Media persecution of Raheem Sterling

[Mr HJ]

He wasn't good enough last night, but neither was Lingard, Alli, Rashford etc.

Sterling plays with his back to goal for England. Kane always drops too deep so when Raz does receive the ball, there's not a single forward pass available for him.

Agreed, Southgate doesn't use Raheem to get the best out of him. It tells you all you need to know about tactical plans when Ashley Young and Trippier are told to take all set pieces, even free-kicks on the edge of the box. Alli for all the hype, disappeared last night and a stronger coach would have taken him off at half time. Raheem also, even when not having his best games, drags opposition defenders out of position, problem is the team played so slowly they failed to make use of the space.

 

[hertsblue]

Laughable that on the BBC site he is singled out with he must improve when he wasnt even the worse player on the pitch but Ali gets a free pass again.
He doesnt suit this role for England. There is zero creativity from the team and Kane is a scorer but doesnt offer the movement Kun and Jesus offer at City which creates space.
The calls for Rashford are laughable though. All he does is run into defenders giving the ball away for the most part. It was so predictable thst Sterling would be taken off last night and most fans and even ex players conmentating cant see he creates space as the opposition double up on him.
I can imaging how frustrated he is, going from playing with the creativity and vision in our team to playing with Henderson and the likes

 

[CityStu]

Daft to play Sterling centrally as it meant he was too crowded to go past players and appeared to get in the way of other attacks. He's extremely unfortunate in that he's a top class winger and England's next best winger is probably Walcott or Redmond, so it isn't a system we play.

I think, with the system as it is at the moment, he should be allowed to switch flanks as he pleases but play as a wide player:

JP

KW - JS - HM

KT - - - - - - - JH - - - - - - - DR

RLC - - - - - DA

RS - - - - - - - HK - - - - - - - - - ​

 

[Rolee]

He was poor, but Alli was worse. The thing is though if you’re the highest profile player in the national team from one of, if not thee most high profile clubs in the league, scoring plenty for that club but not scored for country in 2.5 years, you’ll get singled out when those misses are made.
I’d rather be saves his best form for us anyway.

There were no misses though unless you count the one that wouldn't have counted regardless. He didn't have a single shot at goal last night.

 

[Manchester1894]

Fans are obsessed with Sterling or Rashford. It's a role supporting the striker, which neither are good at or have performed it at club level. Vardy is so much more experienced at that type of role.

I believe the best attack does consist of Rashford on the left wing, Sterling on the right wing, and Kane in the middle. But we play 5 3 2 so that wouldn't work.
We are setting ourselves up to be hard to breakdown, but limp in attack. We have no creative midfielder. Not one.
So it's reliant on wingers or wing-backs. Young is average, Rose is inconsistent. Delph doesn't get a look in. Shocking. On the other side, it's Trippier, who is good, but not great, then no-one else is really tried as a wide man. The one thing Southgate should have worked on more is stretching the play to the wings like Pep does. Get Sterling with chalk on his boots and Rashford on the otherside doing the same. Then get the ball moving quicker. The only person capable of playing a ball through the lines is Stones. I'm almost tempted to put him behind the striker lol.

 

[stonerblue]

Great hat-trick from Lingard....

 

[The Colonel]

I’d like to see a compilation of Sterling’s touches in last night’s game. My memory is that he generally was progressive and linked up play in the first half. In the second I don’t think that the front two got much ball as the midfield had stopped passing forward so much.

 

[Dave Ewing's Back 'eader]

What made me laugh was the reference to Rashford's speed when he came on! Standing start over any distance between Sterling and Rashers?

 

[Claytop]

BBC Sport Homepage: 'Lots of Positives but Sterling must improve'

Unbelievable, not to mention he doesn't get a mention till near the bottom of the article and then topped off with some shit about Lingard can be relied upon. I'm sorry but if people still can't see the shit Sterling has to put up with then I despair.

No ones saying he had a particularly good game but he was no different to Alli and Lingard so why pick him out..

I actually thought his link up play was good in the 1st half with Kane and you can see he's always in the box ready for the pass but we don't have a KDB or Silva.

 

[BlueMoonz1977]

And this exactly the point of this thread. No-one is saying Sterling played well but the point is he did not play any worse than many others (Lingard, Alli, Walker, Young I will leave Kane off this list because whilst his general play was poor he scored 2 goals) yet the papers the BBC and @Tom_mcfc have singled Raz out for criticism if you dont believe me check out the BBC match report and read many of today's papers and see the drivel Tom has written in this thread. Why any City fan would cheer when one of his owns team players is subbed is beyond me

It is interesting that James Ducker seems to get what is happening it will be interesting to see what Southgate does I personally hope he sticks with Sterling but I dont think he will. Unforutnately England do not have creative players like Silva, Silva or KDB who can play the sort of passes that the likes of Sterling Sane and Aguero thrive on and until England do players like Sterling will struggle. Loftus-Cheek has shown glimpses that he might be that sort of player we shall see

I think there is some paranoia on here. I’m not talking about what goes on on on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, etc. That is rag-infested know-nothing bile, and I don’t dignify it by giving it my attention.
I can see nothing to take exception to in, say, Phil McNulty’s assessment on the BBC. Yes, nobody else was very good. The whole point is that a lot is expected of Raz for England because a) he’s been brilliant for his club this season b) he is recognised by the more serious journalists as one of the most exciting players to have emerged for years. He was poor (like, say, Dele Alli) and that’s partly because he’s being played out of position. We should be big enough to say it if we see it, precisely because we know how good he is, and will be.
By the way, I thought overall, for the first round, England were o.k. If England are shit, then Argentina, Brazil and Germany are shit. John Stones looked perfectly the part, although he wasn’t put under much pressure by the opposition. Hated Tunisia’s spoiling tactics. And I was boiling with anger about the penalty right through the game. If that’s a penalty, then there’s three or four in every game.

@chesterguy - spot on mate

@lbd - I understand that a lot is expected of Raz, the fact is he has scored 18 goals this season with us shows his class. Bt the glaring fact is that he is playing in a star studded squad, with players such as KDB, Merlin etc etc who play the game to another level under the guidance of Pep (including raz himself).

You stick Sterling in with the likes of Lingaard, Young, Henderson, Kane, Alli and it isn't going o be the same no matter how many times it is tried. The england playersjust aren't on the same level as our squad and that has a dramatic imapct on Sterling's positional play and how he can pick his runs.


I am just sick to back teeth of Sterling being lambasted by all and sundry - bring in rashford etc etc - rashford has done nowt all season. Lingaard missed absolute sitters last night, why isnt he being called out. That first one in the first 4mins he didnt even connect with the ball properly from about 6 yards out