NFR - swapping shirts at half time

[Herbie]

Evening old friends, sorry I've not been on here for a while.

Anyway, there seems to be a bit of fuss kicking off about Balotelli swapping his shirt at half time against Real last night. What are the thoughts on here about players swapping shirts at half-time? Or even full-time for that matter? 

The press conference from Rodgers suggested that he was not happy about the half time shirt swap at all, but personally, I can't see what the issue with it is. Isn't it just a symbol of good sportsmanship with two professionals showing appreciation for each other? 

It would be interesting to see what Rodgers would have said if Suarez had done the same during his time at the club.

[Jimpav]

Swapping shirts is a bit disrespectful after a bad result - you are basically disowning your allegiance to the club. Even more so when there is another half of football to play.

The bigger issue was his performance in the match - he was shocking by most accounts so wouldn't have endeared the manager further by swapping his shirt.

I would be irritated if a Fulham player had done that.

[Berserker]

Reither did that with a Man U player didn't he last year?

[Jimpav]

Reither did that with a Man U player didn't he last year?

I think you are right Ms B. He rightly got stick for that as well.

[Me-ate-Live, innit??]

Reither did that with a Man U player didn't he last year?

So did that prize tit Riisa 
but at least they waited until the game was over

[Humbled]

couldn't care less if or when they swap shirts.....

the one thing that bothers me in this while Balotelli sager is the fact despite being poor so far he is a MASSIVE scapegoat.
eg last night he failed to pass to Sterling early on and the commentators went on about it for a good 2minutes after.
yet sterling would over run the ball time and time again and not once would they comment. Sterling is currently a media darling and we are being forced into thinking he is performing better than he actually is.
An example being during the world cup, he did ok but they will force the fact he had a decent shot in the first couple of mins against Italy down your throat. Yet during the tournament (for me at least) Welbeck was by far our best player. Granted it isn't saying much but if I listened to the commentators Sterling was better than James Rodriguez (ok a bit far) but you get the point.

Another show of this was when Mario signed for Liverpool a paper ran the headline "Balotelli makes Saurez look like a saint" now to me I took offence.
I don't recall Balotelli biting someone in the top Dutch league, top English league or world cup.
Neither do I recall him being racist or cheating during a world cup quarter final not to mention all the constant diving and off the ball niggles.

To be honest I feel sorry for Balotelli, he is definitely under performing and if I were him I would just work hard and try to ignore all the rubbish that goes on around him but I am shocked he hasn't completely imploded and broken down (im not convinced he isn't struggling mentally) I guess it would give the media what they want.

p.s I am not defending some of his actions or his recent performances but he hasn't shot anyone, stole anything, been banned for drugs, or done any of the other numerous things some of our English players have. Leave the guy alone. The poor lad was even racially abused by his own country (allegedly) after the world cup for under performing yet he was one of the better players in a poor team, he is just the easy target

[absent cottager]

Isn't the point that by swapping at half time, he's saying that it's already game over, yes they were 3-0 down but still with 45 mms left probably should have waited till the end.

[westcliff white]

Almost all players did in during the world cup, at both half and full time. I personally see no issue with it, there are generally 3/4 tops per player anyway at each game.

[NorfolkJim]

Maybe he felt he would be coming off at half time? Maybe He knew he would only play the first 45 mins or maybe he threw a hissy fit and planned to leave the ground during half time - who knows? Him and how many others. At least he waited till he was in the tunnel. Maybe had promised it to someone and wanted to be sure he honoured his promise.

[FFC1987]

Don't a lot of players change shirts for the second half? I'm pretty sure nowadays the players change for clean shirts at half time so if this is the case, it makes it largely irrelevant?

Even if he thinks hes staying on for the second half, he can get two world class players shirts before the end of the game and doesn't look greedy or like a kit man at full time....Or maybe he thought he was coming off. Either way, don't see the harm in it.

[Berserker]

My Liverpool supporting work colleague felt the match was damage limitation against Real Madrid anyway

[nose]

What a story this was.
Who cares? It makes no difference whatsoever whether he swapped shirts, shorts or socks at half time or full time
The thing that counts id how did he play and what was the score.

People worry about such trivia it is amazing.