If you take the brilliant headed goal out of the equation vs Arsenal, his performance was no worse tonight than at the weekend - and it wasn’t good.
It speaks volumes that the best thing he has done in the past 2 games is score a header that he shouldn’t have had a sniff at. He’s a highly rated footballer at the end of the day, and whilst his movement off the ball is excellent, he needs to rediscover his touch and start performing with his feet in order to justify his place in the team.
We can’t continue to watch him consistently waste opportunities by running the ball straight into defenders (or out of play), without calling his place in the team into question.
Individual stats becoming widely available in recent years has given casual viewers, who know next to nothing about the game a loud voice within it. It is easy for them to look at G/A stats and determine that X player is good/bad/great etc, without ever having to look any deeper.
You only have to look on SSN any given day to see things like Wan Bissaka being top of the most tackles stats. To the casual viewer, this equates to him being a great defender, whereas we all know that while he is very good in 1v1 situations, he is an absolute cart-horse for everything else.
City fans don't/won't want to hear it, but Sterling is one of the biggest beneficiaries in this stats-driven era. You cant argue with a guy that bags 30 goals a season from out wide, and the majority will be happy to forgive him for his weaknesses if he delivers this. The problem this season is that as you say, his performance levels are extremely poor (he actually stands out like a sore thumb in what is a technically proficient side) and his goals have somewhat dried up.
When scoring consistently, he finds himself being elevated into what some perceive these days as world-class status. Without goals, he is borderline joining AWB in cart-horse territory.
Peps reactions on the touchline, the substitution, and then the comments after the game should leave nobody under any illusions that Pep is not happy with Sterling. Pep very rarely calls out any of his players in public, or references specific negative actions within a game. Last night he could have easily just spoken about how great the professional 2-0 away win was, but he made sure he called out certain actions in the game re Sterling.
His current level of performance is nowhere near good enough. Hopefully Pep calling him out, will have the desired impact.