#7 | Raheem Sterling - 2020/21 Performances

[Sir peace frog]

I like Sterling, he is a dangerous player, his movement is excellent and he can win a game for us, Sterling has been poor lately, he just freezes, I think that lyon moment shook him, this wasn't a bad miss v burnley ect this was a bad miss on the world stage, that miss led to him becoming a joke (meme)and I think that has affected him badly, think of raheem, my first thought was the Southampton goal, and many city fans will do, however the next thought is lyon and there is the problem, imo he needs a big moment something to lay the lyon ghost to rest, I hope he can find it and soon, fingers crossed a screamer to put us through on Wednesday now that would make us all happy and maybe give raheem something he has been missing this season

 

[waspish]

He has contributed world class levels since Sterling been at city for me it’s just the last few games before Pep benched him! He will be back..

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

He's had 3 brilliant seasons with us, from 2018 to last season. But even last season you could start to see some signs that he wasn't maintaining the same levels as we know he's capable of. And as others have said, we knew he had his weaknesses but these were obscured by his general briliance in the 2017/18 & 2018/19 seasons. But that brilliance hasn't been apparent for quite some time now and his weaknesses have been cruelly laid bare all season. I can't answer the question of why his form has fallen off a cliff and maybe even he or Pep can't. I know I've gone through periods at work where circumstances or the environment haven't been right and the only solution is to move away, either internally or leave completely and just get a change of scenery.

Let's compare and contrast Raheem Sterling to Yaya Toure, who had possibly the finest single season I've ever seen from a City player in over 50 years of watching them. And then, for whatever reason, his form fell off a cliff and it never looked like he would recapture that form. We all hoped we'd see the 2013/14 Yaya again but we only ever saw the briefest flashes and after a while we realised we were never going to see that Yaya again and didn't renew his contract. We all pretty well agreed that was the right decision. Same with Zaba, when we could see his decline and with Aguero now.

The difference wih Sterling is that he's not at the end of his career but should be at the peak so there's wildly differing views on what we should do. The issue about his pay is that it's more than most others are on, bar KDB, and we have to decide whether we could spend that money better. For an in-form Sterling the answer to that is no, we can't do better but the question is whether we'll see the Sterling we saw in 2018 and 2019 again.

But if this is really him playing for a new contract, then he's hardly making it a difficult decision is he?

 

[domalino]

Let's compare and contrast Raheem Sterling to Yaya Toure, who had possibly the finest single season I've ever seen from a City player in over 50 years of watching them. And then, for whatever reason, his form fell off a cliff and it never looked like he would recapture that form. We all hoped we'd see the 2013/14 Yaya again but we only ever saw the briefest flashes and after a while we realised we were never going to see that Yaya again and didn't renew his contract. We all pretty well agreed that was the right decision. Same with Zaba, when we could see his decline and with Aguero now.

Sorry, but why the would we compare 26 year old Sterling to 35 year old Yaya Toure, 32 year old Zabaleta and 32 year old (and permanently injured) Aguero.

You say "the difference with Sterling is that he's not at the end of his career". Yeah, obviously, and it completely destroys your comparison.

Compare him with Bernardo Silva if you have to. Both got massively overplayed, both had their form drop off a cliff and like Bernardo, Sterling will get back.


And can we please stop with this absolute nonsense about him wanting a new contract? The club is the one approaching him for a contract because he's going into his penultimate year. No one, not a single person has ever reported Sterling is pushing for a new contract and yet half the forum tries to use the club going to him as something to attack him over.

The only thing you got right is that his contract renewal is not a difficult decision.

 

[domalino]

But if his agent is going in and asking Txiki for parity with KDB's contract, I'd be asking some very searching questions before I'd offer anything like that.

1)He doesn't have an agent.
2)He's not asked for parity with KDB
3)The club are the ones looking to tie him down.

If he did have an agent however I imagine he'd sit down and put something like this on the table -

Since Sterling signed his last contract -

Goals and Assists for Manchester City -

Sterling - 100
Jesus - 88
De Bruyne - 81
Mahrez - 79
Aguero - 75
Bernardo - 60
Gundogan - 46

And then something like this -

Games started for Manchester City

Sterling - 130
Walker - 126
Bernardo - 122
Gundogan - 111
Mahrez - 110
KDB - 99
Rodri - 94
Fernandinho - 91
Jesus - 89
Laporte - 88
Aguero - 79
Stones - 76

So once he established he's the most productive player at the club, and Pep's most played player. He'd probably then point out he's 3rd in line to the England captaincy and he's been elected by the players as one of the club captains, so his position at the club as one of the leadership group is incredibly clear.

Then he'd probably mention his big endorsement deals which bring in loads of money for the club who own his image rights, his massive public profile and awards.

Then they would all reminisce about the 5 trophies Sterling helped the side win since that last contract, talk about ones they hope to win in the futures and Soriano would hand over a 5 year offer for a decent bit higher than his current deal.

Becuase it's really that simple. No club ever doubts re-signing the player who contributes more goals and assists than anyone else in the side. If anything, Sterling's drop in form has come at a very handy time for Soriano, because if he'd scored another 30 goals this season then he really would be looking at KDB levels of money.

 

[daztrueblue91]

I think Sterling’s lack of form is due to him being a better wingman than star player.

At his best for us there was always a bigger goal threat in the side with Aguero. Raz would get his fair share of goals as Kun would be the priority for the defenders.

This season with no Aguero, the main goal scoring responsibility has fell onto Sterling’s shoulders. Jesus, Mahrez, Bernardo and Foden will all chip in with goals but they are not 15/20 goals a season players. Nor do they strike fear into opposition players like Aguero did and the likes of Salah, Kane and Vardy do.

Sign a top striker and Raz will be back amongst the goals.

 

[mccity]

1)He doesn't have an agent.
2)He's not asked for parity with KDB
3)The club are the ones looking to tie him down.

If he did have an agent however I imagine he'd sit down and put something like this on the table -

Since Sterling signed his last contract -

Goals and Assists for Manchester City -

Sterling - 100
Jesus - 88
De Bruyne - 81
Mahrez - 79
Aguero - 75
Bernardo - 60
Gundogan - 46

And then something like this -

Games started for Manchester City

Sterling - 130
Walker - 126
Bernardo - 122
Gundogan - 111
Mahrez - 110
KDB - 99
Rodri - 94
Fernandinho - 91
Jesus - 89
Laporte - 88
Aguero - 79
Stones - 76

So once he established he's the most productive player at the club, and Pep's most played player. He'd probably then point out he's 3rd in line to the England captaincy and he's been elected by the players as one of the club captains, so his position at the club as one of the leadership group is incredibly clear.

Then he'd probably mention his big endorsement deals which bring in loads of money for the club who own his image rights, his massive public profile and awards.

Then they would all reminisce about the 5 trophies Sterling helped the side win since that last contract, talk about ones they hope to win in the futures and Soriano would hand over a 5 year offer for a decent bit higher than his current deal.

Becuase it's really that simple. No club ever doubts re-signing the player who contributes more goals and assists than anyone else in the side. If anything, Sterling's drop in form has come at a very handy time for Soriano, because if he'd scored another 30 goals this season then he really would be looking at KDB levels of money.

As an aside, Jesus's numbers are very impressive there.

 

[ctwrd]

1)He doesn't have an agent.
2)He's not asked for parity with KDB
3)The club are the ones looking to tie him down.

If he did have an agent however I imagine he'd sit down and put something like this on the table -

Since Sterling signed his last contract -

Goals and Assists for Manchester City -

Sterling - 100
Jesus - 88
De Bruyne - 81
Mahrez - 79
Aguero - 75
Bernardo - 60
Gundogan - 46

And then something like this -

Games started for Manchester City

Sterling - 130
Walker - 126
Bernardo - 122
Gundogan - 111
Mahrez - 110
KDB - 99
Rodri - 94
Fernandinho - 91
Jesus - 89
Laporte - 88
Aguero - 79
Stones - 76

So once he established he's the most productive player at the club, and Pep's most played player. He'd probably then point out he's 3rd in line to the England captaincy and he's been elected by the players as one of the club captains, so his position at the club as one of the leadership group is incredibly clear.

Then he'd probably mention his big endorsement deals which bring in loads of money for the club who own his image rights, his massive public profile and awards.

Then they would all reminisce about the 5 trophies Sterling helped the side win since that last contract, talk about ones they hope to win in the futures and Soriano would hand over a 5 year offer for a decent bit higher than his current deal.

Becuase it's really that simple. No club ever doubts re-signing the player who contributes more goals and assists than anyone else in the side. If anything, Sterling's drop in form has come at a very handy time for Soriano, because if he'd scored another 30 goals this season then he really would be looking at KDB levels of money.

Excellent post and very good data to back up your points.

However, past performance is not the only barometer. There are many examples in football that confirm that. So it is not quite so simple.

it’s also a question not just of sterling himself but also of the clubs ability to address other areas.

for example, if to get Haaland we need to balance books elsewhere then to lose a heavy earner elsewhere would assist (Sterling is on just under 200k per week basic plus performance based pay and loyalty bonuses). We need a striker more than we need 5 players who can play wide (sterling, Bernardo, mahrez, Torres, foden).[clarification for the hard of reading: sterling is not bottom of that list of 5, it’s money/age/potential at play here]

 

[sky_blue]

1)He doesn't have an agent.
2)He's not asked for parity with KDB
3)The club are the ones looking to tie him down.

If he did have an agent however I imagine he'd sit down and put something like this on the table -

Since Sterling signed his last contract -

Goals and Assists for Manchester City -

Sterling - 100
Jesus - 88
De Bruyne - 81
Mahrez - 79
Aguero - 75
Bernardo - 60
Gundogan - 46

And then something like this -

Games started for Manchester City

Sterling - 130
Walker - 126
Bernardo - 122
Gundogan - 111
Mahrez - 110
KDB - 99
Rodri - 94
Fernandinho - 91
Jesus - 89
Laporte - 88
Aguero - 79
Stones - 76

So once he established he's the most productive player at the club, and Pep's most played player. He'd probably then point out he's 3rd in line to the England captaincy and he's been elected by the players as one of the club captains, so his position at the club as one of the leadership group is incredibly clear.

Then he'd probably mention his big endorsement deals which bring in loads of money for the club who own his image rights, his massive public profile and awards.

Then they would all reminisce about the 5 trophies Sterling helped the side win since that last contract, talk about ones they hope to win in the futures and Soriano would hand over a 5 year offer for a decent bit higher than his current deal.

Becuase it's really that simple. No club ever doubts re-signing the player who contributes more goals and assists than anyone else in the side. If anything, Sterling's drop in form has come at a very handy time for Soriano, because if he'd scored another 30 goals this season then he really would be looking at KDB levels of money.

(Goals + Assists) per 90 min over the course of his senior playing career - peaked in 17/18 and it's been steadily declining since. Data taken from fbref.



If we look at the underlying stats like SCA (shot creating actions which counts passes, set pieces, defensive actions, dribbles, etc. that result in a shot) to measure his creativeness because that's one of the biggest roles of a forward and not just the final output (goals and assists), then the numbers per 90 min numbers are -
17/18 - 4.66
18/19 - 4.22
19/20 - 3.97
20/21 - 3.39

Sterling was 10th in the league in 17/18, which is pretty good. He's 30th in the league this season. Below is the list of players above him in that list.

 

[mosssideblue]

1)He doesn't have an agent.
2)He's not asked for parity with KDB
3)The club are the ones looking to tie him down.

If he did have an agent however I imagine he'd sit down and put something like this on the table -

Since Sterling signed his last contract -

Goals and Assists for Manchester City -

Sterling - 100
Jesus - 88
De Bruyne - 81
Mahrez - 79
Aguero - 75
Bernardo - 60
Gundogan - 46

And then something like this -

Games started for Manchester City

Sterling - 130
Walker - 126
Bernardo - 122
Gundogan - 111
Mahrez - 110
KDB - 99
Rodri - 94
Fernandinho - 91
Jesus - 89
Laporte - 88
Aguero - 79
Stones - 76

So once he established he's the most productive player at the club, and Pep's most played player. He'd probably then point out he's 3rd in line to the England captaincy and he's been elected by the players as one of the club captains, so his position at the club as one of the leadership group is incredibly clear.

Then he'd probably mention his big endorsement deals which bring in loads of money for the club who own his image rights, his massive public profile and awards.

Then they would all reminisce about the 5 trophies Sterling helped the side win since that last contract, talk about ones they hope to win in the futures and Soriano would hand over a 5 year offer for a decent bit higher than his current deal.

Becuase it's really that simple. No club ever doubts re-signing the player who contributes more goals and assists than anyone else in the side. If anything, Sterling's drop in form has come at a very handy time for Soriano, because if he'd scored another 30 goals this season then he really would be looking at KDB levels of money.

The club will have to assess the risk of Sterling being able to regain his form before dropping an enhanced contract on the table.

There is a risk, unquantifiable by posters on here as to whether he will or not. As much as he has done in the past, it is his current (this season) performance levels that the money men will be pondering over, not what he did a couple of Seasons ago.