#7 | Raheem Sterling - 2020/21 Performances

[Protein Junkie]

To be fair to Raz if he doesn’t know what he’s doing then defenders have no chance.
Even if we tried to cash in just wondering who would make an ideal replacement ? Other than FFS of course.

 

[snorky]

Confidence. He was poor for the first half of last season but he scored 20 league goals. We're struggling for goals and form in the league, but he's still some player.

Agree with the confidence part, but it didn't really work, did it?
They could have equalised after that too.

 

[snorky]

It doesn't matter why, the point is this penalty miss was irrelevant in terms of evaluating Sterling.

It helps to evaluate his qualities as a penalty taker!

 

[bluemoon32]

Still working hard but just not going for him at the moment, he'll come good again

 

[Lovebitesandeveryfing]

I frankly wouldn't have given that penalty to any player who was still ‘cold’. Not Aguero, not KDB, not anyone. You just don't give a penalty to someone who's only been on for a few minutes, and has had a couple of poor touches already. Especially not when it's a penalty that could have counted hugely. Can anyone even begin to imagine the thermonuclear meltdown on here if Brighton had broken away after that and equalised??!!
If De Bruyne was responsible — I really don't know — then it was a very stupid decision by him. But also Sterling should have been big enough to just say “No, Kev, that's not right”. I actually think that it's precisely because his confidence is shot to hell at the moment that he didn't feel he could say no.
Sterling is a hell of a player. He scored one for us recently, did he not? Even in relatively poor form, he's always useful in and around the box. Like Stones up till recently, his confidence is at rock bottom. Like Stones, he can be gently worked back into believing in himself, and just trusting to his natural instincts. Yesterday was absolutely not the way to do it.

 

[Bobby Heaton Moor]

Thought by moving him to the right, we finally turned a corner with Raheem against Chelsea and he was at least threatening against the Rags albeit frustrating in equal measure. For him to not be starting ahead of Mahrez last night must mean even in training he's not performing well. Very worrying indeed but not sure it's time to cash in just yet.

 

[LongsightM13]

Raheem has a lot of very good qualities and his movement is genuinely world class but I am struggling to recall a so-called elite player whose technique of actually kicking a football is so erratic.
One might have thought the basics of striking a ball cleanly and properly to make it go where you want it to would be a fundamental requirement to reach this level, long ago drilled into muscle memory after thousands and thousands of hours of repetition on the training pitch.
Yet here we are, and a couple of outlier wonder strikes a season don’t mask this basic flaw in his make up.
For that reason alone he should never be anywhere near penalties or set pieces.
Still wouldn’t sell him though, at least not at this moment in time. It’s no coincidence that Bernardo is finally back to something approaching his best only after being given a proper run in his best position, in midfield, and I think Sterling would benefit from a similar consistent run of games on the right wing. Fuck the inverted shite off, we need a proper left back for that to work properly and we don’t have one.
That said, if Ferran develops as well as I suspect he might, then the question of Sterling’s place in the team might get a different answer a couple of years down the line.

 

[Sir Joe Aguero]

Agree with the confidence part, but it didn't really work, did it?
They could have equalised after that too.

Yeah, I don't think he should have taken it either (although I get the rationale), but our defence is solid and I trust us to see out games. Scoring is the problem, and if netting the penalty gets him firing again, great.

 

[Lovebitesandeveryfing]

Pep needs to get him back on the right permanently and tell him to concentrate on providing us with penetration and not worry about scoring, we would score more as a team if he went back to being the winger he was when he and sane terrorised the league providing tap ins on a plate game after game.

Absolutely. And if you remember, they were very often providing tap-ins for each other. When Sané was over on the left, Sterling got very good at making himself ‘forgotten’. But a factor in that equation was Aguero. Because when you've got Sané wreaking havoc from the left, and Sergio in the middle, defenders get hypnotised by where the danger appears to be coming from. Entire defences were drawn over like moths to a flame.
Well, Sané's not here, and there's no point thinking about that. And I actually think that imperceptibly, without anyone quite realising, we're now in the post—Aguero period. I'd like to be wrong, but I don't think I am. Raz has got to reinvent his role, and Pep has got to accompany him in that.

 

[mosssideblue]

Why are people criticizing Sterling for yesterday's performance? That doesn't make sense in the slightest. He played 9 minutes and did no good and no bad during that time. You simply can't judge him one way or another based on that cameo.

Sure, he did a stupid penalty miss, but we all know he is shit at penalties. That's why he is not our penalty taker. This penalty miss was totally irrelevant in terms of evaluating Sterling.

If yesterday's performance was a recent one off, you would make a valid argument.

His form for months has been well below what is needed, and last night was no exception, hence why he has been getting the flak he has.