Player Topic: Raheem Sterling (2015/16)

[Tricky_Trev]

Certainly has the potential to be infinitely superior to Navas, but at this moment in time I think Navas is the better option. The team looks better balanced.

 

[richards30]

Way, way, WAY OTT criticism in this thread from what I've seen. He's very young and as a result is inconsistent. That's about it for me for now.

Correct!!!! I remember days we used to support and back our players no matter what! Raheem will prove to be an explosive signing and I hope we have him for 10 years!

 

[ono]

Tell you what...you dig up some video of him going down the right wing and creating an assist from a cross, cutting in from the right wing and scoring from the right side of the box (right or left foot!) and I'll believe you. I don't believe he is a better option on the right than Navas OR KDB, and Zaba would kick him into the stands within three games if he hung him out to dry like he does Kolarov!

For me, Raheem's problems are that HE THINKS he is not as good as the players he is playing with....for the very first time in his life! He is a confidence player...His "I don't care who I'm playing against today, I'm going to skin him and create some chances" attitude has left him, and he realizes that football at the very top level is not about just BRINGING your RAW talent, it is about MANAGING your CULTURED talents to create the best TEAM possible. This team has a world class striker and a few world class midfielders.

Today, he is out of his depth...TODAY! Hopefully, we bought BOTH the natural raw talent AND a "willing to work my tail off to learn" attitude to make him feared in a way that the likes of Hazard and KDB are currently feared when they have the ball at their feet on the left.

He is full of promise, and has shown hints of brilliance. If we can nurture that talent, mould it into a team player, and help him regain his confidence, there is no-one in the team that will be able to keep him out of an attacking front four!

He made a total fool out of Hart and Kompany before scoring against us when Liverpool won the league, and that was from the right.

 

[lasereyes]

He made a total fool out of Hart and Kompany before scoring against us when Liverpool won the league, and that was from the right.

Spot on. Given he is right-footed and doesn't appear to be great with the left, you would think he is better down the right wing. KDB is clearly better on the left, so makes a lot of sense for Raheem to play down the right.

 

[prestonibbo_mcfc]

Spot on. Given he is right-footed and doesn't appear to be great with the left, you would think he is better down the right wing. KDB is clearly better on the left, so makes a lot of sense for Raheem to play down the right.

But he wasn't playing on the right. He came from left to right to make himself available to Suarez.
Then being right footed took it to the right side of the goal. Subtle difference.

 

[Wretched Vengeance]

Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner!

So, do we change him, or does he change us? There is only one answer to that!

Let's hope he is willing to learn and does have a little better technical ability in his locker waiting to be developed, or he will find himself hung out on the bench, rather than the left wing! Or, maybe the hospital if he plays many more shit balls to Kolarov after he's sprinted 60-70 yards down the line!!!

Pretty much what I wanted to say; his weight of pass at the moment is nothing short of amateurish. Over-hits it and it runs it of play. Under-hits it and it either goes out for a throw-in or it's intercepted and we get countered.

The rest of his play I like.

He will improve.

 

[Silva2021]

Never rated him that much but then he had some games for L'pool against us (I actually remember him muscling Vinny off the ball at one point), then one game last season against Chelsea and he skipped around players for fun. So changed my mind and thought he had something.

I also agree with the poster who says he seemed in awe of some of our players, especially with Silva he will pass to him every time he can.

Valencia out muscled him but he is deceptively strong and Sterling struggled with the aggression.

I think when we win the league this season, he will have contributed to a title winning team and feel he deserves his place and his performance level will improve.

He was brought to be a City player for a long time, not just for one season

 

[ojeme]

Certainly has the potential to be infinitely superior to Navas, but at this moment in time I think Navas is the better option. The team looks better balanced.

Get your point about balance that Navas brings more than Sterling. However, in measuring Sterling's value to the team, we need to also factor in his contributions to the team when he's played more centrally. Pity he's not
exactly done good enough where he's needed the most (out wide). In fact there
seems to be a kinda dilemma where to
play certain players when everyone is
back from injury. Silva and Aguero are
the automatic choice combo in the
middle with Ihenacho seriously knocking
on the door. That leaves us with the trio of Navas, KDB and Raheem vying for 2 spots. KDB on the left makes sense while Navas, despite his shortcommings, has shown some promise on the right. On the other hand we have seen sterling
underperfom on the left and then turn to
beast mode a couple of times he's played behind the striker (an already overcrowded position). Accommodating Sterling is going to be a really tough one, when every body is fit and I predict that Pellegrini, being Pellegrini, would move him to a second striker role with Bony and Kelechi as backups to the strikers and maintain Silva and KDB as wide men, which of course I don't wanna see except we operate a dynamic system where on the ball, Silva plays wide but off the ball, Sterling goes wide and Silva comes in.

 

[SWP's back]

crock of shit?? think about what you are saying at the moment best u21 player in EUROPE? Sterling is an average player at the moment, compared to our attacking line up hes about as good as a rope is for playing pool.

Yep. Crock of shit suits your posts on this topic just fine.

9 league games. Four goals. Couple of assists and a hat trick last home match.

 

[SWP's back]

He made a total fool out of Hart and Kompany before scoring against us when Liverpool won the league, and that was from the right.

Chicago Blue is fucking clueless mate. Not sure why you even bother.