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Lessons from the West Brom-Liverpool clash

Mario Balotelli is a lost cause

Balotelli (centre) did not create a significant impact on Saturday’s match between West Brom and Liverpool, failing to have a shot in the 74 minutes he played. PHOTO:AP

Balotelli (centre) did not create a significant impact on Saturday’s match between West Brom and Liverpool, failing to have a shot in the 74 minutes he played. PHOTO:AP

Mario Balotelli is a lost cause

You would have been forgiven for forgetting that Mario Balotelli is still a Liverpool player — such has been his lack of any meaningful impact at the club since the turn of the year.

But Brendan Rodgers gave him a chance to show Liverpool fans and, perhaps more importantly, potential summer suitors, that he still has the drive and desire to make an impact at the highest level.

Sadly, this was another occasion that simply passed him by. Beyond a fiercely struck half-volley that went just over, Balotelli’s impact was negligible as he drifted into innocuous areas of the field far too often.

His runs were either too predictable or nonexistent, the few dangerous crosses Liverpool did produce flashed by without him even in the frame and he failed to have a shot in anger in the 74 minutes he managed before being substituted.

The Reds’ more pressing problem at the end of the season may be less about getting the best out of Balotelli, and more about getting rid of him.

Rodgers must get Sturridge firing again

Linked to Balotelli’s woes is the disappearing act by Daniel Sturridge. The England striker’s intolerance to injuries of any kind — he takes the Dutch approach of never playing when he does not feel fully fit — means he has played only a third of Liverpool’s games this season.

Sturridge is unlikely to change his attitude, so Rodgers has to simply devise a fitness programme that will enable him to play more next season because, too often, Liverpool look toothless in his absence.

Either that or, as the manager threatened, buy a striker who is more reliable.

Steven Gerrard’s fairy tales just aren’t coming true

After the dreadful disappointment of seeing his FA Cup dreams thwarted, Steven Gerrard might at least have thought Fate would throw him a bone on the occasion of his 500th appearance in the Premier League.

However, this appears to be a season when his fairy tales are being shredded before his very eyes — there was no goal for the midfielder and few sparks of inspiration in a game that was crying out for a creative lift. There was a free-kick that drifted just over at the end of the first half and a shot from the edge of the area late on. But otherwise, Gerrard was subdued.

There are only five games left for the Liverpool captain to leave one last precious memory for his fans, both at Anfield and beyond.

Would Liverpool be better off finishing seventh?

Now that the Reds’ top-four ambitions look effectively dead, the question has to be asked about whether they would be better off finishing seventh rather than in the top six.

The latter yields a place in the dreaded Europa League and all the attendant dreariness that entails —Thursday-night football, long journeys to out-of-the-way footballing outposts and the inevitably corrosive impact on Premier League form.

Rodgers would never admit it, of course, and Liverpool’s competitive instincts are such that they will always seek to finish as high as possible.

True, seventh place may still result in Europa League football (provided Aston Villa win the FA Cup). But if there is a way of avoiding the most-disliked competition in the sport, it would be plain common sense to take it.

Saido Berahino did not impress on audition day

Slightly more than four months ago, West Brom felt compelled to issue a statement saying Berahino was not about to sign for Liverpool in a £23 million (S$46.5 million) deal.

On the basis of what they saw at the Hawthorns today, Rodgers will be grateful that he kept his chequebook in his pocket. The England under-21 international has gone seven games without a goal for West Brom and did not last the distance.

It still seems probable that he will leave at the end of the season, but who will be buying him is anyone’s guess. THE DAILY TELEGRAPH

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