Grosso: 'Brescia can't support Balotelli'

By Football Italia staff

Fabio Grosso felt Brescia “imploded” in their 3-0 defeat to Roma and confirmed Mario Balotelli cannot play until he “makes the decision” to work for the team.

The Rondinelle have lost both Grosso’s games in charge since replacing Eugenio Corini, falling 4-0 to Torino and 3-0 at the Olimpico.

“The implosion was the most negative aspect of the afternoon, because we had done well to hold out with Roma in the first half,” Grosso told Sky Sport Italia.

“I had told the lads the main objective was to stay in the game, because we would get our chances, but unfortunately we conceded naïve goals and fell too far behind.”

Balotelli was left at home after a training ground row, in which Grosso accused the striker of being too sluggish and lacking intensity.

“I am the coach of this team and I saw Brescia’s promotion campaign in Serie B, with very few changes, so they were powered by that enthusiasm.

“Defeats take away some of your confidence and my job now is to help them rediscover that belief in complicated situations, because we’ve got the character.

“We will always end up talking about Mario, because the media love to pay attention to anything he does,” continued Grosso.

“I told Mario from the start that he can be a protagonist of this team if he has the hunger, determination, aggression and enthusiasm, the kind of characteristics he has often lacked during his career.

“As I said, he’s the one who has to make the decision. We’re at the bottom of the table and need more than just a striker who can hit the ball hard and score when he gets it. We need someone ready to work for the team, fight hard off the ball and throughout the 90 minutes.

“If we have someone like Mario who struggles to put himself at the disposal of the team, then Brescia are not in a position to support him in that role.”

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