Wednesday, 29th October, 2014
Liverpool legend John Aldridge has hailed Mario Balotelli’s performance in the Reds' 2-1 League Cup win over Swansea last night.
The Italian inspired a stirring comeback as the Reds scored twice in the final few minutes to break Swansea hearts in the League Cup game at Anfield.
Balotelli picked up an injury in the warm-up ahead of the game, but Brendan Rodgers decided to gamble when he replaced Rickie Lambert with him in the 79th minute.
He scored in the 86th minute to cancel out Marvin Emnes’ 65th minute strike and Dejan Lovren headed in an injury-time winner to keep Liverpool alive in the competition.
Liverpool legend Aldridge is happy for the Italian and feels that he had to face a lot of unwarranted criticism since his arrival at Liverpool.
relatedNewsStory
"It's nice to be talking good things about the lad", the Irishman told BBC Radio 5 live.
"The eyes of the world seem to be on him at the moment for the wrong reasons.
"But it was a good substitution by the manager and he turned things around with a nice little finish."
The former Reds forward also believes Balotelli is a much better player when he is operating with a strike partner.
"He does struggle when he's up front on his own", he said.
"He does come alive when he's up alongside someone. I think for future reference they may have to look at that."
Don't bet on football until you've visited Inside Bet! Interesting markets, top tips, betting facts – get all the info before you bet.
