Sterling and the hate he gets

Whilst I agree that Sterling has been the most unfairly treated of all England players for years, he’s turned it around this summer through his performances. Finally there’s no hate any more in this country. Let’s hope he wins it for us on Sunday and he’ll become a national hero like Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst, Lineker, Gazza etc.
 
Didsbury Dave said:
Whilst I agree that Sterling has been the most unfairly treated of all England players for years, he’s turned it around this summer through his performances. Finally there’s no hate any more in this country. Let’s hope he wins it for us on Sunday and he’ll become a national hero like Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst, Lineker, Gazza etc.
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The keyboard warriors will still racially abuse him next season, regardless of England, it’s naive to think any differently
 
Uncle Wally One Ball said:
The number 24 checks him around the hip but the number 5 doesnt foul him.
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Are you saying there was no contact or are you saying it was not a foul?

If it was the former, please pay attention to that slowmo again and answer these questions:

Does the number 5 stretch his leading leg out infront of Sterling?
Where was the ball when he did this, infront of him or behind him?
Is that grounds to say it was not an attempt to play the ball or atleast a late challenge in the box?

Finally:
Was there contact with Sterling's back leg as he lifted if off the ground?
Is it reasonable to accept that this would be enough to at least send a player who's running off balance?

Sorry but anyone saying he was already on the way down before "any" contact was made, is clearly not being objective. He was possibly on the way down before the second player checked him but not the first one and both knocks were unavoidable for Sterling.

If he was looking for the first contact then why was he not leaning right, instead of the opposite direction to where the players leg was? It's clear as day that as he pushed off his right foot, his momentum was to the left. That's why the contact wasn't as heavy as it could have been. The second contact was due to a chain reaction caused by the number 5 putting his leg out in front of Sterling. Sterling looks like he's trying to avoid the number 5s leg/knee if anything but doesn't quite manage it.

I don't think it should have a been enough for a pen but it's not the worst penalty decision I've seen and it certainly wasn't a dive.
 
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When let’s say More Salad feels someone has breathed on him and he goes down - what happens?

The pundits and commentators and the rest of media say “he felt the contact and so he’s ENTITLED to go down” and seek a penalty.

I call that cheating.

#ratherbuyacoffee
 
Didsbury Dave said:
Whilst I agree that Sterling has been the most unfairly treated of all England players for years, he’s turned it around this summer through his performances. Finally there’s no hate any more in this country. Let’s hope he wins it for us on Sunday and he’ll become a national hero like Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst, Lineker, Gazza etc.
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Just has to win over a large percentage of City fans now.
 
portisheadblue said:
When let’s say More Salad feels someone has breathed on him and he goes down - what happens?

The pundits and commentators and the rest of media say “he felt the contact and so he’s ENTITLED to go down” and seek a penalty.

I call that cheating.

#ratherbuyacoffee
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Should be more “Selfless Sterling risks his reputation by buying a penalty to send his country through to its first final in 55 years.”
 
whos_kompany85 said:
He definitely gets much more criticism than others, completely unjust and at best he's scapegoated, at worst there's a media agenda fuelled by racism.
However he did dive last night, as a city fan I was really disappointed to see it. The 'it's part of the modern game' argument is ridiculous, every player is in control of their own morality and I want to see more honesty and fair play from the players I love.
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Watched it several times - no way he dived in my opinion. Whether there was enough contact to warrant a pen was down to the ref and VAR. We're seeing a standard of reffing we never see in the Prem and seeing VAR used properly.
 
the blue panther said:
Absolutely - he was 'hit' from both sides, so why stay up?
Importantly, you can see from that replay that he STILL had the ball under control and if number 24 hadn't come in to finish off the job, he'd have got to the ball. (Irrelevant whether he would have produced anything thereafter.)
It was a nailed on penalty - as the ref decided instantly, and VAR didn't see fit to overturn it.
Also, earlier today, someone wrote on Blue Moon that when the first tackle went in, Sterling's right leg didn't move, but, it clearly does.
For me, it's not even a soft penalty - it's clear cut....As it was for the referee!
He was fouled twice, so fuckoff all you doubters!
We won 2-1, btw :-)
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I think Sterling is fouled twice. I don't think the first foul is enough to make him go down. I think the second contact is much heavier and is enough to make him go down.

But, I don't know.

Like most other observers I have little or no recent experience of running that fast with the ball at my feet between two burly professional footballers.

The referee had the best view and decided it was a penalty. VAR has another good view and could find no reason to overturn the decision.

The End.
 
Metalartin said:
Are you saying there was no contact or are you saying it was not a foul?

If it was the former, please pay attention to that slowmo again and answer these questions:

Does the number 5 stretch his leading leg out infront of Sterling?
Where was the ball when he did this, infront of him or behind him?
Is that grounds to say it was not an attempt to play the ball or atleast a late challenge in the box?

Finally:
Was there contact with Sterling's back leg as he lifted if off the ground?
Is it reasonable to accept that this would be enough to at least send a player who's running off balance?

Sorry but anyone saying he was already on the way down before "any" contact was made, is clearly not being objective. He was probably on the way down before the second player checked him but not the first one and both knocks were unavoidable for Sterling.

If he was looking for the first contact then why was he not leaning right, instead of the opposite direction to where the players leg was? It's clear as day that as he pushed off his right foot, his momentum was to the left. That's why the contact wasn't as heavy as it could have been. The second contact was due to a chain reaction caused by the number 5 putting his leg out in front of Sterling. Sterling looks like he's trying to avoid the number 5s leg/knee if anything but doesn't quite manage it.

I don't think it should have a been enough for a pen but it's not the worst penalty decision I've seen and it certainly wasn't a dive.
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I agree.
 
Don't think he dived. Do think it was a bit of a soft penalty to give, especially at that stage of the game, but within the margin of error.

It's so easy to watch these clips in slow mo from a computer chair and make a judgement. Real time, trying to control the ball and getting clipped on one side and hit in the hip on the other, it would be difficult to maintain balance.
 
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Another way of looking at is, Sterling takes 2 steps and his third is cut short.

The momentum(direction of travel) for every step is as follows:
Step 1: Right - Natural movement after knocking the ball past the defender into space.
Step 2: Left - To avoid the number 5 for Denmark and his outstretched leg.

Step 3: His intent was going to be to push off towards his right, where the ball/space was but he's checked by the number 24 for Denmark. He might have been able to recover his balance without that player trying to close his space off and checking him at the hip in the process. Or maybe he's decided he's not going to make it("I'm about to get clattered") and started to go down before the contact came. I'm not sure it matters, because that contact was coming anyway and it was probably knocking him over no matter what too. So what difference does it make?

The more I look at it, the less I understand why some are so intent on trying to say Sterling has been overly dishonest there.
 
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It was a total dive yesterday but the issue i have with it is that City are going to be the ones that suffer next season. City find it hard enough to get penos and this will hardly help Sterling or City.
 
WallyA said:
They won't put alot of thought into the MOTM.

They see Kane's pre-assist to Saka for first goal and the penalty goal, so technically he had a hand in both of England's goals and say well that's more than anybody else so he wins it.

He was fairly invisible outside those moments, I'll give him credit for the first goal, it was a good pass. But scoring a rebound penalty is nothing special.

Walker and Sterling did more than Kane to earn it.
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Also have to say that Shaw was superb last night - been like that in all his games. Raheem has been drilling holes in every opposing defence this tournament - puts fear into every team. John has been monumental and Kyle imperious. If you watch Phil's every touch of the ball this tournament, he is faultless - makes it look easy. There was one deflection off his shin that went out for a goal kick - that's it. Assuming he plays some part against Italy, if he gets in the box I'm convinced he'll score. We're going to need his class against an outfit like Italy.
 
ChicagoBlue said:
I’ve been as vocal as anyone about Sterling’s lack of technical quality, his lack of ball control, first touch, finishing, running down blind alleys, etc, etc, etc.

That said, STERLING DID NOT DIVE!

Anyone who has played the game understands what “drawing contact” means in the modern game. You’d be called a “soft bastard” and worse in days gone by, but today he drew contact BY DRIVING BETWEEN PLAYERS.

The choice of BOTH Danes was to try to stop him. The first challenge was from his right and caught him on the right side of his right leg. The second challenge was from the left and was a body block at about hip height. By then, Sterling was going to ground because he had drawn contact.

From there, it’s a matter of how the game is being refereed. I think the Ref took a beat and decided there was ENOUGH CONTACT for him to blow.

From there, I was surprised VAR didn’t send him to the monitor. However, they usually don’t if VAR SEES WHAT THE REF TELLS THEM HE SAW!

The total and complete hypocrisy of those that are now calling Sterling a diver…many of them English pundits and ex-players…are the worst offenders! Are these the same players who never claimed a corner when they knew it was a goal kick, or a throw-in to them when it was definitely for the opposition, or held their face as if hit when merely “touched” or “brushed” not hit? The same players who also went down easily under contact to get themselves out of a pickle?

Seriously, it is delusional for these pricks to NOW be stealing a living on TV by being complete hypocrites on THE key moment in the game.

Was it a ”soft” penalty, in that it was not clearly a trip, push or other obvious direct free kick offence?
Absolutely!

Was it the current definition of “a dive”?
Absolutely not!
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I‘ve watched it many times and don’t see what you are alluding to. You are saying that Sterling dived because he drew contact but others are being hypocritical because he dived.

What I seen was 2 hits on Sterling, the first knocking his right leg and from all angles you can clearly see him still trying to run, not throwing his leg backwards as you’d see in a dive, before then getting hit from the opposite side with enough force to clearly force him down.

Eyes, eh, we’ve all got them and see things differently.
 
He's caught on either side. It's difficult to spot at such speed but it is a pen. I noticed the media especially the Guardian accused him of diving.
 
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