Raheem Sterling | Arsenal Player (on loan)

[mosssideblue]

No.
Why do you think buzzword(s)?

Coz I'm an old geezer who thinks in simple terms, I'll pass the ball to you and you dribble and pass to someone to shoot. Not, I'll pass the ball to to complete an action :)

 

[Phil1]

I like that in the sense I know you to be in the Sterling negative camp but are bringing data to the argument.

If you've not tried it, FBref is more robust for xG than the instant understat algorithm.
Sterling fares very well compared to the other big hitters (and Jesus) for the last 4 seasons- +5.5 from 52.5 npxG as per the table. Sterling was -1 on fbref last season and -1.4 in 20/21. So yes the last 2 have been his poor years but at the moment it's so marginal it's just variance - Kane, Mane, Salah etc suffer the same whilst Son is a freak and Gabby was very poor.


View attachment 53666

I disagree with you about his form in 21/22. Up to the November international break he had only started 4 out of 11 PL games and 0 out of 4 CL group games. After the international break and up until late in the season his form was generally good. In fact, I go as far to say he contributed more to the PL win than any of the he other 4 in in the front 5 rotation albeit not at previous levels.

My opinion will be torn to shreds by many on here so I'll try and back it up.


1. the best manager in the world picked him more than the others despite the fall-out. Sure, still rotated in the league but got the most minutes of the front 5.

2. his stats were good - using understat (its easier to filter than fbref) here are the top 6 scorers in the league since November. Not bad eh? -1.35 under npxG but fuck me look at Salah and Kane.

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3. For a variety of reasons I store lots of football and City data including amongst other things the results of the Bluemoon Man of the Match poll. The results of a broad spread of Bluemoon posters reflects a more positive narrative about his form in 21/22.

Total Votes for the season where registering 10 or more votes in a game and figures in brackets are for MOTM and 2nd place ie Bernie MOTM 9 times and 2nd 5 times:

3456 - Bernardo (9+5)
2892- KDB (8+2)
1655 - Rodri (3+5)
1394 - Sterling (5+3)
1133 - Gabby (2+1)
1105 - Gundog (3+2)

The scores above can mask the shit games. So another way of approaching the data for consistency is looking at the games where a player has 10 or more votes. For the last 75% of the season (when Sterling a regular starter again) there were just 4 players who had managed that more than 10 times. Closest was Cancelo with 9 times.
14- KDB
13- Bernardo
12- Rodri
12 - Sterling

I'm obviously a Sterling fan boy.The positives outweigh the negatives. Unsurprisingly I'm a fan boy of the rest of them who have made big contributions. He has a total respect from me for the brilliant contribution he has made over the last 5 years of our domestic domination. But I'm glad he's gone and he can fuck off with his recent comments but ultimately I don't care about them.

"The positives outweigh the negatives" is the most important line in that post, mate. That's how I've felt about him for a while. I defended him to the hilt in his first couple of seasons where I thought he'd been fantastic in the main but was still getting grief from sections of the forum.
Then when his form (imo) started to drop and his game became a bit more erratic and eventually pretty poor to what we know he's capable of I kinda adopted the positives/negatives angle.
I was happy to see him move on because I thought it was the right time and both parties could benefit. He definitely went with my best wishes.
Everything since is just noise and part of the great big pantomime that is The Premier League.
I doubt I'll pay much attention to his time at Chelsea bar the occasions they play us.
Id rather he didn't put himself in a position to agrivate blues but its not anything worth dwelling on.

 

[sd33]

 

[MafeotulBlue]

Still makes me laugh every time.

 

[jimmygrimblesboots]

A culture shock for Raheem playing in a team that folded against a potential mid-table side like Leeds , he has joined a club in transition and i can sympathise with his wishes to play more games , but even starting 50% of league games for us would have been a smarter career move. His medal haul will not improve playing at Stamford Bridge for the next couple of seasons , if ever.

 

[Deleted member 77198]

A big part of our success, and deserves a great reception from us. Hope we don't start acting like the scousers about him.

Or just like ourselves with the many players we’ve boo’d and given shit to after leaving us over the years.

 

[geoff hammond]

Can you define legend

Oakes and Doyle define it enough for me

 

[RayCTID]

Still makes me laugh every time.

Christ that wasn't any easy watch.

 

[DruntBlunt]

Still makes me laugh every time.

I don't understand a single word of Arabic but it is without a shadow of a doubt the best language for football commentary :)

 

[johnnytapia]

Except Yaya is a legend.

Amen