#7 | Raheem Sterling - 2020/21 Performances

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His entire game was based around immense movement both with and without the ball, that’s what turned him into one of the worlds best forwards. Over the last 6 months (and that’s generous) he’s slowly turned into another player that wants to come deep to get on the ball and then looks for the non existent runners because he’s supposed to be the runner and should be leaving the deeper creating to others. Another poor contribution to the team. Hope Pep continues to bench him until we see a vast improvement, his place isn’t guaranteed.
 
The more he has of the ball, the worst he looks. His movement, work rate and timing of runs are his strengths - running with the ball and actually kicking it are not
 
It won't be bluemoon if it wasn't reactionary or revisionist on certain players and it seems sterling is the latest. For the past 3 seasons he's been easily one of the best wingers in europe let alone the league. Even last season which was by far his worst of the 3 where he was inconsistent(started well, dipped in form around december onwards and then picked back up after lockdown) he still showed glimpses more times than not of his world class talent.

This season he has been poor or ok at best in pretty much every game he's started and not looked anywhere near the player most of us know he is. I'm of the opinion that his consistent game time has finally caught up to him this season and its affected him both mentally and physically. This is a player let's not forget was pretty much in the first team and viewed as a key player at the highest level for both club and country at just 18.

That means from that age till now at 25, he's made close to 50 club appearances every single season. He's been the one constant in pep's team ever since he was appointed manager and I can count on 1 hand the amount of games he's missed through injuries throughout his career that's how ridiculous his availability has been. I thought he sorely needed a rest last season but due to injuries to certain players he in fact ended up being the most used player in the squad above even ederson. All that considered he still ended up with the most goals and provided some match-winning performances contrary to many false statements made.




The above was just 2 champions league games I picked from last season where he was the difference maker. That is the player he is when fully rested and truthfully has been 90% of the time the past 3 seasons. A genuine world class player and match-winner who's numbers(goals/assists) have only been bettered by salah from the premier league during that period. No revisionist history from some will erase any of that.

He is also not some 'streaky' player who performs well in patches, he's been a highly consistent performer who very rarely goes more than 2 matches without contributing a goal/assist. In fact last season was the only I can think of that being the case. To provide context both mane/salah have gone longer than he did last season where they didn't score/assist but I'm sure many somehow forget those poor runs of form from them. But more important than any opinions on him from fans though is that he's clearly a highly valued player both by the manager/club(new contract coming) as well as his teammates(voted one of the vice captains).

He along with de bruyne, ederson and laporte not counting the new signings are probably the only players who you can guarantee are on the list of players who will not be sold in the near future so those shouts are comical. I'd expect fans of other clubs to make ridiculous statements like he's not good enough and should be sold/replaced and not from people who've watched him week in week out and seen what he's capable of the last 3 years. But then again this is a forum which at one point some wanted even the likes of aguero sold so it's not surprising. As for yesterdays' game he was ok, certainly looked more dangerous than he has the past few weeks but still some way to get back to what he's capable of.

Hopefully others can step up and he can get some well needed rest this season to regain his form as he will be hugely important to anything the team is to achieve in the foreseeable future as much as many of his detractors don't like to acknowledge or admit to.
 
By his standards from the last couple of years he is having a relatively poor season to date.At times this season he seems to run down into brick walls and blind alleyways.
Certainly has the ability but just not happening for him as its done in previous season ... so far.
 
Callum Ramsey said:
It won't be bluemoon if it wasn't reactionary or revisionist on certain players and it seems sterling is the latest. For the past 3 seasons he's been easily one of the best wingers in europe let alone the league. Even last season which was by far his worst of the 3 where he was inconsistent(started well, dipped in form around december onwards and then picked back up after lockdown) he still showed glimpses more times than not of his world class talent.

This season he has been poor or ok at best in pretty much every game he's started and not looked anywhere near the player most of us know he is. I'm of the opinion that his consistent game time has finally caught up to him this season and its affected him both mentally and physically. This is a player let's not forget was pretty much in the first team and viewed as a key player at the highest level for both club and country at just 18.

That means from that age till now at 25, he's made close to 50 club appearances every single season. He's been the one constant in pep's team ever since he was appointed manager and I can count on 1 hand the amount of games he's missed through injuries throughout his career that's how ridiculous his availability has been. I thought he sorely needed a rest last season but due to injuries to certain players he in fact ended up being the most used player in the squad above even ederson. All that considered he still ended up with the most goals and provided some match-winning performances contrary to many false statements made.




The above was just 2 champions league games I picked from last season where he was the difference maker. That is the player he is when fully rested and truthfully has been 90% of the time the past 3 seasons. A genuine world class player and match-winner who's numbers(goals/assists) have only been bettered by salah from the premier league during that period. No revisionist history from some will erase any of that.

He is also not some 'streaky' player who performs well in patches, he's been a highly consistent performer who very rarely goes more than 2 matches without contributing a goal/assist. In fact last season was the only I can think of that being the case. To provide context both mane/salah have gone longer than he did last season where they didn't score/assist but I'm sure many somehow forget those poor runs of form from them. But more important than any opinions on him from fans though is that he's clearly a highly valued player both by the manager/club(new contract coming) as well as his teammates(voted one of the vice captains).

He along with de bruyne, ederson and laporte not counting the new signings are probably the only players who you can guarantee are on the list of players who will not be sold in the near future so those shouts are comical. I'd expect fans of other clubs to make ridiculous statements like he's not good enough and should be sold/replaced and not from people who've watched him week in week out and seen what he's capable of the last 3 years. But then again this is a forum which at one point some wanted even the likes of aguero sold so it's not surprising. As for yesterdays' game he was ok, certainly looked more dangerous than he has the past few weeks but still some way to get back to what he's capable of.

Hopefully others can step up and he can get some well needed rest this season to regain his form as he will be hugely important to anything the team is to achieve in the foreseeable future as much as many of his detractors don't like to acknowledge or admit to.
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I don't think there is any revisionism going on. You have stated yourself that last season wasn't his best and then he has carried that lack of form into this season. Last season he got 30+ goals which for me, makes up for his poor performances overall. I wont knock anyone who bags 30 goals a season. This season however, his poor performances have continued (arguably even worse) and he isn't scoring the goals to cover for it. That is a problem.

What worries me is that in his early days at the club he was poor, which mirrored the team as a whole. Then as the team got infinitely better in 17/18 and 18/19, so did he and he looked genuinely world-class, in what was arguably the best front 3 on the planet. Then as the team has regressed since the beginning of 19/20, so has he. The very best players produce even when the teammates around them aren't. We have a prime example in KDB winning POTY even though the team as whole weren't at it. If Sterling needs the team to be firing on all cylinders for him to show up, he isn't world-class.

He either needs to step up to the plate and show everyone that he is a top player, or he needs to at least start scoring again. If he does neither, which is where he is at the moment, he is of no use to us whatsoever.
 
I forgot who wrote but remember that he / she said -> "He is the best player in the team off the ball" and I think that sums up everything about him and that has its reasons:

1) Even though Pep was tough about it - Sterling & Sane couldn't improve their "Rondo Skills" like -> first touch, balanced dribbling and etc.
2) His finish still needs to be improved and Lyon game (not mentioning other ones, like yesterday`s one for example - when had number of good chances) proved that.

So these are fundamental issues that can't be improved when player is 26 years old.

But here are skills which are very important as well:

1) Pace and physical strength -> AKA wide winger skills which are very important and rare
2) Intellect -> Of course he is not Bobby Fischer (Chess GrandMaster) but is a quite experienced player and has played a lot of important matches. Look at an assist he gave to Foden against Olimpiacos - he knows the game well and Pep`s lectures haven't gone wasted

If we combine above mentioned two sills - we get a player who can be used as a wide winger -> knowing when to accelerate and etc, the player we were watching in 2017 / 2018..

But if we are talking about inverted winger - capable to dribble, create goals individually and like Neymar type player - that's impossible and will never happen and I think what we have been seeing during the last 2 years - is enough time to understand that..

The main problem with Sterling is the reality vs dream..

Reality -> Great Wide Winger / Runner

Dream -> Great "Neymar Type" Inverted Winger

As soon as everyone at the club admits this - problem will be solved.

I think his goals and assists and some individual performances made management believe that he could do that and we all wished as well, but now it's time to think about other options..

Like try and use Ferran Torres like that and let's see if he can do, what Sterling couldn't...
 
Outside the box he is a 10/10 player in the box he is 2/10 his stats are incredible but he could be even better if he had the “sniff” of a goal in the box he dawdles he is indecisive he has to many touches in the box but after all the he has been incredible for us last few seasons.
 
I heard a lengthy interview with Jermaine Defoe and he spoke about being obsessed with the contract he made on the ball. He used to train for hours improving his touch and finishing. His game showed this as he was lethal. As he got older he trained more because he was coming off the bench and might only get a single chance and he wanted to make it count.

I remember wishing that Sterling could get like this as his touch is often so poor and one-on-one he probably won’t score. The number of times he makes contact with the underneath of his foot!

What a shame because he is near to being one of the best.
 
He looks at the moment that he can’t be arsed, which is worrying as any player can lose form for a bit but if they lose desire as well that’s a major problem. I hope I am wrong as he was on the cusp of being one of the world’s best forwards.
 
He's been a bit out of sorts recently, but is still our joint leading scorer this season. Am certain it's only a temporary blip.
 
Ric said:
He's been a bit out of sorts recently, but is still our joint leading scorer this season. Am certain it's only a temporary blip.
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To be fair his actual performances in the majority of games have been poor for over 12 months but he still scored plenty, especially against cannon fodder. It's getting picked up on more now because the tap ins have recently dried up. His all round game now to 2/3 years ago is way off and has been for ages. Couple of tap ins against Fulham and he'll be er, world class again in the media.
 
Craig said:
To be fair his actual performances in the majority of games have been poor for over 12 months but he still scored plenty, especially against cannon fodder. It's getting picked up on more now because the tap ins have recently dried up. His all round game now to 2/3 years ago is way off and has been for ages. Couple of tap ins against Fulham and he'll be er, world class again in the media.
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I don't think his overall game last season was any worse than in 17/18. In fact it was better I'd argue. 17/18 was the season where his strength was in goalscoring and not much more.

18/19 was his peak year though, but I could make that argument for many of our players under Pep.
 
Problem isn't form but difference between the perceptions about his role in a team.

In 2017 / 2018 pre-season if there was ranking, he would definitely come after -> Aguero, Debruyne, Sane and even Jesus. There also was Bernardo Silva who had fantastic performance against City in CL..
It wouldn't be a lie to say that Sterling started that season as an underdog. Because on the Left wing he had Sane and on the Right wing he had Bernardo. And Gabriel Jesus was playing everywhere he could. If you remember number of last matches in 2016 / 2017, Pep played with Sane - Aguero - Jesus trio and GJ was Right winger.

And also 2016 / 2017 season Pep started with 3-5-2 formation, during pre-season he was using that tactics as well..

So Sterling was far from being the main star boy or player 3 years ago.

In 2020 / 2021 he is regarded as the second best player of the team after Debruyne and that's the problem - because he can't handle such pressure and role..

If Messi arrives (like it's said) for free and maybe another star Striker if Aguero leaves - maybe once again we will see his real value.. But right now when he has to deliver like Debruyne for example - he has problems. Because unlike debruyne, he isn't the best winger in the world football and never will be..

Debruyne is the best playmaker..

That's all - we should lower expectations and he will be as valuable as he was in 2017 / 2018 and 2018 / 2019..
 
DATOIA said:
I forgot who wrote but remember that he / she said -> "He is the best player in the team off the ball" and I think that sums up everything about him and that has its reasons:

1) Even though Pep was tough about it - Sterling & Sane couldn't improve their "Rondo Skills" like -> first touch, balanced dribbling and etc.
2) His finish still needs to be improved and Lyon game (not mentioning other ones, like yesterday`s one for example - when had number of good chances) proved that.

So these are fundamental issues that can't be improved when player is 26 years old.

But here are skills which are very important as well:

1) Pace and physical strength -> AKA wide winger skills which are very important and rare
2) Intellect -> Of course he is not Bobby Fischer (Chess GrandMaster) but is a quite experienced player and has played a lot of important matches. Look at an assist he gave to Foden against Olimpiacos - he knows the game well and Pep`s lectures haven't gone wasted

If we combine above mentioned two sills - we get a player who can be used as a wide winger -> knowing when to accelerate and etc, the player we were watching in 2017 / 2018..

But if we are talking about inverted winger - capable to dribble, create goals individually and like Neymar type player - that's impossible and will never happen and I think what we have been seeing during the last 2 years - is enough time to understand that..

The main problem with Sterling is the reality vs dream..

Reality -> Great Wide Winger / Runner

Dream -> Great "Neymar Type" Inverted Winger

As soon as everyone at the club admits this - problem will be solved.

I think his goals and assists and some individual performances made management believe that he could do that and we all wished as well, but now it's time to think about other options..

Like try and use Ferran Torres like that and let's see if he can do, what Sterling couldn't...
Click to expand...
i actually agree with this everyone wants to be an inverted winger nowadays even if their not suited to it. If we moved him back over on the right we would see the real sterling. He would get goals and assists and overall play better. On the left he just gets goals.
 
cityboy1 said:
i actually agree with this everyone wants to be an inverted winger nowadays even if their not suited to it. If we moved him back over on the right we would see the real sterling. He would get goals and assists and overall play better. On the left he just gets goals.
Click to expand...
Statistically I'm pretty sure on the right is where he just gets goals. He did more in 18/19 and arguably in 19/20 than in 17/18, and in both seasons he maintained his goal output.
 
mccity said:
Statistically I'm pretty sure on the right is where he just gets goals. He did more in 18/19 and arguably in 19/20 than in 17/18, and in both seasons he maintained his goal output.
Click to expand...
last season didn't he literally only get 1 assist in the league but got 20 goals? Season before that he did play on the left and got similar numbers to the season he played on the right but he did move over to the right when ever sane came of the bench. My main gripe with him on the left is he never uses his pace and takes players on hes also weak with his left foot on the right you get a better all round player in my opinion.
 
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