Scapegoat. Sad to see some of the comments in here but no surprise
I don’t know what else you really expect mate. It’s 18 months+ of these performances from Sterling now and still no signs of improvement.
He’s a senior player, on one of the highest wages in the squad, he’s the player that should be taking games like these by the scruff of the neck and instead he was more hindrance then anything and struggled to control the ball.
Yes, there were other shite performances out there today and that should also rightly be pointed out, but the difference is a lot of those players have been putting in decent performances recently, not a continuation of being completely useless.
Sterling built up a lot of credit, he’s had some wonderful seasons for us and he’s played a massive part in our success under Pep, but there’s no beating round the bush that this isn’t merely a blip in form, it’s coming up to 2 years of underperforming.
It’s well past the ‘scapegoat’ narrative at this stage, if anything it’s surprising he still has a sizeable chunk of the fan base still defending his inclusion in the side when there are 5/6 players who are all showing more impact than him.
I’d love nothing more than for Raz to turn it around this season, prove his doubters wrong (inc me) and knock in 30 goals, but until he shows any sign of that, these debates are going to be had and it’s up to him to make this happen by taking the chances when they’re given to him. Otherwise I’m naturally going to question where he stands in this side when he continues to not show up when we need him to.