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BRENDAN RODGERS is convinced he can help transform Mario Balotelli into a success at Liverpool.

Balotelli is still awaiting a first Premier League goal for his new club after a frustrating afternoon during the goalless draw against Hull City at Anfield on Saturday.

The Italian missed a late chance to win the match but improved greatly on his poor performance in the defeat to Real Madrid in midweek.

And Reds boss Rodgers said: “You are never too old to learn.

“They key is if you want to learn. And I think Mario does.

“He is getting the support. That’s what happens when you come to this club. You don’t have any excuses.

“The people here, the supporters, the players, the staff. They will back every (new) player.

“The environment here that has been created is so there are no egos. They just want to improve and do their work. Mario will get that support.”

Asked if he teach Balotelli to embrace a lone striker role, Rodgers responded: “Yes. We still have enough bodies around. They are not up there isolated.

“Mario probably is a player that likes to drift and open up spaces for others and get opportunities from that.

“Tactically I think he can play a number of positions. He is 6ft 3ins, quick and strong. You look to play to players’ strengths.”

Rodgers paired Balotelli with substitute Rickie Lambert for the final half-hour on Saturday.

And the Reds boss said: “I thought Rickie’s contribution gave the team a lift.

“His touch was good, his link up play was good. His contribution was excellent.

“You consider everything to get results and, looking at that, it worked quite well.

“Rickie is looking sharper. I have said to him that when he has the chance to come, he has to grab it and be effective. I thought he was that.”

Rodgers took heart from only a second clean sheet in 19 games for a Reds defence that has been under fire for much of the campaign.

“What was important here was if we didn’t score, then we didn’t concede,” he said.

“Defensively we looked solid against a team with two strikers, that had scored two at The Emirates and two at Newcastle.

“They are a threat going forward but we nullified that. It was just unfortunate that we didn’t get three points.”

Hull boss Steve Bruce, who hailed Balotelli as Liverpool’s man of the match, has likened the Italian to similarly maverick former Manchester United team-mate Eric Cantona.

“When you sign someone like Mario, the one thing they ain’t going to do is change,” said Bruce. “You have to find a way of getting the best out of them without changing them.

“When you sign a maverick you always know there is something you have to protect them over.

“Eric was a great one who came into a team that were ready to accept him for his maverick ways.

“But he was also dedicated. He carried a bag with vitamin pills and things to make him better, well before anyone else.

“He did it to make sure he was physically right. He was a magnificent specimen physically.”