Mario Balotelli has been on the receiving end of more internal criticism at Liverpool after the manager, Brendan Rodgers, accused the striker of not working for the team during the Europa League win over Besiktas.

The Italy international’s standing at Anfield is again under scrutiny with Rodgers becoming the second high-profile figure at the club to criticise his contribution to Thursday’s 1-0 victory against the Turkish league leaders.

Balotelli won Liverpool the game with an 85th-minute penalty but was accused by Steven Gerrard of showing disrespect to the stand-in captain, Jordan Henderson, for insisting on spot-kick duties.

Rodgers has no concerns on that issue, indeed he contradicted the club captain’s argument yesterday by insisting Balotelli was correct to take the penalty before Henderson with Gerrard out injured.

However, the Liverpool manager was deeply unimpressed with the £16 million signing’s performance after he converted the penalty and has publicly admonished Balotelli for effectively downing tools against Slaven Bilic’s side.

The former Milan forward is in the most productive spell of his Liverpool career, scoring a late winner against Tottenham in the Premier League and helping to create Adam Lallana’s decisive goal against Crystal Palace in the FA Cup fifth round.

Rodgers claimed “the penny had dropped” with the 24-year-old after the Palace game but when asked whether Balotelli was now Liverpool’s “go-to man” following Thursday’s match, the manager said: “If he works harder than when he came on, he will be.”

Unimpressed

Rodgers was then asked if he was happy with the substitute’s performance. “No, not really, no,” he replied. Pressed to elaborate, the Liverpool manager added: “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.”

Gerrard’s criticism of a team-mate in his role as an ITV pundit for Thursday’s game, followed by Rodgers’s complaint, will strengthen the argument that Balotelli does not have a long-term future at Anfield.

Rodgers added: “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.”

As for the controversy over Balotelli’s successful spot-kick, the Liverpool manager claimed there had been “a lot more of a drama made out of it than what it actually was”.

However, contrary to Gerrard’s suggestion that the striker had broken dressing-room protocol by taking the spot-kick from Henderson, Rodgers clarified that Balotelli was correct.

He explained: “If you’re the vice-captain and the captain is on the bench but he comes on, it is the etiquette to go and then give him the armband. It’s a similar thing with a penalty – if Steven is on the field, there is no drama as he takes the penalty. He is the first-choice penalty taker. After that, if Mario is on the field, he takes the penalty.

“He’s scored nearly 30 penalties in big games, so he is an outstanding penalty taker. At the time when neither of them were on, Jordan was the nominated taker. Then Mario was on the field, a pressure situation, and Jordan was happy enough to take it but he gave it to Mario, who gets his goal and there is no drama.”

Captaincy material

Henderson’s role in the incident has been portrayed in some quarters as evidence of captaincy material once Gerrard leaves for LA Galaxy this summer. However, Rodgers insists a promotion from vice-captain to club captain is not automatic for the midfielder.

“You have to go steady with Jordan,” added the manager. “I think everyone is trying to catapult him into the next Steven Gerrard and he’s not that. Jordan is a real honest boy who is a hard-working player. A great team player who is tireless in his running, his ability and gives his all. Steven is a totally different player. He is still young and, as I said, it is not automatic that he’s going to be the next captain.” Guardian service