#7 | Raheem Sterling - 2020/21 Performances

[Ribchester]

That was one of the worst performances in a City shirt I have seen for a long time.

Sterling's general play has always been awful and long gone are the days of Silva rolling in Sane to square it to Sterling for a tap in to buffer his stats.

Anything over £50m in the summer you take or pray Utd want him and you might get £80m out of them

Exactly this

 

[Paul1970]

Absolute shite for last few games but we know he can do it so it’s just a case of getting his confidence back
I definitely would not be wanting to get rid and can see the club extending his contract as nows the best time to agree terms

If you were making mistakes at work like he is would you more money and bonuses ?
the answer is you’d be down the road like the majority of us so why should he be different mate .

 

[Paul1970]

Needs taking out of the side like John Stones was.

Get his head together.

He won’t do that as his ego is massive

 

[Damanino]

The amount of times he loses big chances and possession, so frustrating. Earlier though he balanced it out with assists and goals but that dried up.

Pep started him only once and was pulled after 70 min vs Monchengladbach and Dortmund in 4 gamesm and chances are he will not play much vs PSG either.
And he does not do anything in the matches between to show he deserves to get picked, quite the opposite.

Pep is losing patience imo too, he will remember this that in such a busy run in with 3-4 trophies to play for he cannot get help from Sterling, Jesus etc.

 

[carlosthejackal]

Always defended him but yesterday’s performance was piss poor

 

[supersonicblue]

The amount of times he loses big chances and possession, so frustrating. Earlier though he balanced it out with assists and goals but that dried up.

Pep started him only once and was pulled after 70 min vs Monchengladbach and Dortmund in 4 gamesm and chances are he will not play much vs PSG either.
And he does not do anything in the matches between to show he deserves to get picked, quite the opposite.

Pep is losing patience imo too, he will remember this that in such a busy run in with 3-4 trophies to play for he cannot get help from Sterling, Jesus etc.

Jesus didn’t do an awful lot wrong yesterday, he was feeding off scraps

 

[Rammy Blue]

I think the club should be asking itself whether it wants to heavily re-invest in any player whose strengths are negated, and weaknesses accentuated, by the current playing methodology (false 9's, inverted full backs, emphasis on caution and control in tight areas and not turning the ball over), let alone one who is probably asking for £300k plus per week. That's £60m in wages over the next 4 years.
Unless we're going to revert to Plan A and buy both a centre forward and a new version of Spanish Dave, personally I don't see the point in keeping Raheem on the payroll, given what he's likely to be asking - or at least not based on how he's playing currently. He's done well for us, extremely well for us, and the way he is performing at the moment in no way reflects his overall contribution to the club, but his greatest strengths have (purely in my opinion) always been without the ball. Great movement, pace, timing of runs, a team ethic, always fit, always available. He has a great record of goals and assists as well, but the overwhelming majority of those were born of a different system and team mates whose attributes dovetailed beautifully with his.
Now that ball retention, patience, control are at a premium, a spotlight is being shone on some of his shortcomings. The endless, stumbling dribbles that end with him colliding with the nearest member of the opposition and losing possession, the simple overlapping passes that are either played directly under the feet of a team mate - with the opportunity for a quick cross lost - or clouted miles too hard out over the deadball line, the times he trips himself up, the dreadful penalties ballooned miles over the bar, the shots he mis-times out of his heel when crosses are played to him, the one on ones where he hesitates, cuts inside, goes outside, cuts inside again and ends up stumbling into the keeper or a (now) covering defender.
Part of the problem may well be rooted in the confirmation bias of supporters, ie. we're aware of what Raheem's shortcomings are and we're now looking for them, whilst forgetting that other players (even Kev and Kun) frequently fluff similar chances, but that he's been 'out of form' for a long time cannot be simply batted away either.
Lest we should be tempted to believe we're talking about a sub-standard player, we're not. We're talking about one who, as an overall package, is a very good footballer and who, at a particular price, could still be a valuable asset for us. I'm just not convinced that he merits the outlay at the moment, particularly given the way the team is now being asked to play

Summed up perfectly.

What pissed me off yesterday, over and above everything else, was a distinct lack of effort. For someone who hasn’t been playing many minutes he didn’t press or chase back like he should. That was unforgivable.

 

[mosssideblue]

I think the club should be asking itself whether it wants to heavily re-invest in any player whose strengths are negated, and weaknesses accentuated, by the current playing methodology (false 9's, inverted full backs, emphasis on caution and control in tight areas and not turning the ball over), let alone one who is probably asking for £300k plus per week. That's £60m in wages over the next 4 years.
Unless we're going to revert to Plan A and buy both a centre forward and a new version of Spanish Dave, personally I don't see the point in keeping Raheem on the payroll, given what he's likely to be asking - or at least not based on how he's playing currently. He's done well for us, extremely well for us, and the way he is performing at the moment in no way reflects his overall contribution to the club, but his greatest strengths have (purely in my opinion) always been without the ball. Great movement, pace, timing of runs, a team ethic, always fit, always available. He has a great record of goals and assists as well, but the overwhelming majority of those were born of a different system and team mates whose attributes dovetailed beautifully with his.
Now that ball retention, patience, control are at a premium, a spotlight is being shone on some of his shortcomings. The endless, stumbling dribbles that end with him colliding with the nearest member of the opposition and losing possession, the simple overlapping passes that are either played directly under the feet of a team mate - with the opportunity for a quick cross lost - or clouted miles too hard out over the deadball line, the times he trips himself up, the dreadful penalties ballooned miles over the bar, the shots he mis-times out of his heel when crosses are played to him, the one on ones where he hesitates, cuts inside, goes outside, cuts inside again and ends up stumbling into the keeper or a (now) covering defender.
Part of the problem may well be rooted in the confirmation bias of supporters, ie. we're aware of what Raheem's shortcomings are and we're now looking for them, whilst forgetting that other players (even Kev and Kun) frequently fluff similar chances, but that he's been 'out of form' for a long time cannot be simply batted away either.
Lest we should be tempted to believe we're talking about a sub-standard player, we're not. We're talking about one who, as an overall package, is a very good footballer and who, at a particular price, could still be a valuable asset for us. I'm just not convinced that he merits the outlay at the moment, particularly given the way the team is now being asked to play

A reasoned post. For me though, the flaws in his game are inherent, and not as a result of the style we play.
He has poor technical ability, which is now being further exposed.

 

[Ribchester]

In the interest of both parties...he has to go...

for what it’s worth it might help him too playing in another team/system for 500+ Euros a week

 

[HelloCity]

Sterling has been crap this season but I’m not sure why we’d sell? It happens where players have bad years in their careers.

Bernardo had one last season and is now close to his prior form. He’s still not going past players like he was but he’s improved a lot. I see no reason why Raz won’t get better next season either. If he doesn’t improve next year then that’s maybe when you start to wonder whether you need him anymore.

For too many people it feels like they’ve been waiting for this moment for a long time and are getting that their digs in while they can. It’s been forgotten by some but there was a strong denial when Sterling first turned things around, with some of those deniers posting in this very thread.

Bottom line, Sterling is playing crap and doesn’t make our best XI right now but he deserves a chance to turn it around like others have done previously and I back him to do so next season.