#7 | Raheem Sterling - 2020/21 Performances

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sir baconface said:
I’m not his biggest fan, as it goes, but this is what you get from an in-form Sterling:

- Goals (his stats are undeniable)
- Excellent positioning awareness (leading to tap-ins that need little technical finishing ability)
- Dangerous runs into/across the box that often create goals or draw penalties (not that they are always converted!)
- Running and energy that demand close attention from defenders.

When on form - and when City are creating - erratic shooting and elephantine ball control are outweighed by the positives.

How’s that, mate?
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Sorry I couldn't reply earlier, in the process of packing up (moving house).
The only comment I would make against your reply is that, it's all well and good to gloss over poor technique when things are going well for the team, but eventually, that will come back to bite you on the arse (as has done). The question is therefore, do we carry that risk or look to mitigate it with a player with far better footballing technique and allow Pep the opportunity to develop positional awareness etc?
 
mosssideblue said:
Sorry I couldn't reply earlier, in the process of packing up (moving house).
The only comment I would make against your reply is that, it's all well and good to gloss over poor technique when things are going well for the team, but eventually, that will come back to bite you on the arse (as has done). The question is therefore, do we carry that risk or look to mitigate it with a player with far better footballing technique and allow Pep the opportunity to develop positional awareness etc?
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No probs. Best to stay a step ahead of the bailiffs ;)

If such a player becomes available at an acceptable price, I’d be OK with that. Like I said, I have no particular attachment to Sterling. By the same token, I have no problem with him staying if he bucks up and if he signs a new contract for no pay increase.

Gold luck with your house move.
 
Despite Sterling's "poor season" he's in the whoscored top 10 of the season so far. Just.
He's also finished in the top 10 for each of the last 3 seasons.

Not bad for someone who apparently can't kick a ball.

It does generally favour attacking midfielders and forwards and is based on an algorithm "There are over 200 raw statistics included in the calculation of a player'’s/team’'s rating, weighted according to their influence within the game. Every event of importance is taken into account, with a positive or negative effect on ratings weighted in relation to its area on the pitch and its outcome"

Of course it's not a perfect system but always over a course of a season it does pick-out those players widely considered to be the best - those at the top will be in contention for POTY.

WS2021T10.jpg
 
Here is another table based on the top 10 players for non-penalty xG. Using Firmino as an example his xG is 10 which is 4 more than the goals he has actualy scored. Likewise Werner and Vardy are well below expected.

Only 2 players from the top 10 - Sterling and Kane - have scored what is expected.
This has been the case for about 3 years now for Sterling despite horrendous misses.

xG.jpg
 
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Akira said:
If I may offer a differing perspective, I think our new system might be exposing Sterling's weaknesses quite abit. Weird thing to talk about, considering he didn't play this match, but I was thinking about how our wingers are a little erratic this season (except Foden).

---Stones----Dias----Zinny----
------Cancelo---Rodri--------
-------KdB-------Gundogan----
---Mahrez----Gaby----Sterling---

For eg. this is how we usually set-up on the attack. Our wingers are pushed high and wide, as per usual. However, this season it's much more apparent we are playing without attacking/overlapping FBs, the trade-off for more midfield numbers and defensive stability.

I think the current system requires more technical demands from our wingers to beat a man on their own, because there's one less man to support them on the attack. Way I see it, for the wingers this season it's like "here's the ball, pass it back, put a cross in or you're on your own." To put it more simply, they are made to do more dribbling than off-the-ball running.

Sterling's technical ability has never been his strength. I believe he's at his best when there's players playing close to him and combining with him (Silva, Mendy, etc). Which is why I think players like Foden, who are technically gifted and can consistently beat their man, slot better into the current system, and I would say the proverbial 'eye test' would suggest that.

I'm sure I can explain better, but I'm not a particularly articulate person... I'm not making excuses for/having a go at Raz, but just hoping to get a more educated guess on his dip in form.
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Yes most of the game the wingers are standing on the touch line by themselves, last two seasons they played closer to the box with triangle formations to combine on each side, also our game used to lean a lot on the left side, this year our players evenly spread out around the box.
 
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