#7 | Raheem Sterling - 2020/21 Performances

[Akira]

I think he has certain qualities that go unnoticed. There has to be a reason that top players like Sané, Bernardo, Mahrez, and now Torres and Foden have never been able to displace him. On top of the fact that Southgate has persisted with him from day 1 even with media pressure to play Rashford, Sancho, and several others ahead of him.

If there are players that can improve on him there'd be very very few of them. There are probably a good handful of players better on the ball than him but his off the ball game is up there with the very best. He reminds me of Thomas Muller in ways.

Yep. Closest comparison was how Muller was deployed when Germany won the World Cup - off the right wing. I remembered watching that team and wondered what made Muller so good - he was nowhere close to the best dribbler in the world, not the fastest chap on the pitch, not the trickiest player in the squad, but somehow he just pops up to score.

Muller termed his own role "Raumdeuter", and I always felt this is what Sterling's role for us is.

 

[HelloCity]

I think he’s in his worst form since his first season. He’s taking 2-3 touches to bring the ball under control, he’s not running at players, and he’s not getting into the positions to score the goals.

I’ve been his biggest fan and defender over the years even in that first year when I was saying he needed time to settle and he was only young, but now he’s in his prime and is one of the stalwarts of the team.

I’m confident he’ll come good again but at the moment he is far from his best. To his credit, he always tries to stay involved even on his worse days unlike players who can go missing for long periods. I’ll give him that.

 

[mosssideblue]

Sterling has always had a weakness in 1-on-1s. This isnt new, but the rest of his game: speed, movement, strength, stamina, chemistry with team, are all very high.

Somebody criticized his strength in the comments, really? Hes insanely strong for his size and manages to bully players way larger than him.

His passing? Nothing direct to create, but he passes and moves, and links up well in general to start counters. His decision making in passing is good.

Take out the 1on1 weakness, and people couldn't find a valid reason to complain about him. Kid gets goals, he is thankfully going nowhere.

Number of touches needed to get the ball under control

Ability to consistently kick the ball properly, or accurately

Decision making at critical times

Ability to run down rabbit warrens and simply give possession away

Easily dispossessed with minimum contact.

Not great in the big games, particularly rags and dippers


He was summed up perfectly by someone recently on here:

Great without the ball, disappointing with it.

1 on 1 you have mentioned

His form has been poor for long enough for concerns to be raised.

To his credit, he continually tries and is never injured, but let's not try to hide the fact its not just 1 to 1s are the only issue

 

[FantasyIreland]

Yep. Closest comparison was how Muller was deployed when Germany won the World Cup - off the right wing. I remembered watching that team and wondered what made Muller so good - he was nowhere close to the best dribbler in the world, not the fastest chap on the pitch, not the trickiest player in the squad, but somehow he just pops up to score.

Muller termed his own role "Raumdeuter", and I always felt this is what Sterling's role for us is.

He plays in a similar position but that's where the comparisons end in terms of quality.Muller is a natural leader,he's far more purposeful,his vision and decision making are far superior and he isn't afraid to get stuck in when needed.

Muller has far more character,he's the player Sterling should be aspiring to be.

 

[alexmcity]

Sterling will regain form. It's a matter of time.

His confidence took a hit after that miss vs Lyon. I guess it was hard to swallow. A decisive goal in a big game may restore his confidence. We play in several weeks at Anfield. That game may provide a good occasion. Or some other big game over the next month.

IF, and that's a big if, our defenders maintain their form and Kevin, Raz and Gabby (hopefully Aguero too) hit form in the second half of the season, we'll be hard to stop. Fingers crossed.

 

[WallyA]

Number of touches needed to get the ball under control

Ability to consistently kick the ball properly, or accurately

Decision making at critical times

Ability to run down rabbit warrens and simply give possession away

Easily dispossessed with minimum contact.

Not great in the big games, particularly rags and dippers


He was summed up perfectly by someone recently on here:

Great without the ball, disappointing with it.

1 on 1 you have mentioned

His form has been poor for long enough for concerns to be raised.

To his credit, he continually tries and is never injured, but let's not try to hide the fact its not just 1 to 1s are the only issue

I disagree with so much.

When running at high speed it is usually harder to control the ball quickly. Slower players have an easier time with this, but at a stand still to just receive a pass there is no problem.

What do you mean by ability to kick the ball properly or accurately? He isn't a glamourous finisher, but he finds the back of the net alot so clearly he can be accurate, and his passing accuracy is nothing to complain about.

Decision making? This is just 1on1s, Sterling almost always passes correctly and accurately when building possession and passing to the right person on counters. Again, the passing isn't super creative like KdB, but it's simple and accurate.

He gives possession away because he is always trying something, this is instructed by Pep, he wants our wingers to make something happen. If you want him to play safe all the time then that's your difference in belief to Pep. He isn't perfect here, he can release the ball sooner, but you can see him attracting 2 or 3 players to him and then try and find a man for overloads or breakaways.

Easily dispossessed when he attracts 2 or 3 players or when "trying something". But definitely not in general, this is like the comment saying he isn't strong, Sterling is incredibly strong.

So yeah, 1on1 is my main issue with Sterling. Not saying he can't improve other things, but those things are not something to really complain about as they are atleast fine. There is a reason he has been Pep's number 1 winger for the last 5 years.

 

[mosssideblue]

I disagree with so much.

When running at high speed it is usually harder to control the ball quickly. Slower players have an easier time with this, but at a stand still to just receive a pass there is no problem.

What do you mean by ability to kick the ball properly or accurately? He isn't a glamourous finisher, but he finds the back of the net alot so clearly he can be accurate, and his passing accuracy is nothing to complain about.

Decision making? This is just 1on1s, Sterling almost always passes correctly and accurately when building possession and passing to the right person on counters. Again, the passing isn't super creative like KdB, but it's simple and accurate.

He gives possession away because he is always trying something, this is instructed by Pep, he wants our wingers to make something happen. If you want him to play safe all the time then that's your difference in belief to Pep. He isn't perfect here, he can release the ball sooner, but you can see him attracting 2 or 3 players to him and then try and find a man for overloads or breakaways.

Easily dispossessed when he attracts 2 or 3 players or when "trying something". But definitely not in general, this is like the comment saying he isn't strong, Sterling is incredibly strong.

So yeah, 1on1 is my main issue with Sterling. Not saying he can't improve other things, but those things are not something to really complain about as they are atleast fine. There is a reason he has been Pep's number 1 winger for the last 5 years.

All about opinions, but I think you are simply refusing to accept his such obvious flaws. Can he improve, time will only tell

 

[Deleted member 77198]

He's almost literally an ever present constant in the team. There's going to be a reason or two for it.

There are, and a lot of my frustrations about him are from him being on the left. He’s obviously a very good player otherwise he wouldn’t keep getting picked, but this poor form has been 18 months long now. Even when he was scoring last season, the form of his general play was just like this season.

Jesus at Real Madrid and at Aston Villa put in two performances in the left forward position that Sterling has never been able to achieve on that side.

Foden put in a performance the other night against Wan Bissaka that Sterling has never been able to achieve. I don’t recall Sterling ever being able to get past Wan Bissaka in all those games against him, he’s had Raz in his pocket.

If we knew Pep would only ever play him on the right, I might come from a different angle with my view a bit, but he doesn’t.

I genuinely think there are players out there who we can improve on Sterling with (as my examples above show, two are already at the club when it comes to the left forward position), his negatives are just too frustrating for me. But it has to be an upgrade (and not necessarily like-for-like, as I said previously, it can be a #9), none of this Txiki swapping Džeko for Bony nonsense.

For me, it’s only a discussion about the improvement of this football team. Kaz’s post on the other page doesn’t take that into account, she’s thinking too much about the individual, thinking it’s personal. Although talking about the individual, with Kompany and then Silva leaving we’ve needed others to step up as leaders on the pitch who’s actions on the pitch lead us, Sterling was supposed to be that next player for us but instead I think he’s shrunk as a player when that expectation has been put on him.

 

[supercity88]

Whilst he is in bad form, he's shown his desire and hard work before to keep trying and regain it and I'm sure he will again.

When his form drops, he doesn't go missing he keeps trying and his decision making tends to then become an issue. A key moment against the rags was when he tried to beat Shaw and score from a narrow angle when a simple pass to De Bruyne was on and he was in acres of space to put the ball into the net. He could have done fuck all the rest of the game if he got that decision right.

It's been true of a few players though this season and he's played more football than most over the past few years so a down patch isn't a surprise. I'm sure he'll regain his confidence and form. You can't dismiss how many goals he has scored for us, even if he misses chances. They largely come from his movement. It's easy to say "x player in our team would score that many" but there's no evidence to support that.

 

[WallyA]

All about opinions, but I think you are simply refusing to accept his such obvious flaws. Can he improve, time will only tell

Definitely about opinions, which this forum lets us share.

I am not refusing to accept obvious flaws, because if they're obvious then everybody can see it. I have no bias for Sterling, anybody whose seen my comments know I try to be impartial to all players.

What I'm doing is looking at Sterling's qualities, and not going overboard to say he has an "obvious flaw".

There is a spectrum that I think people on here ignore, and always go to extremes when talking about a players qualities, it doesn't go:

Bad at this thing OR Great at this thing, there is a medium in between where players are just kind of average, slightly above or slightly below.

Sterling is bad or has an "obvious flaw" at 1on1 finishing, I'm not denying that, but to say claim he has so many other "obvious flaws" is imo, very naive, when you have to consider he is Pep's "go to" winger for 5 years, he wouldn't be playing him if he had "so many" flaws. People seem to ignore that for some reason.