Brendan Rodgers says Mario Balotelli's composure from the penalty spot against Besiktas justified a breach of "etiquette".
Substitute Balotelli scored the winner in the first leg of Liverpool's EuropaLeague tie with the Turkish side after arguing with Jordan Henderson over who should take a late penalty.
Injured club captain Steven Gerrard, in his role as a television pundit, accused the Italian of being "disrespectful" in the aftermath of the game, while Sky Sports' Jamie Redknapp said: "I don’t think he’s got any respect for anybody."
But Rodgers says Balotelli was within his rights to take the penalty even if the wrangling over the ball left the manager unimpressed.
Asked if Gerrard's comments would cause friction in the squad he said: "That's my job to manage that - that's what I do behind the scenes every day, and I'd like to think you see in the way the team's playing the motivation, respect and commitment they have to each other. I don't think that's an issue at all.
"The only thing I would say is I don't like the etiquette - if it's my team or any other team, because most coaches will have their nominated penalty-takers.
"What you don't like to see is four or five players around the football looking to take the penalty. So it was maybe more the etiquette that was not as we would have liked last night, but we got the end result."
Asked to clarify who was the nominated taker he said: "It's clear: when Steven plays he's the No 1 penalty-taker; with the players that were initially on the pitch Jordan was the No 1 penalty-taker; but when Mario and Steven and Jordan are on the pitch at the same time, we normally have Steven and Mario as the penalty-takers. So it just varies.
"It's really all about the player who is responsible for the penalty. Jordan showed what a team player he is in respecting Mario's position - and he's an outstanding penalty-taker.
"Jordan Henderson showed his maturity, and Mario had the composure and calmness to finish it"
No comments:
Post a Comment