#7 | Raheem Sterling - 2019/20 Performances

[Bobby Heaton Moor]

Last season, I would say we had 8 (Ederson, Kompany, Laporte, Fern, Bernardo, Sane, Sterling and Aguero) top class players, who delivered more often than not, with the rest of the squad playing their part to drive us to the treble. With the loss of Kompany, Laporte and Sane, our other top players have been more important than ever. Some of them simply haven't delivered and it's is one of the main reasons we sit so far behind Liverpool with a 3rd of a season left. Sterling, has to take some level of responsibility for this, everyone is entitled to a bad game, or a poor run of form but months of it is unacceptable from one of our main men. When we look back and review this season and we talk about what went wrong, Sterlings name should be right at the top of the list and I know that may sound harsh but people were talking about him being one of the best players in the world, how often over their careers have Messi and Ronaldo gone missing for a season? I have pretty much written him off for this season, he needs to bounce back big-time next year.

Any comparisons to Ronaldo and Messi were always way, way wide of the mark and unrealistic.

However, you'd expect him to slot comfortably in that second bracket alongside Lewandowski, Suarez, Mane, Neymar, Mbappe etc but at this stage, he's not even good enough to start for us. It's a real worry.

 

[peter.evans]

His overall contribution to our season has been incredibly low by his own high standards and far lower than what Sterling has contributed. And yes, Bernardo has a better touch than Sterling.

One of the issues last night was that he wasn’t getting on the ball anywhere near enough when he was in the middle. De Bruyne was doing two players jobs as usual while Bernardo and Gundogan drifted through the game.

This meant we weren’t ever able to get full control of the midfield and there were subsequently long periods where the ball became a hot potato.

Vintage David Silva was the master at dictating the play and controlling the temp and a magician of that sort was very much missing last night.

Gundogan did not "drift through the game " he was the best player on the pitch last night Numerous interceptions excellent passes and drove forward from midfield. Bernardo was average and in my opinion De Bruyne was too !

 

[Chippy_boy]

Any comparisons to Ronaldo and Messi were always way, way wide of the mark and unrealistic.

However, you'd expect him to slot comfortably in that second bracket alongside Lewandowski, Suarez, Mane, Neymar, Mbappe etc but at this stage, he's not even good enough to start for us. It's a real worry.

Sorry to sound too negative, but he's not good enough for the bench. He's bloody awful at the moment. Can't beat an egg, the touch of an elephant and shits himself in front of goal. He's never had a decent first touch nor any footballing brain, but at least he used to be able to beat players and Pep had coached him into being in the right place of the tap-ins. But at the moment he seems to have lost all that. Hope he gets some of his mojo back soon because it's like playing with 10 men with him on the pitch at the moment.

 

[Tricky_Trev]

He used to make a darting run forward after every pass he did. Now he just looks like he doesn’t really care as much as he used to. Stinking the place out at the moment.

 

[Rammy Blue]

Mad thing with Raz’s form is I still can’t believe we are playing him on the left, although I accept he’s scored a few from that side he’s always been crap over there. He has no left foot and consequently can’t beat his man outside properly, he doesn’t strike a ball well from range generally either, so cutting in isn’t a decent option. He needs moving back to the right so he can get back to beating a man on the outside and firing those low crosses across the 6 yard line for Serg and Gabby to bury.

 

[HelloCity]

Sorry to sound too negative, but he's not good enough for the bench. He's bloody awful at the moment. Can't beat an egg, the touch of an elephant and shits himself in front of goal. He's never had a decent first touch nor any footballing brain, but at least he used to be able to beat players and Pep had coached him into being in the right place of the tap-ins. But at the moment he seems to have lost all that. Hope he gets some of his mojo back soon because it's like playing with 10 men with him on the pitch at the moment.

The hate for Sterling never died. It just remained hidden under the surface, simmering and ready to return the moment he suffered a drop in form.

While over two years have passed since he had a real bad spell and the knives are well and truly out.

I bet you wouldn’t dare make similar comments about Bernardo who has had a pretty dreadful season overall.

It’s genuinely frightening how quick people are to turn on one of our own. Yeah, he’s not playing well but he’ll come good and so will Bernardo.

Let’s just try and make sure people are treated equally while they make that turn to form.

 

[The Stockport Iniesta]

Been thinking about this.

Remember back to November, there were press reports City were offering Raz a new contract, then story's came out that he wouldn't sign unless Pep committed long term as well?

Ever since then he's been off form. Raz and Pep seem close, if he knows Pep's definitely off at the end of his contract, or even at the end of this season it could have affected him?

His dip in form definitely goes back to the talk of a new contract though.

 

[Chippy_boy]

The hate for Sterling never died. It just remained hidden under the surface, simmering and ready to return the moment he suffered a drop in form.

While over two years have passed since he had a real bad spell and the knives are well and truly out.

I bet you wouldn’t dare make similar comments about Bernardo who has had a pretty dreadful season overall.

It’s genuinely frightening how quick people are to turn on one of our own. Yeah, he’s not playing well but he’ll come good and so will Bernardo.

Let’s just try and make sure people are treated equally while they make that turn to form.

Bernado has had a dip in form for sure - although seems to be getting it back. But honestly mate, when I look at Bernado in form or not, I see a really top quality player with bags of skill, a fantastic first touch, who has the ball on a string most of the time. And when I see Sterling, I usually think "meh". Sure he's been getting goals and making good runs, but he's never really done it for me. Quick and strong, yes. Footballing ability? Meh. Composure? Meh at best. Ball striking, shooting? Meh at best. Even when he bursts past a defender, the cross he puts in is as often as not fired aimlessly without picking anyone out. He has a mere fraction of Sané's ability for me and it's a huge suprise - rather than expected - that he's got as many goals as he has.

 

[Craig]

Been thinking about this.

Remember back to November, there were press reports City were offering Raz a new contract, then story's came out that he wouldn't sign unless Pep committed long term as well?

Ever since then he's been off form. Raz and Pep seem close, if he knows Pep's definitely off at the end of his contract, or even at the end of this season it could have affected him?

His dip in form definitely goes back to the talk of a new contract though.

Maybe but it's difficult to understand how that could mean he stops being able to simple things like control a ball. I think the biggest problem is him being on the left. He's never been good there in general but was scoring a lot by great movement and ghosting in on the back post. Now the goals have dried up his confidence has dwindled and he's now actually playing like he was for Pellers on the left. It's turned into a real blip because he's been poor for most of the season.

 

[domalino]

The hate for Sterling never died. It just remained hidden under the surface, simmering and ready to return the moment he suffered a drop in form.

While over two years have passed since he had a real bad spell and the knives are well and truly out.

I bet you wouldn’t dare make similar comments about Bernardo who has had a pretty dreadful season overall.

It’s genuinely frightening how quick people are to turn on one of our own. Yeah, he’s not playing well but he’ll come good and so will Bernardo.

Let’s just try and make sure people are treated equally while they make that turn to form.

The difference between comments about Sterling's form and almost any other player being out of form are quite unsettling.

There's an insane amount of posters deciding that the last few months mean more than the previous 2 years, and they're not just saying he's out of form, but that he's shit, always was and always will be.