Raheem Sterling - 2016/17 performances

[MarsLlama]

I think more posts should be written in verse.
Although mine is a little more terse.

There once was a man called Raheem,
the most hated in England's whole team
the pundits they said
his career was dead
they're all fucking stupid, it seems.

 

[Easy]

I'm almost certain he'll be at the club for a very long time. Young, English, has huge market potential and last but most importantly, the current and one of the best managers of our generation seems to have full trust and confidence in his ability. A player who has clocked the 2nd most minutes of anyone in the team, leads in assists and is 2nd only to aguero in goals scored so far should be the least of your worries going forward. With the amount of chances he gets and creates for the team, you could argue he should have more than the 7 goals and 14 assists to his name but that's the kind of standard he's been performing at this season and pep has even acknowledged that with this quote, “Raz is playing in a row every three days at a high level, has scored a lot of goals, made assists, and is dangerous in the box". As for whether his touch and control is at the required level, I would argue most of his best performances since joining the club has in fact been in the champions league against some of the best sides in europe(i.e sevilla,barcelona) where he's not looked out of place and displayed a good combination of both touch and control amongst the very best . He's also been doing all you claim sane and jesus have done in their short time for most of the season and was a key reason for the great start the team had, so I'm not exactly sure where that criticism is coming from.

All three of these young players have qualities that compliments each others games. Sane seems the better of them in carrying the ball at speed and beating players in terms of dribbling although the other two are far from lacking in that area. Sterling the most intelligent runner off the ball in the timing of his runs and positioning. While jesus from the little I've seen seems the more intelligent user of the ball and more rounded while scarily being the youngest. What's important though is that they are all technically very capable and tactically aware players and have shown a mentality and workrate second to none so any fears about any of their long-term futures should be put at ease.

Good post. Sterling has been a key player this season, every time he plays he makes something happen, whether that is an assist, goal, winning a penalty or free kick in a dangerous position. He is improving and will continue to grow. The coming of Jesus, and the emergence of Sane is great for him and will also take some pressure off. Wish he would get some more protection from the refs.

 

[teddykgb]

I'm almost certain he'll be at the club for a very long time. Young, English, has huge market potential and last but most importantly, the current and one of the best managers of our generation seems to have full trust and confidence in his ability. A player who has clocked the 2nd most minutes of anyone in the team, leads in assists and is 2nd only to aguero in goals scored so far should be the least of your worries going forward. With the amount of chances he gets and creates for the team, you could argue he should have more than the 7 goals and 14 assists to his name but that's the kind of standard he's been performing at this season and pep has even acknowledged that with this quote, “Raz is playing in a row every three days at a high level, has scored a lot of goals, made assists, and is dangerous in the box". As for whether his touch and control is at the required level, I would argue most of his best performances since joining the club has in fact been in the champions league against some of the best sides in europe(i.e sevilla,barcelona) where he's not looked out of place and displayed a good combination of both touch and control amongst the very best . He's also been doing all you claim sane and jesus have done in their short time for most of the season and was a key reason for the great start the team had, so I'm not exactly sure where that criticism is coming from.

All three of these young players have qualities that compliments each others games. Sane seems the better of them in carrying the ball at speed and beating players in terms of dribbling although the other two are far from lacking in that area. Sterling the most intelligent runner off the ball in the timing of his runs and positioning. While jesus from the little I've seen seems the more intelligent user of the ball and more rounded while scarily being the youngest. What's important though is that they are all technically very capable and tactically aware players and have shown a mentality and workrate second to none so any fears about any of their long-term futures should be put at ease.

Careful here. I understand the reaction to defend him. I find myself doing it as well especially to non blues. If we're speaking among blues, I'm trying to give an honest assessment of the player. I think you're absolutely right that his being English and displaying some talent means he may stay with us for a long time. I'm going to use players like Lennon as a negative example, however, because I don't think any of us want to see Raheem become our version of him.

You're very loose with your logic. A player with the 2nd most minutes in the team does display the confidence of his manager. But then you have to discount his raw stat totals a bit as obviously he's had more chances to accumulate those stats than his teammates. In any event, the current accumulation of his stats are not of particular importance to his role in the team going forward. I wrote that I was worried about his role in the future because I think that I can see him lagging behind his teammates in the particular area of touch and control and that as we continue to add quality to the team he will eventually become the weak link in our attack. You can already make a case that playing Sane on the right and Jesus on the left with Aguero through the middle might be our best front 3 technically. When you start to add in some of the youth that are starting to flash in the wide areas I can very easily envision a scenario where Raheem's limitations overwhelm his considerable talents in the context of what he needs to do in our team and system. That doesn't make him a bad player, but our best XI may turn into a very difficult lineup to crack and having any limitation at all may prove too costly. Then you add in our spending power and he will be under even more threat for his position. Fundamentally, Raheem's movement is tremendous and he can beat a man on the dribble but in spite of the raw stats he's been very feast or famine in dangerous situations all seasons and I doubt any blue in earnest feels super confident when Raheem is in a dangerous situation that the ball is going in the net in the way you would feel if Sergio were there in his prime, Tevez, Griezmann, etc etc. All players miss chances, of course, but great attackers are composed in front of goal and exploit opportunities ruthlessly. Raheem, today, takes more of a volumetric approach. As I said in the post you responded to, he's clearly creating danger, but it's a type of out of control danger that not even he is fully in control of. So it sometimes comes off, sometimes doesn't, but he needs to find a way to harness it if he's not going to get surpassed by other players for his spot in the team, possibly even very quickly. To me, the goal versus Arsenal is one of the best plays he's made all season. Ball played into space, he controlled it, found an opening, and took it with lethality and no fuss (and his off foot, no less). Great players, the type of players who are going to feature in our XI regularly, are going to be able to do this semi regularly, almost like they see the play before it happens and just go execute it. When people say a player learns and grows this is absolutely the type of thing you hope he will learn and grow into but it is fair to point out that he's been playing in the PL for a long time now and very little of this is normal for him yet. Even with it, he's going to need to be more adept at some of the small chips and tight passes required to break down teams in tight spaces, which he's also too loose at. He's just still so very raw at a lot of they key skills that aren't running at people on the counter. One area he deserves tremendous credit for this season is his passing -- he's made great strides at picking up an attacking option and finding them with a direct pass in the box for an easy tap in.

I agree with a lot of your last paragraph and have no issue with Sterling whatsoever. I root for him like mad when he's on the pitch and as I said I defend him from other fans more than I'd care to admit. I think the refs are screwing him over tremendously. I just want him to get to a point where the penalty isn't what he's playing for or the best positive outcome we can hope for when he starts marauding into the box at pace. He really needs better close control and touch to do this all over the pitch, imo.

 

[Callum Ramsey]

Careful here. I understand the reaction to defend him. I find myself doing it as well especially to non blues. If we're speaking among blues, I'm trying to give an honest assessment of the player. I think you're absolutely right that his being English and displaying some talent means he may stay with us for a long time. I'm going to use players like Lennon as a negative example, however, because I don't think any of us want to see Raheem become our version of him.

You're very loose with your logic. A player with the 2nd most minutes in the team does display the confidence of his manager. But then you have to discount his raw stat totals a bit as obviously he's had more chances to accumulate those stats than his teammates. In any event, the current accumulation of his stats are not of particular importance to his role in the team going forward. I wrote that I was worried about his role in the future because I think that I can see him lagging behind his teammates in the particular area of touch and control and that as we continue to add quality to the team he will eventually become the weak link in our attack. You can already make a case that playing Sane on the right and Jesus on the left with Aguero through the middle might be our best front 3 technically. When you start to add in some of the youth that are starting to flash in the wide areas I can very easily envision a scenario where Raheem's limitations overwhelm his considerable talents in the context of what he needs to do in our team and system. That doesn't make him a bad player, but our best XI may turn into a very difficult lineup to crack and having any limitation at all may prove too costly. Then you add in our spending power and he will be under even more threat for his position. Fundamentally, Raheem's movement is tremendous and he can beat a man on the dribble but in spite of the raw stats he's been very feast or famine in dangerous situations all seasons and I doubt any blue in earnest feels super confident when Raheem is in a dangerous situation that the ball is going in the net in the way you would feel if Sergio were there in his prime, Tevez, Griezmann, etc etc. All players miss chances, of course, but great attackers are composed in front of goal and exploit opportunities ruthlessly. Raheem, today, takes more of a volumetric approach. As I said in the post you responded to, he's clearly creating danger, but it's a type of out of control danger that not even he is fully in control of. So it sometimes comes off, sometimes doesn't, but he needs to find a way to harness it if he's not going to get surpassed by other players for his spot in the team, possibly even very quickly. To me, the goal versus Arsenal is one of the best plays he's made all season. Ball played into space, he controlled it, found an opening, and took it with lethality and no fuss (and his off foot, no less). Great players, the type of players who are going to feature in our XI regularly, are going to be able to do this semi regularly, almost like they see the play before it happens and just go execute it. When people say a player learns and grows this is absolutely the type of thing you hope he will learn and grow into but it is fair to point out that he's been playing in the PL for a long time now and very little of this is normal for him yet. Even with it, he's going to need to be more adept at some of the small chips and tight passes required to break down teams in tight spaces, which he's also too loose at. He's just still so very raw at a lot of they key skills that aren't running at people on the counter. One area he deserves tremendous credit for this season is his passing -- he's made great strides at picking up an attacking option and finding them with a direct pass in the box for an easy tap in.

I agree with a lot of your last paragraph and have no issue with Sterling whatsoever. I root for him like mad when he's on the pitch and as I said I defend him from other fans more than I'd care to admit. I think the refs are screwing him over tremendously. I just want him to get to a point where the penalty isn't what he's playing for or the best positive outcome we can hope for when he starts marauding into the box at pace. He really needs better close control and touch to do this all over the pitch, imo.

Firstly, I appreciate your considered response and I agree with some of the criticisms and concerns you may have of him. It seems to me your main concerns are with his technical ability especially in comparison to sane, jesus and his teammates to which I will agree those two appear to have better touch and control of the ball as well as general ability when striking the ball. He also gives the impression of being 'erratic' at times when dribbling with the ball but I don't thinks its because of a lack of ability or that it holds him back as more times than not it does come off. It's a bit like alexis sanchez where you never get the impression he's in full control of the ball when dribbling in comparison to a player like hazard but he happens to also be very effective with it.That unpredictablility when dribbling is also a reason why he wins so many fouls/pens for the team. Your criticism in regards to him lacking that killer instinct when in and around the penalty box and being indecisive is imo his main weakness. It seems to be a combination of a lack of composure and confidence in his own ability to shoot/finish. He most certainly needs a lot of finishing practice as I believe that side of his game will only improve once he fully trusts in his own ability to finish chances. Where we differ though is the implication that those weaknesses overwhelm his talents and is what will hold him back or restrict him from maintaining a place in the starting 11.

Where raheem may lack in technical ability, he more than makes up for in his intelligence of movement, positional play and most importantly tactical awareness. That is one of the main reasons I believe pep trusts and has featured him so much for the team this season and will continue to in the foreseeable future as I believe its what he values the most from his players. Where sane might have him beat in technical ability, sterling has a much higher football IQ than him with and without the ball. This is not in any way to be a slight on sane whom I believe will go on to be world class and is already an intelligent player but even pep has acknowledged that's an area where he has to improve on with this quote “He’s so good at attacking the space, he’s really good with the ball and dribbling but still he has a lot of things to improve.Still he’s not clever with the ball. He misses some passes when he’s completely alone but he’s 20, 21 and we can’t forget."

Sterling meanwhile has always stood out in that side of his game from a very young age. It's the reason why at just 19 years old in a team chasing for a title, rodgers trusted him as a no.10 behind suarez and sturridge when he could've easily used a coutinho there and sterling didn't look out of place in that attack. He was incredible that season in that role at times outperforming the other two and it requires more than just pace and good dribbling ability to play that role efficiently. It's the little things he does that's not noticeable when watching a game like the positions he takes when the team doesn't have the ball. The type of runs he makes when the team does, the ability to feel out a match in real time and anticipate what the next play/move will be ahead of time and where it will come from and lastly his use of the ball. He can be a bit hit or miss in his execution at times but more often than not he always takes the right option of pass and when to play it. Those qualities are hard to teach and rare to find in wingers, especially young ones. It's a reason why for a player with some of his technical deficiencies, he still manages to rack up double digits in goals and assists consistently in addition to creating numerous chances for his team.

With a player like that you simply weigh the good with the bad. Take Silva for example who is not the best finisher and in fact for a player with his technical ability I still struggle to understand why his finishing in front of goal is so lackluster but you would still have him in your first 11 everytime because of how he impacts the game with his football IQ. Raheem has a lot of things to his game already and I happen to think his touch and control though lacking at times, is much better than you may believe it to be. So while there are and will be players who will have better technical ability than him(sane,roberts) and I'm sure there may even be some of the young players in the academy right now who are probably superior to him in that area, I'm willing to bet that very few if any will be able to feature as consistently as sterling has for the team under pep as I doubt they possess the kind of tactical awareness that sterling has on the pitch. The argument he will lose a place in the team because of what he lacks in technical ability, an area which is much more easily improved upon, would be taking a very short-sighted view of him as a player and what he offers to peps team and system.

 

[kun]

Sterling Jesus Sane -->
Hazard D.Villa Bale

I'd go with Hazard (The)Ronaldo Robben

 

[Chrisdunk]

Raheem is nothing like Hazard. They play absolutely nothing alike, genuinely don't get that comparison. And did someone just claim Hazard "isn't fully in control of the ball"? What?

Sterling's ceiling is Marco Reus. Both intelligent & efficient players that have the movements of a forward.

 

[Finlandisblue]

I think that Sterlings bad first touches and some bad passes come from self-confidence issues. If you look at his liverpool games or this season's games from August, first touches are good, he makes better decisions and good passes and he also wants the ball. Now in couple of previous games, it seems to me that especially in lower position, he doesn't seem to want the ball because he is scared of losing it.

It can't be that his skills are not good enough, if in some game he can do whatever he wants with the ball and in some game he seems to lose it every time he gets the ball. It is a mental thing. It is not a wonder if he is having some issues with his self-confidence if the media and fans are all against him. And why I am thinking that these bad plays comes from self-confidence issues? Because he reminds me of myself in my games (of course in completely different level). I've had lack-of-confidence issues at it showed as bad touches, passes, hasty decisions (in training I got always perfect touch in the same kind of situation but in the game, bad touch) and in not-wanting the ball mentality. The only situation I felt good was as a striker where I didn't have to hold the ball for long time and where I can just run and shoot and where I didn't have any defensive responsibility.

 

[Neville Kneville]

Sterling lacks a bit here & there, but the biggest thing he lacks is a red shirt, which would mean he won about 6 more pens so far this season, which may well have been game changers & we could easily be up with Chelsea.

He has made the runs, got in the positions & been shit on.

 

[Lancet Fluke]

Sterling lacks a bit here & there, but the biggest thing he lacks is a red shirt, which would mean he won about 6 more pens so far this season, which may well have been game changers & we could easily be up with Chelsea.

He has made the runs, got in the positions & been shit on.

When you consider the pen that was given against him at Stoke and then some that he hasn't been given, particularly the ones when he has been fouled when one on one with the keeper, it really does make you wonder whether there is any point in expecting a fair crack at things anymore. You expect mistakes and to some extent a lack of consistency but this season they have taken the piss.

 

[Goater=Legend]

That push still annoys me. One of the worst decisions of the season