Raheem Sterling - 2017/18 performances

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The criticism of Raheem here is justified, he missed an open goal. That’s something top players like Messi, Neymar, Ronaldo, Cavani, De Bruyne, Aguero have never done....
 
Easy said:
The criticism of Raheem here is justified, he missed an open goal. That’s something top players like Messi, Neymar, Ronaldo, Cavani, De Bruyne, Aguero have never done....
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Really? Where were you last season when KDB missed from the goal line?
 
The funny thing about that game for me/Raz was that I thought he looked very confident, hungry, and decisive in that first half. I was pumped and felt like something really positive was brewing. I tweeted that out and got a lot of positive feedback so naturally he had to miss that sitter and me look the fool!
 
I'm someone who actually thinks Raheem Sterling is technically inferior to many of the players in our squad and in fact this is something I see quite often in English players across the board. It's clear that Pep is actively seeking to bring in a more accomplished player in Raheem's position and we saw this with the approaches to Sanchez & Mahrez, however this being said I think it's unfair to slag him off for the miss at the weekend because he has given everything this season and contributed significantly to our league position.
 
domalino said:
I've seen you say he's in bad form a few times...he's got 10 goals+assists (5 of each) in his last 10 league games, he's not in poor form at all.
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Before you rush to try and "prove me wrong" with stats(which I'm sure you know don't tell the full story)... actually read what was written and comprehend what points are being made before wading in on the offensive.

If you had done that you'd notice that I have defended him several times here because I do rate him highly. You seem to have made the mistake of thinking a dip in form equates to "bad form"(he's not quite there yet as long as he pops up with assists but lets be fair he normally offers a lot more than that) and also missed the point that I was obviously discussing his recent form(I was responding to a question about his last 3 games if I remember right)... so what's the point in going back 10 games when nobody was arguing that? An exercise in self indulgent stat spamming to massage your ego perhaps?

Against Liverpool pretty everyone was off the pace, especially during that 9mins(still very much in the game until then though but lets not get into all that again). Since then there have a been only 3 league games. I missed out Newcastle because I was struggling to remember that game which was probably due to their tactics making it a frustrating game, watching the highlights has re jogged my memory. He did win us a penalty but other than that I'm struggling to remember much else, to be fair I wont include that game because of the way Newcastle set up.

So lets say since the Cardiff game then, which is a cup game I know but a key one and it's still only 3 games for Sterling. That's more interesting because if you notice I did say it hasn't been helped by him being moved out of position(along with other key players out injured) which started with the Cardiff game, the 2nd half especially after Sané went off and even that half is hard to judge because I believe they were under instructions to run the clock down due to their clogging tactics, so maybe that's one we can dismiss too. I will also have to point out, that if you are going to argue that Sterling hasn't up until this point in his City career been far more effective from the right(ie he can struggle more when he starts on the left) then we can stop the discussion right here because we obviously watch the game in totally different ways... I look at the performance as a whole which the stats are simply part of and not the be all - end all.

I did defend his West Brom performance a little which some tried to say was bad by saying he got 2 assists but that's not to say his performance was up to his usual high standards because it clearly wasn't, I rate the player but I see no point in doing that. It's 2 games where his performance level has been off his usual high standards which isn't really that many but regardless of that, there are signs of a slight dip. There's really no need for such a knee jerk reaction to such mild criticism as that, you're only adding to the perception that some deny any form of criticism of him, which doesn't help. In his defence it's more noticeable to us because he's being played on his less favoured side, it may even be the cause of it and also more noticeable than it would have been with Sané or Jesus picking up the slack which they all do for each other in different parts of the season and it's very rare a player stays in peak form all season lets be fair. It's harder for him anyway with Sané out as each of them helps the other by occupying the defence's attentions with pace from both sides, rather than just one side.

Maybe a better point to make isn't that there has been a significant drop in his standards but at this point in time we need more from him than we were asking before, as we are relying on him more heavily. If he can be our answer while Jesus and Sané are out AND while being played on his weaker side of the pitch then he'll arguably have reached a new level in his maturity as a player and also a step forward in fulfilling his potential.
 
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Should add to the above, it's non penalty goals only and it's as of 31st January
 
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