#7 | Raheem Sterling - 2021/22 Performances

[Blu1]

His time at city is over sadly. We must sell before he runs his contract down even more. He’s not happy at city anymore it’s clear to see. Hes been a good servant but it’s over

 

[Pablo ZZZ Peroni]

Grealish has only 6 matches, and if we compare his 6 matches with the last 6 matches from Sterling, then Grealish looks like Maradona reincarnated. Not only his stats are better in both goals and assists, but his dribbling, the fouls he gets, chances created, key passes are also all better than Sterling’s. What do you think about that?

Almost 2 years: December 2019- now.

Just answer these questions:

Has Sterling been the worst offensive option in the last year and a half?
How much do we have to wait for the 2nd highest salary from the team to produce?

Tell me one player that plays as much as Sterling does and that has produced less than Sterling for us.

This is not about all of us hating Sterling(I am sure some might hate him for whatever reason). It’s about what’s best for City, and whoever thinks Sterling staying is best for City is dreaming or a Sterling fanatic

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.





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.

 

[domalino]

Almost 2 years: December 2019- now.

Just answer these questions:

Has Sterling been the worst offensive option in the last year and a half?
How much do we have to wait for the 2nd highest salary from the team to produce?

People have such awful memories, or is it deliberate?

He scored and assisted 10 goals in 11 league games to turn our season around last year. He started the comeback with the winning goal against Southampton in a match Pep and Fernandinho were on record after the title win as being make or break for the season. He was brilliant in our first win at Anfield in 17 years.

That was February. So this desperate lie that people keep peddling about him being out of form for 2 years straight is just that, a pathetic, desperate lie told by people who've become so obsessed with hating Sterling they can't see straight any more.

He's the club's biggest goalscorer and provided more goals and assists than any other player since signing his last contract. That's delivering. So again, if anyone is trying to claim he didn't deliver on that contract, they're full of shit.

 

[Pablo ZZZ Peroni]

People have such awful memories, or is it deliberate?

He scored and assisted 10 goals in 11 league games to turn our season around last year. He started the comeback with the winning goal against Southampton in a match Pep and Fernandinho were on record after the title win as being make or break for the season. He was brilliant in our first win at Anfield in 17 years.

That was February. So this desperate lie that people keep peddling about him being out of form for 2 years straight is just that, a pathetic, desperate lie told by people who've become so obsessed with hating Sterling they can't see straight any more.

He's the club's biggest goalscorer and provided more goals and assists than any other player since signing his last contract. That's delivering. So again, if anyone is trying to claim he didn't deliver on that contract, they're full of shit.

Well said mate.

I went epic on 19/20 and then got bored so i'm glad you've posted that.

 

[BlueBanger]

People have such awful memories, or is it deliberate?

He scored and assisted 10 goals in 11 league games to turn our season around last year. He started the comeback with the winning goal against Southampton in a match Pep and Fernandinho were on record after the title win as being make or break for the season. He was brilliant in our first win at Anfield in 17 years.

That was February. So this desperate lie that people keep peddling about him being out of form for 2 years straight is just that, a pathetic, desperate lie told by people who've become so obsessed with hating Sterling they can't see straight any more.

He's the club's biggest goalscorer and provided more goals and assists than any other player since signing his last contract. That's delivering. So again, if anyone is trying to claim he didn't deliver on that contract, they're full of shit.

He's the biggest fluffer of chances in the team.

He doesn't have the basic technical ability. He has 2 things a turn of pace and good positional sense(hence he gets into the space to get his tap ins which are laid on a plate 99% of the time)...EVERYTHING else lacks.

The amount of amatuerish ball control(just flat out embarassing) i've witnessed in this last 2 years from him has been mind blowing for someone on the elite level of pay he's already on.

We can argue all day here but i guess his contract situation will ultimately tell us what the club and pep really think come the end. Well, pep hardly starting him tells you what pep really thinks actually.

 

[mccity]

He's the biggest fluffer of chances in the team. He scores tap ins and has looked awful for 2 years.

So why does he keep getting picked? Is Pep really an idiot? Or is there something we're not properly looking at when discussing him?

 

[Nihilist]

I still think Sterling has it in him and we should give him a last chance this season. That being said , wish Pep would only use him vs weaker teams for a while until he finds his best form.

 

[BlueBanger]

I still think Sterling has it in him and we should give him a last chance this season. That being said , wish Pep would only use him vs weaker teams for a while until he finds his best form.

I mean he had been doing until the psg game. I think pep knew there was a high probability of us dropping points vs PSG after such a tiring game against chelsea....and another one to come against the dippers.

If our schedule wasn't so packed i highly doubt sterling starts against PSG.

 

[5 Hit Gibbon]

I love the comparison with Mendy but not as good as Grealish is just an expensive Nolito.

A 2 year low level you say? So all of 19/20 and 20/21. Personally I think that's bollocks.

And what's all this "we" nonsense? If Pep picks him he picks him because he thinks he's the right man for the job on any given day. If he doesn't he doesn't. I'm ok with that.

There is a weird thing going on, which is a bit like Chinese whispers, as with every addition things get more distorted and then ends up nothing like reality. People have gone from saying he's been useless for 6 months, which then morphed into a year, then 18 months and we now have people saying in fact he's been woeful for 2 full years.

 

[sir baconface]

Classic case of "performance anxiety", the more you try not to fail, the worse it gets.

Footballer’s droop?

 

[sir baconface]

I wouldn't blame him for running his contract down at this point because he's being treated like shit. He hasn't started a game in his best position (wide right) for months. And before people come along to say that he's played brilliantly on the left before - yes, he has. But, bar the odd game, it only tended to be when he was in particularly great form and had real confidence in front of goal (18-19). Even then, some of his best performances came on the right wing, against Southampton and Liverpool at home that season. The following year, he was our only winger who could play on the left, due to Sane's injury, and while he scored a lot of goals, it wasn't without a long dry patch in the middle. Indeed, he scored several of his post lockdown goals playing from the right, with Phil on the left.

He's not being given a consistent run in the side to get his form back, and when he does start it's in a position which is completely alien to him, and only serves to make him the scapegoat for every game we don't win. Don't get me started on his treatment by our fans, online and in the ground.

A player of his stature and ability (see his performances in the Euros for proof he's still got it) deserves better. He's our best right winger for fucks sake, but he's forced to play elsewhere to accomodate Jesus and Mahrez? One of which was, until last season, considered a perfectly serviceable centre forward (but is now forbidden from playing there), and the other who has had about 6 good months in total in a City shirt.

I wrote on here a while ago that Pep's use of his forwards baffled me, and it's only gotten worse. Everything that people have praised Jesus for doing on the wing, Sterling has been doing for years. The only problem is, we only see it for England now. Meanwhile, instead of getting our only actual centre forward into goalscoring form, we're sticking him on the wing and playing Sterling up front.

Mind. Boggling.

Treated like shit? He’s been treated extreme fairly; some might even say indulged.

Kept Foden out for much of last season. Recalled for the CL final, which was a major factor in blowing it. He’s played a shit load of games while being out of form.

As for playing out of position, such is the competition at City that this can be said of several players. Qq

 

[domalino]

Treated like shit? He’s been treated extreme fairly; some might even say indulged.

Hes been abused on here from almost the day he got here. Hes received racist abuse in person from city fans during a match at least once and he gets racist abuse online from City fans regularly.

I guess we have different ideas of indulgence.

 

[wolviedinho]

Sterling is an enigma. In parts he played well against PSG. Movement, hold up play was decent. His dribbling and ability to pass and shoot is so awful and frustrating to watch.

What he is doing well is not what we need.

For me, he has checked out. fuck knows what the reason is and I don’t actually care. I would not offer him a penny to continue with us. Past achievements should be respected but his mental shift can only mean he does not want to continue with city. Move him on in the summer. Take control of the situation.

 

[sir baconface]

Hes been abused on here from almost the day he got here. Hes received racist abuse in person from city fans during a match at least once and he gets racist abuse online from City fans regularly.

I guess we have different ideas of indulgence.

I was referring to how he‘s been treated by the club.

Nobody’s defending racist abuse from any quarter. Don’t know why you had to introduce that.

Instead of looking for an argument where none exists, do think he’s been treated fairly by the club?

 

[domalino]

I was referring to how he‘s been treated by the club.

Nobody’s defending racist abuse from any quarter.

Instead of looking for an argument where none exists, do think he’s been treated fairly by the club?

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.

 

[GenerousUrchin]

I do feel a little sorry for him, he couldn't control a TV right now. Its not through any lack of effort, just cant get anything right for us recently. Opposite in an England shirt.

When do you stop giving him the opportunity to regain the form we all know he can have?

 

[BlueBanger]

I do feel a little sorry for him, he couldn't control a TV right now. Its not through any lack of effort, just cant get anything right for us recently. Opposite in an England shirt.

When do you stop giving him the opportunity to regain the form we all know he can have?

I think that time has come. He's had a long time.

 

[mccity]

I think that time has come. He's had a long time.

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.

 

[Pedestrian]

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.

I think the fact he keeps getting picked despite the negativity from the fans is the only thing he’ll need to show the club support him. Fwiw I think he’s decided to move on and if that happens I will reflect fondly of him in general.

 

[Lavinda Past]

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.

Fair comment but it's easy when you're working with someone else's money... do you think Raheem has done anything over the past 18 months or so to justify a new improved contract?

Unlike the others you've named, his form almost literally fell off a cliff. Unlike the others, it wasn't injuries or a few 'in and out' games, he went from an 8.5/10 player to a 5 or 6/10 almost overnight. His performance on Tuesday did nothing to suggest that he's anywhere near turning a corner, and I certainly don't think anyone would expect to see him starting at Anfield on Sunday.

While the club may well choose to be patient with him, I can't honestly believe that anyone at the top level at City would actually want to offer him a 5 year contract on increased wages.

It's heading towards him walking away for free at the end of his contract - If the club think that is likely, I can see no reason why they wouldn't aim to offload him asap, regardless of how much faith Pep has in him. The problem (for all parties) is always going to be meeting his wage expectations.