7. Raheem Sterling

[Fulham Broadway 16,386]

Welcome to  SW 6.

Can you play centre back ?

[MoroccanBlue 5,194]

What number?

[Pizy 17,860]

23 minutes ago, MoroccanBlue said:

What number?

Great question. Nothing really good available for a winger unless he wants to take a weird number. 

Doesn’t appear as though Pulisic’s #10 or Timo’s #11 are getting freed up this summer. I think he’d ideally want that #10 shirt.

[Tomo 21,681]

7 minutes ago, Pizy said:

Great question. Nothing really good available for a winger unless he wants to take a weird number. 

Doesn’t appear as though Pulisic’s #10 or Timo’s #11 are getting freed up this summer. I think he’d ideally want that #10 shirt.

Give him 17 and he can take the 7 if/when Kante leaves.

Edited July 9, 2022 by Tomo

[Tomo 21,681]

7 minutes ago, Hermione said:

Is 5 + 1 an american thing? I don't remember us signing players with that option before.

United do it which for me is the one thing I would praise them for.

It would have been extremely handy in the Rudiger/Christensen situation likewise with the upcoming Jorgi/Kante one (not sure we should give them mega new contracts but would have been good to extend a year and access next year with things more stable).

[Superblue 6,331]

37 minutes ago, Tomo said:

United do it which for me is the one thing I would praise them for.

It would have been extremely handy in the Rudiger/Christensen situation likewise with the upcoming Jorgi/Kante one (not sure we should give them mega new contracts but would have been good to extend a year and access next year with things more stable).

I think it'll become something you'll start to see with much more regularity moving forward as more and more players seem willing to run their contracts down to within a year or even down entirely, it adds a lot more protection and flexibility to the clubs.

Not quite sure how it works in other American sports but I know in the NFL teams have the option to franchise tag a player to protect their value but in doing so, usually having to pay a bit of a premium in wages to keep them that season. Not sure if there's something in this to be explored to try and help football clubs not get completely abused by a bosman deal?

[robsblubot 3,205]

Great player with an excellent attitude on and off the pitch.

Suspect we may be going back to a false 9 which is actually my preference given the squad we've got.

I'm actually hopeful we may actually see his best years as a footballer.

 

[MoroccanBlue 5,194]

Can see him getting the captain's armband. Will give our young players a player to look up to in Silva's absence. 

[Superblue 6,331]

1 hour ago, MoroccanBlue said:

Can see him getting the captain's armband. Will give our young players a player to look up to in Silva's absence. 

Probably not yet. I think Tuchel will place faith in the current hierarchy even if Azpi goes, i.e. Silva, Jorginho and Kante. However there's a real chance all three of those are also gone next summer. I think Sterling will immediately take on responsibility and a leadership role within the group, especially for the younger English contingent we have at the club and he could very well be in line to being in the mix for the captaincy in a years time.

 

[NikkiCFC 7,567]

Diver, never rated him. His goals in City are just tap ins so his numbers don't show anything. What is he good at exactly? Put him in Palace, would not score 5 goals in a season. Zaha is for example way superior player. Would say I even prefer Pulisic and Ziyech over him. Not to mention his antics. 

I can already see what kind of comments are we going to see because Sterling is not creative player and cannot create for himself either. 

[Vesper 27,283]

2 hours ago, NikkiCFC said:

Diver, never rated him. His goals in City are just tap ins so his numbers don't show anything. What is he good at exactly? Put him in Palace, would not score 5 goals in a season. Zaha is for example way superior player. Would say I even prefer Pulisic and Ziyech over him. Not to mention his antics. 

I can already see what kind of comments are we going to see because Sterling is not creative player and cannot create for himself either. 

RAHEEM STERLING | All 100 Goals for Man City

Aug 15, 2020

[Jype 6,398]

2 hours ago, NikkiCFC said:

Diver, never rated him. His goals in City are just tap ins so his numbers don't show anything. What is he good at exactly? Put him in Palace, would not score 5 goals in a season. Zaha is for example way superior player. Would say I even prefer Pulisic and Ziyech over him. Not to mention his antics. 

I can already see what kind of comments are we going to see because Sterling is not creative player and cannot create for himself either. 

Watched the full video linked by @Vesper. Of the 100 goals shown on the video I'd classify 35-40 as tap-ins, almost all of the others were actually quite well taken goals.

And the thing with tap-ins is that more often than not the goal is just as much a result of an intelligent and well-timed run being made by the forward as it is about the quality of the final pass. Can't even begin to count the number of times I've been frustrated over the last few seasons when for example James has played a really high quality horizontal pass to the five yard line but there's not a blue shirted player in sight who could put it in because the likes of Pulisic, Werner, Mount etc. are still just making their way inside the box.

While our chance creation may not be as high as City's it's by no means bad. Sterling should get plenty of chances and he will score plenty more than the likes of Pulisic and Ziyech at the very fucking least.

Edited July 10, 2022 by Jype

[Dan Lee 47]

Let's see how he fits in the system. Abraham, Giroud, Broja, Lukaku, etc. cannot make the team. I cannot see in what aspects Tuchel likes this guy more than other guys. Sometimes, I am wondering about the effectiveness of selling and buying of the club. How should take responsibilities of many tranfer failures? 

[Tomo 21,681]

28 minutes ago, Dan Lee said:

Let's see how he fits in the system. Abraham, Giroud, Broja, Lukaku, etc. cannot make the team. I cannot see in what aspects Tuchel likes this guy more than other guys. Sometimes, I am wondering about the effectiveness of selling and buying of the club. How should take responsibilities of many tranfer failures? 

He's played in fluid and high pressing/energy teams for pretty much his whole career. All bar one of his season's as a full time EPL player have been under either Brendan or Pep.

On paper he's a perfect fit although i'm slightly paranoid about City fans feeling he's not been as good last two years.

[Superblue 6,331]

3 hours ago, Jype said:

Watched the full video linked by @Vesper. Of the 100 goals shown on the video I'd classify 35-40 as tap-ins, almost all of the others were actually quite well taken goals.

And the thing with tap-ins is that more often than not the goal is just as much a result of an intelligent and well-timed run being made by the forward as it is about the quality of the final pass. Can't even begin to count the number of times I've been frustrated over the last few seasons when for example James has played a really high quality horizontal pass to the five yard line but there's not a blue shirted player in sight who could put it in because the likes of Pulisic, Werner, Mount etc. are still just making their way inside the box.

While our chance creation may not be as high as City's it's by no means bad. Sterling should get plenty of chances and he will score plenty more than the likes of Pulisic and Ziyech at the very fucking least.

There's actually an art form to scoring tap ins. The appreciation and awareness of space, the understanding of team mates and the timing of runs. 

Opposition fans for years have said similar about Lampard and a lot of his goals being the same runs into the box or the ball breaking into his path. 

Well if its that easy why doesn't everyone do it and why can't opposition stop it?

That part of Sterling's game is massive for me. There's a lot of times we simply don't have enough people in the box attacking the six yard box. 

[guddy69 171]

https://twitter.com/AlexGoldberg_/status/1546159824131473408?t=YCXIlfleefvIWerUNxpGJw&s=19

Henry winter talking about Sterling.. 

[Hamilton 2,118]

Only tap ins, I take it, we had players who even miss tap ins.. We even have players that are not on time/position to even have a chance for a tap in 😂

[robsblubot 3,205]

49 minutes ago, Hamilton said:

Only tap ins, I take it, we had players who even miss tap ins.. We even have players that are not on time/position to even have a chance for a tap in 😂

Agreed. People here making it sound like Sterling is a Van Nistelrooy (yeah I'm old 😅) who sits in front of the goal waiting for that tap in (tbh that was only in his final years).

What I saw though was a highly intense player who would relentlessly chase down a defender for the opportunity to retake the football in a good position in attack, run with the ball at defenders without a break, and yes, occasionally scoring that tap in when in a position he worked his ass off to be in.