ve spoken about Suarez and his time here. Mario’s still young and still learning the game and he still has this hunger to do well.
“You see his work; he’s put his body on the line and he needs to do more of that but that will come as he gets fitter.
“I don’t spend more time with him than the other players. As a coach you will always have players who are high maintenance and players who are low maintenance for different reasons.
“I’ll spend a lot of time with a lot of the players but he’s a good boy and you can see he’s prepared to work.
“Okay, the ball has bounced off him a couple of times and we’re trying to improve him in the transitions so that when he makes a mistake he can go after it, but you can see what he’s trying to put in for the team.
“That’s going to be very important. The crowd demand that because the players who’ve been here in the past in that position have been non-stop and he’s coming attuned to that.
“He’s aware of the demands and it’s going to take time, but if he continues to score goals and work hard like he has done he will be fine because he’s obviously got the quality.”
Written by Alex Batt – @AlexBatt – @AlexsArticles
