#7 | Raheem Sterling - 2021/22 Performances

[kaz7]

it has been reported he wants kdb wages

By who ?

 

[sir baconface]

Not particularly?

They certainly haven't felt the need to calm the waters over the new contract discussions, instead perfectly happy to let the fans imaginations run wild with demands of being the highest paid player and whatever other ill intentions they want invent to project onto him.

Given that he is getting regular abuse form fans, whether you try to ignore it or not, im not sure why they let that ferment instead of setting things straight or calming things down by telling the press no one is too worried.

They haven't bought a centre forward and instead forced him to play false 9 while trying to get back in form, which is a hard enough job to do at the best of times.

When he gets back in form it will be despite everything around him and not thanks to careful management and I think the same was true of Stones and Gundogan.

PS. I think its disingenuous to pretend that treatment from the fans is supposed to be removed from a discussion about how a player is treated at a club.

You just had to add the P.S. to an otherwise straight answer, didn’t you? You’re one of the most intelligent and informative posters but also one of the most patronising.

Criticism of Sterling‘s skill-set and form is perfectly valid. In 99% of cases it represents fair opinion, not abuse and not racism. You’re one of the few who affect not to see it but instead put up smokescreen arguments and eye-defying stats.

 

[GaudinoMotors]

it has been reported he wants kdb wages

If it's Keith"s, Derek's and Bob's from car parking, he may have a case.

 

[city warrior]

I get where you're coming from, but I would make the precise same arguments whatever his contract situation in the past, present, or the future.

And all the arguments against Sterling staying beyond that are nothing different to what I had read for multiple seasons about Gundogan or Stones. I strongly believe that there's nothing particular unique about the Sterling situation right now.

That he wins 3x what Stones and Gundogan did at the time? That he might give us a good sell? That Pep has given Sterling waay more matches to recover his form than Stones and even Gundogan, in the wings unlike Gundogan who played as a DM most of the time?

 

[sir baconface]

Sterling isn't going to renew without a massive pay rise, which we shouldn't give because he's no longer one of our key players. Giving him 400k a week or more would be crazy when he's been poor for a year. I think he's a victim of the false 9 system basically, he doesn't work in it in any position for me. Its slower even more about possession with no space in behind.

The figures here are pure supposition. If they were ever true, which is debatable, I would think expectations have changed.

Also, regardless of form, the club may see it worth renewing in an attempt to protect his transfer value. In that respect, he still holds some cards.

I do agree though that he’s looking increasingly out of place and is falling down the pecking order literally left, right and centre.

So another possibility is to acknowledge that we had our worth out of him in earlier years and accept not much more than book value.

 

[city warrior]

I was being sarcastic mate. I don't really love your comment comparing Sterling with Mendy. Nor do I love the shit going around calling Grealish the £100million Nolito. Both are FT shit.

TBF I should have just directly called you out for the Mendy comparison. That's a pretty disgusting cheap shot and you know it. The funny bit is you go all-in with the "sterling has been shit for 2 years" routine which is just hyperbolic, attention seeking bollocks

The 19/20 season only finished in the middle of August last year - so just over 13 months ago. Including England in 19/20 he made 57 appearances, played 4424 minutes scoring 35 goals and with 11 assists. City all comps he finished with 31 goals and 5 assists. These are elite numbers but despite that he was routinely slagged off and abused on here during the season with the usual anti-Sterling jibes. Yep, he had a poor run during the season but the extreme criticism was off the scale as far as I was concerned. His poor technique being the main one and this was all before the horror of Lyons.

But you have now moved the goal posts from 2 years to one and half years/seasons from December 2019. So below is a table for his league performance from Dec19 to the end of the season. NPG is non-penalty goals, NPxG is non-penalty xG and, the improtant one, xA is expected assists.

He scored 12 non penalty goals and outperformed his xG by 2+ goals. That is good (it changed in 20/21) and compares to Jesus who under performed his xG by 4+ goals which was stinker for this short period.

xA is important. In the table Sterling had 0 assists. The scoring of the goal is outside of his control but based on his xA he was due 2 to 3 assists. Conversely Jesus was due 3-4 assists but actually got 6.

If you divide his minutes 1357 by his 12 goals he has a strike rate of a goal every 113 minutes. This is superb and he was the most deadly goalscorer in the league for this half season.


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So can we please show him some respect for 19/20 (lyons aside) and accept that overall he has been a great, great player for all 3 seasons from 17/18 to 19/20.

20/21 he has been well down on those 3 years. We all know that but I don't think he has been disastrous as many made out and he was still a big part of our success. His best form ended around the end of February. That's only 7 months ago FFS and then he had a superb run of form in the Euros.

You think his euros was superb and his 19/20 is elite. There is no way I can share that opinion. If you don't watch any match and only check the stats at the end maybe, but watching Sterling from December 2020 has been painful most of the time (some exceptions with England against non elite competition most of the time). I'll agree that his 2017/2019 form was great, because he did more than scoring.

The problem now with Sterling is that the ONLY thing he is giving us is goals. Everything else can be done better by every other offensive city player.

I don't care whether he is black or not, whether he is pretty or not, whether he loves the fans or not. I care about what I see on the pitch. My criticism are always gonna be directed to that and never to Sterling directly.

I can't see how some of his fans think 95% of people here just wants to attack him. Everyone here would love to watch Sterling back. Gundogan in his worst times was 10x the olayer Sterling is now. Stones in his worst time played 1/10 matches as a starter.

I have never ever seen a player that is "world-class" have such a low level for such a long time. Sterling could score 90 goals this season that if he keeps playing like this I will keep saying: his season was merely good, like a Mario Gomez at Bayern.

 

[mccity]

That he wins 3x what Stones and Gundogan did at the time? That he might give us a good sell? That Pep has given Sterling waay more matches to recover his form than Stones and even Gundogan, in the wings unlike Gundogan who played as a DM most of the time?

I stand by my comments, this is no unique situation.

 

[HypnoticBlue]

I think there are just simply better players in our squad than Sterling: it can’t be coincidental all the time that when he plays we score less or not all and we don’t retain possession as much or that we don’t look anywhere near as threatening.
I see him on the team sheet and just know it’s gonna be 90 mins of frustration.

 

[VinceYoungisaBLUE]

You think his euros was superb and his 19/20 is elite. There is no way I can share that opinion. If you don't watch any match and only check the stats at the end maybe, but watching Sterling from December 2020 has been painful most of the time (some exceptions with England against non elite competition most of the time). I'll agree that his 2017/2019 form was great, because he did more than scoring.

The problem now with Sterling is that the ONLY thing he is giving us is goals. Everything else can be done better by every other offensive city player.

I don't care whether he is black or not, whether he is pretty or not, whether he loves the fans or not. I care about what I see on the pitch. My critics are always gonna be directed to that and never to Sterling directly.

I can't see how some of his fans think 95% of people here just wants to attack him. Everyone here would love to watch Sterling back. Gundogan in his worst times was 10x the olayer Sterling is now. Stones in his worst time played 1/10 matches as a starter.

I have never ever seen a player that is "world-class" have such a low level for such a long time. Sterling could score 90 goals this season that if he keeps playing like this I will keep saying: his season was merely good, like a Mario Gomez at Bayern.

It was a novel but needed to be said. I'm sure there are people who just hate Sterling the man and want him to fail, I'd say 99% of us critiquing his form are not those people.

I happen to like Sterling the person (from what I know obvs) quite a lot and will root for him if he stays or goes but I have no confidence when I see his name on the team sheet for a big match.

 

[BlueBanger]

So? Not only has he not been as bad for as long as people pretend he has been, but there's an actual history of players City fans have given up on during Pep's tenure for being "out of form" for a long time who've eventually proven them wrong. Gundogan, Bernardo, Stones most notably, Mahrez, and possibly now Jesus too.

We should be grateful to have a manager that actually puts his faith in players when "all hope is lost", because without those players we would never have achieved what we've achieved with this manager.

Any of those players at their worse were capable of basic control. Nobody is pretending with sterling.

Sterling as of now is a pale imitation of what he was a few years back. The other point as another member has already pointed out is that those players you mentioned didn't get the benefit of starting time and time again through the rough spells as sterling had until sometime during the middle or end of last season.