#7 | Raheem Sterling - 2021/22 Performances

[jimmygrimblesboots]

Sterling like many have stated is probably just a couple of goals away from getting his mojo back , but Sunday is not the game to try and get the lad back to form , he generally does not get much at Klanfield and their scum fans will boo him to their hearts content , Dippers have very long memories in the self city pity.
Bring him on for the last ten minutes when we have won the game for a chorus of "Raheem Sterling he's top of the league" NOTHING winds the Dippers up more.

 

[bobbyowenquiff]

I don't think Raheem has played well for City for more than 12 months. Perhaps he is burned out perhaps he has reached his peak under intense pressure from Pep to improve his game. But overall he has been fantastic for us. One of the hardest-working players I have ever seen. I compare him to Kevin Keegan who wasn't the best technical player but was European Player of the Year twice because of sheer effort.
But there is no place for sentiment in football. The truth is that Raheem will not get any better so this is the time for City to cut him loose and move forward. In football if you don't move forwards you stagnate. Pep is as ruthless as it comes as a manager. It is one of his greatest strengths. I don't think he will hang around in making his decision.

 

[BlueBanger]

People have been saying "he's a couple of goals away from being back to his old self" for such a long time...yet he got goals for england and yet still looked his usual self for city upon return...

He was brilliant in pep's first few seasons(which we were at our most lethal imo) but he's had it especially with our current style.

To turn things around goals wont be the factor it will be a complete change in our strategy. That wont happen though because last time we played to his strengths we were leaking goals for fun.

 

[cityboy1]

i dont see how he can get into first 11 since lw is taken by foden/grealish,rw by jesus/mahrez and that leaves 9 place to him which i dont think hes good enough to play

he needs to lose his obsession with being on the left needs to all out to try and become our first choice option on the right. In the middle hes nothing more than a stop gap until we get a striker.

 

[Kippax77]

I get it on this thread (and I totally agree) that minutes after Raz as had another shit performance we slag him.
Then the closer we get to the next match we start hoping and stating facts from 3-4 seasons ago that might subtract us from the fact he is dogshit at this moment in time.
And more worrying for us the fans we have to argue about who is a football fan or who is a racist.
When in fact it is all about a footballer who isn't performing for the wedge they are on.

 

[JewelZee]

Good to see you are slowly changing your mind. You started with "he's been shit for 2 years" then moved to he has been shit since December 2019 and now finally he has been painful from December 2020 - so the last 9 months.

I said and proved his numbers for 19/20 were elite. Yes, I was concentrating mainly on goals but I can easily run-off a comparison of all of his stats (all of the ones YOU considered very important for Grealish and more) and for good measure compare with, say, Salah, for both 18/19 and 19/20. Unsurprisingly to me (I've done this before) they are very similar ie elite. The drop-off after 18/19 to 19/20 is not really there. So what specifically was it you think he was failing at for 19/20?

I thought the main problem now with Sterling is that he is NOT scoring goals? Despite his poor touch, miscontrols and inability to kick a ball he was very good at it for 3 seasons 17 to 20 but indisputably lesser so since 20/21 which started 12 months ago. Aguero has gone and, Phil aside, no other player in the squad can get anywhere near his levels for 2017-2020.

I said in a previous post fine lines only were between him and 3 goals in 3 recent appearances. Who knows - maybe the floodgates will open soon for him.

Stop, PLEASE...he's been God awful...impossible to watch...I swear there are times I feel embarrassed for him...looks completely on a different page

 

[JewelZee]

Stop, PLEASE...he's been God awful...impossible to watch...I swear there are times I feel embarrassed for him...looks completely on a different page than the rest of the squad...any other player on this team that would be showing the same lack of form would never get the time he still gets...

 

[M16 citeh]

I wonder if being a public figure for anti racism has taken its toll on raheem mentally. He's always been a private guy until the Chelsea racism event made him finally speak out. I can see why he performs the way he does for England kind of in spite of the years of booing he received. I still think he can come good for us but we need to take the pressure of him as fans

 

[waspish]

So “reports” that Barcelona be in for him in January!? So a loan and we pay 80% of his fee?! Because how they going to afford him when they are skint?

 

[yerwot?]

the elephant in the room, for me, is how and why he is selected, given Pep's reputation for ruthless pragmatism. My way or the highway, sums up his attitude to managing players. There is a sizable list of players he has treated this way. From outside looking in, ego and attitude being the factors rather than skill.
Is Pep trying to prove a point by continuing to select Raz?
Even a hat-trick against the buswreckers will not erase the performances of the recent past, too many unforced errors, too many times losing possession through poor ball-control, things that pure effort cannot atone for.
Imo for the lad's sake and the team's sake, a fresh start seems the best option.
Apart from a handful of haters on BM, the vast majority of us really want the lad to be successful, to go back a couple of pages and be what he once was.............f'kin matchwinner, if only eh....