A very reasoned post and I agree he has played so much it must have effected him mentally and physically. We also don't know what goes on behind the scenes and much like how the Mendy tweet had a dramatic effect on Bernies form for a while perhaps we should cut Raheem some slack and get behind him - luckily we have options and Phil is playing at another level but I don't buy into those saying Pep doesn't trust him anymore.I know this doesn't satisfy the forum's need to draw permanent conclusions and thirst for telling our own players to fuck off and be sold, but maybe he's just fucking tired and needs a rest? And maybe we should just let him get that rest without devoting hundreds of posts to gossiping like teenage girls about how he's lost Pep's trust because he didn't come on in a game we'd already won.
He has been the only omnipresent player in this side other than Ederson. KDB has had almost 2 season out injured. Bernardo spent 18 months on the bench after he burnt out in 18/19, Mahrez has only started 50% of games since he arrived, Foden hasn't played until this season so no wonder he's the freshest and Gundogan spent 4 seasons behind David Silva.
Sterling did an absolutely monumental job for the team last year, taking up all of the slack from Sané leaving and Aguero getting injured.
The guy deserves a season out of form more than anyone, and he certainly deserves it without a horde of supporters trying to undermine or erase all the good he did in the past 4 years and demand he gets sold. Not to mention the racist abuse from his own fans both online and in person which he has got, despite some posters' attempts to pretend it didn't happen or wasn't from City fans.
All competitions + Internationals
View attachment 14816
Just for City -
View attachment 14818
And by the way, those stats include this season when he's been in poor form and in and out of the team. At the beginning of the season, he'd played 50 games worth of football more than Bernardo since 2017/18. 25 more games than KDB, and 70 games more than Gundogan. And we've actually got 430 pages of people asking why he's out of form.
I think who he picks for Spurs and PSG might go someway to answering that.A very reasoned post and I agree he has played so much it must have effected him mentally and physically. We also don't know what goes on behind the scenes and much like how the Mendy tweet had a dramatic effect on Bernies form for a while perhaps we should cut Raheem some slack and get behind him - luckily we have options and Phil is playing at another level but I don't buy into those saying Pep doesn't trust him anymore.
Apologies if i have missed those comments,but i have not seen anyone on this forum suggest such?Not to mention the racist abuse from his own fans both online and in person which he has got, despite some posters' attempts to pretend it didn't happen or wasn't from City fans.
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Apologies if i have missed those comments,but i have not seen anyone on this forum suggest such?
You can go back and look but when he was racially abused after a game a couple of weeks ago there were a lot of comments suggesting they weren't City fans despite all the evidence to the contrary.
Nobody is going to dispute he has played a lot of football, or the fact that he has had some excellent seasons for us. The problem is his contract. If he had 3/4 years left, you could just write off this season, see how he performs next and then make a decision on his future. We don't have that luxury.I know this doesn't satisfy the forum's need to draw permanent conclusions and thirst for telling our own players to fuck off and be sold, but maybe he's just fucking tired and needs a rest? And maybe we should just let him get that rest without devoting hundreds of posts to gossiping like teenage girls about how he's lost Pep's trust because he didn't come on in a game we'd already won.
He has been the only omnipresent player in this side other than Ederson. KDB has had almost 2 season out injured. Bernardo spent 18 months on the bench after he burnt out in 18/19, Mahrez has only started 50% of games since he arrived, Foden hasn't played until this season so no wonder he's the freshest and Gundogan spent 4 seasons behind David Silva.
Sterling did an absolutely monumental job for the team last year, taking up all of the slack from Sané leaving and Aguero getting injured.
The guy deserves a season out of form more than anyone, and he certainly deserves it without a horde of supporters trying to undermine or erase all the good he did in the past 4 years and demand he gets sold. Not to mention the racist abuse from his own fans both online and in person which he has got, despite some posters' attempts to pretend it didn't happen or wasn't from City fans.
All competitions + Internationals
View attachment 14816
Just for City -
View attachment 14818
And by the way, those stats include this season when he's been in poor form and in and out of the team. At the beginning of the season, he'd played 50 games worth of football more than Bernardo since 2017/18. 25 more games than KDB, and 70 games more than Gundogan. And we've actually got 430 pages of people asking why he's out of form.
Nobody is going to dispute he has played a lot of football, or the fact that he has had some excellent seasons for us. The problem is his contract. If he had 3/4 years left, you could just write off this season, see how he performs next and then make a decision on his future. We don't have that luxury.
Does the club offer him a new hefty contract based on previous seasons, knowing fine well that the old Sterling may never return? Remember we have just posted a £126m loss.
Do we sell him this summer, getting a decent transfer fee and whatever he earns in wages off the books?
Both options carry a serious risk.
If we give him the contract and he doesn't regain his form, we are in a hole for probably £100m+ (lost transfer fee + wages over contract)
If we sell him and he goes elsewhere and does regain his form, we have lost a top class player, and probably for a fraction of what we could have sold him for 12 months ago.
Its a tough decision and one that will clearly divide opinion.
Of course, the ideal is we dont sell him, he regains his form and we all live happily ever after.