If only we had some experience of how much playing around a traditional striker fits his game, such as him being amazing when Aguero was here, or such as him having a great international tournament playing around Kane.He lacks the cold calculating brain of a "born striker". He is reliably unreliable, probably the most frustrating player to pull on a City shirt.
Match-winner one minute, followed by a miss-of-the-season the next. It is not a confidence problem, or a physical problem, he is not scared of missing, he puts in a shift, seems popular in the dressing-room. So many positives, he should be in every-body's starting eleven.....
He is not going to change now, he will always be a sort of lucky dip on legs, a jokers wild card, provoking high emotion, from anger to ecstacy. Fierce loyalty to antagonism. Both sides have ammunition to back their opinion, crucial goals versus crucial misses, great assists versus simple passes mis-placed. A genuine world-class striker could help Raz by simplifying his role as a winger and "providing" rather than "taking" chances, just a thought....
Has he been better recently since his mini renaissance? Yes. Has he been great? Nope. He had one very good performance against chelsea and 2-3 fairly good ones aside from that...nothing to write home about unless directly comparing them to his shockingly poor form that lasted many months beforehand. When a player is rock bottom the way raz was "the only way is up" and "increasingly good" doesn't say much.is there any other player in living memory who can have 7 or 8 increasingly good games followed by an off day and people start writing essays about his contract and how “he’s actually been shit for 18 months if you just ignore the last 2”
Spot onHas he been better recently since his mini renaissance? Yes. Has he been great? Nope. He had one very good performance against chelsea and 2-3 fairly good ones aside from that...nothing to write home about unless directly comparing them to his shockingly poor form that lasted many months beforehand. When a player is rock bottom the way raz was "the only way is up" and "increasingly good" doesn't say much.
It comes down to how fans see a good performance. The odd tap in(which is drilled movement) and the odd turn of pace to square a basic ball across the face of the goal is the new 8/10 in some people's eyes it would seem. Is the bar set so low these days?
Thats why people sit on both sides of the fence with raz. I find his inconsistency the biggest issue because he loses form and tends to go weeks or months at a time looking awful. I want one of our big earners contributing consistently. Yes, grealish, kev, cancelo, sometimes fall into a similar category but, unlike raz, they fall into the slow day category. Raz, on the other hand, falls into the category of laughable incompetance on his bad days...spooning balls a child could make. The others don't go weeks/months at a time looking so bad they don't even have the fundamentals down.
He's not good enough anymore and the penny is slowly dropping among the fans. Its just sad because he HAS been.
But he also scores more than most if not all of the squad even when hes of form. Imo its too risky to lose the only goal scorer we have.In a squad full of superstars, the problem for Raz is his ‘technical low bar’ (control and shooting) is significantly lower than anybody else he plays with. Hence it stands out like a sore thumb when he hits his low bar.
I’m not suggesting losing him. It was just an observation as to why he probably gets as much abuse as he does. His ability to appear shit is ‘higher’ than anybody else who plays for us.But he also scores more than most if not all of the squad even when hes of form. Imo its too risky to lose the only goal scorer we have.
That part of my post was more to do with this thread in general. What i will say is all the players who are all more technically gifted than he is don't score as many goals as he does. I would say that the people who want sterling out will regret it when hes replaced by another flare player who can't score (not aimed at you)I’m not suggesting losing him. It was just an observation as to why he probably gets as much abuse as he does. His ability to appear shit is ‘higher’ than anybody else who plays for us.
I agree. I am one of his biggest critics because his lack of touch and his overall standard of play for a professional footballer at the top level drives me absolutely nuts. The one big thing he had in his favour was goal return. I have always said its difficult to knock anyone who bags 20+ goals a season, no matter what other deficiencies they have to their game. The problem is, he isn't currently a 20+ goals a season player, so when he isn't scoring goals he stands out like a sore thumb.That part of my post was more to do with this thread in general. What i will say is all the players who are all more technically gifted than he is don't score as many goals as he does. I would say that the people who want sterling out will regret it when hes replaced by another flare player who can't score (not aimed at you)
Come on. I wish we could criticise and have honest conversations about our current crop of players without resorting to this kind of nonsense hyperbole. If you think 123 goals, 89 assists, and 9 domestic honours makes up the most frustrating player to pull on a City shirt... give me strength. He's definitely frustrating sometimes, there's no disputing that, but the most frustrating player in our 128-year history? He doesn't even appear in the top 100.He lacks the cold calculating brain of a "born striker". He is reliably unreliable, probably the most frustrating player to pull on a City shirt.
Match-winner one minute, followed by a miss-of-the-season the next. It is not a confidence problem, or a physical problem, he is not scared of missing, he puts in a shift, seems popular in the dressing-room. So many positives, he should be in every-body's starting eleven.....
He is not going to change now, he will always be a sort of lucky dip on legs, a jokers wild card, provoking high emotion, from anger to ecstacy. Fierce loyalty to antagonism. Both sides have ammunition to back their opinion, crucial goals versus crucial misses, great assists versus simple passes mis-placed. A genuine world-class striker could help Raz by simplifying his role as a winger and "providing" rather than "taking" chances, just a thought....
I stand by it, they'll have hoped we went on to win the game obviously but some folks views are entrenched in a hatred of him. He's just been the best player in the PL for the last Month or so but posters straight back on here to attack him.what a moronic comment.