Player Topic: Raheem Sterling (2015/16)

[malg]

We need to remember he is 20 years old and learning the game , hes having extra training sessions with Kiddo on finishing , his attiude is right and he wants to learn , it could be another couple of seasons , but we will have a very good player on our hands. Look what the rags have got Depay ? clubbing it every night and acting like billy big bollocks , give me a hungry player like Raheem anyday.

I agree, he will come good - he has time on his side, and as long as he keeps a good attitude he can't fail to improve. I'll still have a moan when he doesn't perform to a certain standard - KdB wasn't good today either.

 

[Millwallawayveteran1988]

----------------------- Yaya ----------- Dinho ---------------------------
Navas --------------------- Sterling ----------------------------- KDB
------------------------------ Bony ----------------------------------------

Is more than good enough to see of Norwich. In fact that team might have even got us a result today. The problem still comes when/if we ever get a fully strength side. Surely it would suit the player to get a proper run of games in a settled position.

I don't think it will be on the right though. Has he ever consistently played there? KDB should be on the left for me. He is excellent there and it's his best position for me.

 

[daztrueblue91]

I don't think it will be on the right though. Has he ever consistently played there? KDB should be on the left for me. He is excellent there and it's his best position for me.

Where do we play him then?

 

[ojeme]

I'll do this before Aguero returns:

..........Sterling
KDB.......Silva.......Navas
And probably play more with Clichy at LB and less with Kola
Every goal sterling scored came when he played as a 2nd striker while in most games where he played on the left, he underperformed for some reason. The downside of this strategy of course is when Aguero returns, MP would likely find an excuse to revert to a 4-4-2 and that would mean our beloved Merlin would have to move out wide. I'd rather have Merlin in the middle and Sterling out wide than the other way round, though.

 

[ono]

We are hanging him out to try a bit playing him on the left. I'd say 80% of our football is played with us controlling the pace of the game. The other 20% is probably on the counter. On the counter, he is brilliant and a real asset. The rest of the time, his strengths are totally neutralised by our style of play. He isn't really an intricate sort of player (although he has played a couple of decent 1-2's lately) because his touch isn't as clean as it should be for a player of his supposed calibre.

At the minute he is cutting inside without any great effect. Perhaps a switch to the right might free up some space for him to work in.

 

[ChicagoBlue]

We are hanging him out to try a bit playing him on the left. I'd say 80% of our football is played with us controlling the pace of the game. The other 20% is probably on the counter. On the counter, he is brilliant and a real asset. The rest of the time, his strengths are totally neutralised by our style of play. He isn't really an intricate sort of player (although he has played a couple of decent 1-2's lately) because his touch isn't as clean as it should be for a player of his supposed calibre.

At the minute he is cutting inside without any great effect. Perhaps a switch to the right might free up some space for him to work in.

You almost had me until that last paragraph!

His game is confidence based. Everyone knows he has immense talent, but he has gone from a "go out and do what you do" player at Liverpool to a "this is how you fit into our system, so do your job...oh, and do your magic when you get the chance!" I think the hat trick will have done him the world of good, because it will have shown him he CAN perform within a world class front line. His problem is that we bought TALENT and he seems to think we bought him solely because of what he did at Liverpool.

It is clear that he is not technically as good as the players around him. He has a bit of Dzeko or Jovetic about him, in that he has flashes of brilliance but too often disrupts the free flow of the attacking midfield by miscontrolling the ball, making a flick pass instead of a high percentage pass, and losing the ball when we have committed the entire midfield to attack. As an aside, this is exactly where Yaya, when he sits in the middle of the midfield, is the King...he controls the entire middle of the park when we have committed to attack and makes high percentage passes to the attacking players (Silva, Nasri, Navas, Aguero, KDB, Zabaleta, Kolarov, etc...) and then puts himself in a position to receive the ball again. That is what made him invaluable for the past few seasons, but it has become clear to everyone that against the top clubs, if we commit to attack and it breaks down, he simply WILL NOT (CANNOT???) put in the effort and desire to quickly become a defender...while everyone else is scrambling back and The 2 Ferns end up having to do all the donkey work and, too often, commit yellow card fouls to stop the counterattack.

It is hard to see where Yaya fits in away against the top teams, because he won't do the work...but he is coming towards the end of his City career. I would hate to say the same thing about Raheem at such an early stage in his career, but right now, he is down the pecking order (#3) for me in terms of our wide players, with Jesus and KDB playing better. Maybe, as I said earlier, he needs to spend more time on the training ground being coached, and working on both his first touch (control) and his last touch (pass), because what comes in between is not enough, even though it is pretty good!

The future is BLUE and Sterling is an integral part of it, so the sooner he gets with the program, the better for everyone.

 

[adaminho]

I'd personally drop him and give kele chi a shot. He's not been up to par this season. His first touch is woeful . He needs to know that despite his price tag he's not irreplaceable!

 

[ono]

You almost had me until that last paragraph!

His game is confidence based. Everyone knows he has immense talent, but he has gone from a "go out and do what you do" player at Liverpool to a "this is how you fit into our system, so do your job...oh, and do your magic when you get the chance!" I think the hat trick will have done him the world of good, because it will have shown him he CAN perform within a world class front line. His problem is that we bought TALENT and he seems to think we bought him solely because of what he did at Liverpool.

It is clear that he is not technically as good as the players around him. He has a bit of Dzeko or Jovetic about him, in that he has flashes of brilliance but too often disrupts the free flow of the attacking midfield by miscontrolling the ball, making a flick pass instead of a high percentage pass, and losing the ball when we have committed the entire midfield to attack. As an aside, this is exactly where Yaya, when he sits in the middle of the midfield, is the King...he controls the entire middle of the park when we have committed to attack and makes high percentage passes to the attacking players (Silva, Nasri, Navas, Aguero, KDB, Zabaleta, Kolarov, etc...) and then puts himself in a position to receive the ball again. That is what made him invaluable for the past few seasons, but it has become clear to everyone that against the top clubs, if we commit to attack and it breaks down, he simply WILL NOT (CANNOT???) put in the effort and desire to quickly become a defender...while everyone else is scrambling back and The 2 Ferns end up having to do all the donkey work and, too often, commit yellow card fouls to stop the counterattack.

It is hard to see where Yaya fits in away against the top teams, because he won't do the work...but he is coming towards the end of his City career. I would hate to say the same thing about Raheem at such an early stage in his career, but right now, he is down the pecking order (#3) for me in terms of our wide players, with Jesus and KDB playing better. Maybe, as I said earlier, he needs to spend more time on the training ground being coached, and working on both his first touch (control) and his last touch (pass), because what comes in between is not enough, even though it is pretty good!

The future is BLUE and Sterling is an integral part of it, so the sooner he gets with the program, the better for everyone.

So you don't think it would be worth playing him on the right to at least see if be offers something different? I'm surprised by that. His pace would probably be more effective on the right and I think he finishes better from that side than he does from the left, especially when he has to cut in and use his instep - other than the goal against Bournemouth, his finishing in those positions is poor.

 

[MCFC1993]

I'd personally drop him and give kele chi a shot. He's not been up to par this season. His first touch is woeful . He needs to know that despite his price tag he's not irreplaceable!

He's 20 years old, Kelechi is 19, so in essence we are giving Sterling a shot too. Forget his pricetag and judge players for what they are in our squad, if you had to summarise Sterling it would be a very talented young player who is still learning. Far from the finished article and I think he'll admit he's not irreplaceable, jumping on a young players back does nothing. He's still young and learning what it takes to play for a title chasing side on the domestic and continental front, he's bound to make errors and not be perfect. He just needs time to gain experience.

 

[trevorriley]

with no silva or ageuro we cant rely on players that need to learn, he should have stepped up to the plate more today.. Still losing the ball to easily and easy for his marker to tackle.. he needs good players round him, today missing sergio & silva plus playing at the swamp was always going to be hard for him..