Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has had a go at striker Mario Balotelli telling the Italian striker that he needs to put more work in while out on the pitch for the Reds.
Rodgers did however give his full support to Mario over the penalty mix up against Besiktas when the 24-year-old took the ball from Captain Jordan Henderson to score the only goal of the evening after a tough match with the Turkish league leaders.
However when it came to the strikers performance overall the Northern Irishman was less than impressed.
Rodgers responded “no, not really no”, when asked by Sky Sports if he was satisfied with the performance Balotelli put in after coming on as a sub.
Rodgers said: “We need to ensure that whatever level of the game we are playing at we have everyone working as a team and once we got the penalty he stops working.
“So he needs to improve on that facet of his game to play in his position, rather than standing on the side of the football field.”
When being interviewed by a national newspaper, Rodgers said of Balotelli: “He has contributed against Besiktas, he has got the penalty and scored the goal but that is what he is paid to do.
“He needs to keep that efficiency in his game and show that he can affect the team whether he is asked to play from the bench or from the start. In a different country and a different style of football that (goal) would be all that matters but in this team there is more to it than that.”
