#7 | Raheem Sterling - 2021/22 Performances

[kaz7]

He has literally just got prem player of the month , literally

 

[Thetoxguy]

He stank the place out.

We were moving beautifully through the gears when he lost the ball and the Saints scored. It was probably not Sterling's fault that we conceded, it was an exceptional goal. The point is though we're playing smoothly as a team until Sterling gets the ball and, as is quite usual, that's where it breaks down.

He slows the game down by not knowing what to do when he gets it on the edge of the opposition box, usually its a pass backwards after he's faffed around. We can't counter attack because if the ball goes to him he doesn't know what to do with it and he's not good enough to play the right pass. His decision making in key moments is as bad as anything you'll see. To put it another way, he fucks things up and does so so regularly it is not true. And that's what he did in this game. It wasn't just the chance he missed that would have been scored by any self respecting Sunday league footballer. Look at his failure to put decent balls into the box when he has the chance.

Now and again he surprises me by having a decent game or a half decent game, but I am sorry I can't forget the times, seasons long, where he has been complete crap. Sterling at his best does not make up for Sterling being shite.

Totally agree with gregblag. This isnt personal against Raheem its about performance levels and his performance against Southampton was very poor indeed. Sadly it seems pretty regular that he misses one thats easier to score. He clearly is a confidence player and his confidence seems shot at the minute. There was the link with Barcelona and that seems to have gone now. Pep knows more about football than I ever will so he sees something in training that suggests hes the man ahead of others. But the fact that he was pulled at 60 mins said it all really. On the positive side he keeps running and gives us width. On the negative side, its about fine margins and consistency at the elite level and freezing six yards out with the goal at his mercy is not the hallmark of an elite player. Hes missed from close range on so many occasions its clearly a psychological problem. I really hope he can overcome it but its been going on for years now.

 

[Fiftyyearsandcounting]

Pep never has, or never will, criticise any of his players in public. However, in the S'oton post match interview, he was questioned on Sterling's form in general and that miss in particular. Pep praised Sterling's effort and workrate as you would expect, but you could tell from his manner he was clearly frustrated with Raz's performance.

 

[Millwallawayveteran1988]

Pep never has, or never will, criticise any of his players in public. However, in the S'oton post match interview, he was questioned on Sterling's form in general and that miss in particular. Pep praised Sterling's effort and workrate as you would expect, but you could tell from his manner he was clearly frustrated with Raz's performance.

I think hooking him on 60 mins confirmed that.

 

[joenorth]

Best player by a distance all of one week ago against Chelsea after winning player of the month for December.

Annnnndddd once again the torrent of abuse after one subpart performance.

For me he wasn't even that terrible against Saints. The missed sitter magnifies things. That one particularly misweighted pass wasn't good (KDB will have a handful like that every game of course.)

But there is what I call "bad Sterling" where he gets the ball and basically dribbles it into the feet of the opposition. Over and over again. Wasn't too much of that as I remember. Maybe my standards aren't high enough but I'm inclined to cut him a lot of slack given his immense improvement and value added to the squad since November.

"Missed sitter"
"misweighted pass wasn't good enough""
" gets the ball and basically dribbles it into the feet of the oppposition over and over again"
AND your a fan of Sterling,?

 

[England Fan]

As a fan of Sterling as a player, sad to see the people on a Man City forum lining up to slate him after a single sub-par performance since November. Unfortunately Sterling will always be underrated by most English fans and I believe this is subconsciously related to how the press portrayed him early on in his career. However you would expect better support from his own club's fans.

In terms of his supposed poor finishing, it isn't borne out by the evidence (think about this next time you call him a "poor finisher" and why that might be...):

Since 2017-18 (since xG data available covering nearly 12,000 mins) he has 0.53 non-penalty goals per 90 from a non-penalty xG per 90 of 0.48

Fact is there is a strong correlation between number of goals and big chances missed - this season Salah has the most big chances missed in the league and last season he was joint second. Positioning is far more important than "finishing" (https://statsbomb.com/2017/07/quantifying-finishing-skill/).

 

[GaudinoMotors]

As a fan of Sterling as a player, sad to see the people on a Man City forum lining up to slate him after a single sub-par performance since November. Unfortunately Sterling will always be underrated by most English fans and I believe this is subconsciously related to how the press portrayed him early on in his career. However you would expect better support from his own club's fans.

In terms of his supposed poor finishing, it isn't borne out by the evidence (think about this next time you call him a "poor finisher" and why that might be...):

Since 2017-18 (since xG data available covering nearly 12,000 mins) he has 0.53 non-penalty goals per 90 from a non-penalty xG per 90 of 0.48

Fact is there is a strong correlation between number of goals and big chances missed - this season Salah has the most big chances missed in the league and last season he was joint second. Positioning is far more important than "finishing" (https://statsbomb.com/2017/07/quantifying-finishing-skill/).

Spurious, meaningless stats and all of us being brainwashed by the media. The usual defence.
I'll be sure to think of his "non-penaly xG" next time he misses a schoolboy chance or mistakes an opposing player's legs for a gas.

 

[Pablo ZZZ Peroni]

As a fan of Sterling as a player, sad to see the people on a Man City forum lining up to slate him after a single sub-par performance since November. Unfortunately Sterling will always be underrated by most English fans and I believe this is subconsciously related to how the press portrayed him early on in his career. However you would expect better support from his own club's fans.

In terms of his supposed poor finishing, it isn't borne out by the evidence (think about this next time you call him a "poor finisher" and why that might be...):

Since 2017-18 (since xG data available covering nearly 12,000 mins) he has 0.53 non-penalty goals per 90 from a non-penalty xG per 90 of 0.48

Fact is there is a strong correlation between number of goals and big chances missed - this season Salah has the most big chances missed in the league and last season he was joint second. Positioning is far more important than "finishing" (https://statsbomb.com/2017/07/quantifying-finishing-skill/).

Nice post. Agree with it all.

As a generalisation xG doesn't go down too well in these parts. The points have been made before on here (including by me in some detail) but only a minority interested.

His big chance "schoolboy" attempt at Southampton was 0.49 in xG terms. So effectively a 50/50.
The xG for a penalty is 0.76 so effectively 75/25 and is deemed an easier chance than Sterling's 50/50 at Southampton. The perception on here is likely to be different.

 

[mosssideblue]

Nice post. Agree with it all.

As a generalisation xG doesn't go down too well in these parts. The points have been made before on here (including by me in some detail) but only a minority interested.

His big chance "schoolboy" attempt at Southampton was 0.49 in xG terms. So effectively a 50/50.
The xG for a penalty is 0.76 so effectively 75/25 and is deemed an easier chance than Sterling's 50/50 at Southampton. The perception on here is likely to be different.

Not into these types of stats as prefer to use my eyes but, are you saying that the 50-50 is applicable to Sterling only, or any forward player in any league?

 

[buhz]

why do we compare sterling to salah when we are talking about his missed opportunities? i would say we could start doing that, when he starts to score just as much as him.

Giving a couple of good performances in a couple of games wont erease the memory of his performance for the last couple of monthes....just saying