#7 | Raheem Sterling - 2020/21 Performances

[BillyShears]

head in sand.

I feel similar about those who don't see Raz's qualities and micro-analyse every mistake he makes to suit a wider narrative about him not being a top player.

 

[mosssideblue]

I feel similar about those who don't see Raz's qualities and micro-analyse every mistake he makes to suit a wider narrative about him not being a top player.

His mistakes are frequent and glaringly obvious enough, that micro analysing isn't necessary.

Pep has hooked him twice in recent games, that says an awful lot, as normally he gets the full 90

 

[DAGW]

Does anyone think that at his best Sterling isn't a top level player? I don't think many/any in here are saying that. What is being said, is that the guy is woefully out of form, and has been for a significant amount of time.

He cant have the past 3 years he has had, and then hope that nobody notices that his form has fallen off a cliff this season. Its there, right in front of everyone. Are we supposed to just ignore it because of what has gone before? His last few seasons means he has money in the bank, but it cant last forever. It wont last forever with Pep, he was already clearly frustrated with him the other night.

3-4 years ago we had a team that created a ludicrous amount of chances, and had Aguero to put them away at will. When you’re sweeping teams aside by burying 4-5 of those chances every game, no-one quibbles about the missed opportunities.

When you lose Aguero to injury, Yaya declines and moves on, Silva moves on, it falls to the rest of the established players to fill the void whilst others settle in. The team went through a phase a season or so ago where we were creating chances galore but not putting them away. We were incredibly wasteful, and it was being picked up on by everyone - Sterling was a major culprit in those missed chances.

This season we’ve become stronger defensively and as a result, the number of chances we produce seems to have dropped a bit, which makes every goal scoring/creating opportunity that bit more important. Sterling isn’t the only culprit (Jesus and Mahrez shoulder some of the blame too) but each missed opportunity is all the more glaring, especially when players make the same mistakes repeatedly. Even more so when it’s about 3 chances missed in 5 mins.

I don’t think there are many blues who dislike Sterling, I don’t know how you could; we all want him to do well and succeed, but when you see the same mistakes over and over again you can’t blame people for questioning whether a player should be playing every game.

We don’t need to sell Raz, but starting Torres for instance is an easy change to make to see if he can do a better job in there.

 

[FAManCity]

You think Raheem Sterling will go and play in the MLS when he's 28?!

He can stay for 5 more years with us but Txixi and Pep will decide the rest.

 

[BillyShears]

His mistakes are frequent and glaringly obvious enough, that micro analysing isn't necessary.

Pep has hooked him twice in recent games, that says an awful lot, as normally he gets the full 90

Give me a shout when Pep drops him for a game that matters.

 

[mosssideblue]

Give me a shout when Pep drops him for a game that matters.

Matters to who, you or the club.

 

[BillyShears]

Matters to who, you or the club.

You know exactly what I mean mate. It's very simple, if Sterling's form was as bad as people are making out, then Pep would just drop him. We have loads of attacking players and Pep isn't averse to benching players if they've been shit for ages.

I think it's important to have the balance between the micro-analysis I mentioned earlier, and trying to remember that football is a team sport. Individuals are important because they function well within a team. Yes they have to perform well individually, but that judgement can't solely be made on three or four instances over 90 minutes.

 

[OrigamiNinja]

What kind of actual bollocks is that?

He is a professional footballer who cannot control or strike a football consistently. You don't think there are countless players better than him actually on the ball? I named 5 wide men from City alone.

Sterling is one of those players that there is very little middle ground with. The things he does best, he is one of the best in the World at. When in form, he is unplayable. IMO the rest of his game is extremely average, which is fine as long as he is doing what he does best. Currently he isn't, and hasn't been for months.

 

[aguero93:20]

To be fair he was playing along side Suarez in his prime and a team brimming with the kind of confidence(until the end of teh season at least lol) arsenal can only dream of. Current arsenal is no comparison to 2014 dippers.

He reached double figures for both the season after in a dysfunctional team without Suarez. 11 goals 10 assists.

 

[mosssideblue]

You know exactly what I mean mate. It's very simple, if Sterling's form was as bad as people are making out, then Pep would just drop him. We have loads of attacking players and Pep isn't averse to benching players if they've been shit for ages.

I think it's important to have the balance between the micro-analysis I mentioned earlier, and trying to remember that football is a team sport. Individuals are important because they function well within a team. Yes they have to perform well individually, but that judgement can't solely be made on three or four instances over 90 minutes.

If it were the odd game, then yeah, but it hasn't been, hence why nearly after every match this season, the same errors are raised. These are errors no top player should be making so regularly.