7. Raheem Sterling

[Fulham Broadway 16,407]

28 minutes ago, Magic Lamps said:

Liverpool did not ditch him tho, he basically had to force his way out there. They were absolutely pissed he wanted out.
Admittedly his career trailed off a bit in his later city years but even in that last below par season of his he showed he has some qualities no one else in the squad has. His signature move cutting inside from the left and aiming for the far corner has been quite effective even with little opportunity. He is not afraid to pull the trigger early and can handle tap ins and 1 on 1s. 9 goals on around 2500 mins for us last lesson is a decent return. Plus he had to cater the the ever wasteful Kai. With him or Mudryk from the left, Nkunku coming through the middle, maybe Jackson up top and Noni from the right we will have one of the fastest attacks in Europe. Poch worked wonders with averagely talented pace merchants like Moura. Surely he should be able to make something happen with our contingent 

Hope so. He was mega frustrating at times. If Sterling keeps being erratic, hopefully Poch would have the balls to drop him, or any player.

[Gundalf 726]

 

 

[Magic Lamps 11,452]

He is such a weird player. Never seen someone produce this many turnovers in a game, must have been at least 10 but still scored two vital goals in an expertly fashioned. I mean he has always been frustrating with moments of brilliance but today was something else on both counts. But as long as he scores, I am happy. Especially bc employing him on the right nullyfies his most potent special move, curling shots from the left but somehow improves his ability to dribble past players.

[DH1988 1,199]

Being investigated for throwing something back into the crowd that got thrown at Cole, could face a ban, yawn FA!! Literally tosses it back without looking, whatever it was.

One thing I do hope is that after players like Sterling, Cole etc and even Poch as a manager, see how bias and inconsistent some decisions are, it's just popular to try and do us over.

Edited November 9, 2023 by DH1988

[nyikolajevics 2,428]

33 minutes ago, DH1988 said:

Being investigated for throwing something back into the crowd that got thrown at Cole, could face a ban, yawn FA!! Literally tosses it back without looking, whatever it was.

One thing I do hope is that after players like Sterling, Cole etc and even Poch as a manager, see how bias and inconsistent some decisions are, it's just popular to try and do us over.

 

I don't really understand FA.. They are continuously under pressure because of shity VAR/refereeing decisions, the worst they can to is generating more publicity for bullying players who posted gorilla emoji or throw out some shit from the pitch.. 

How about Romero? How many games did he get? Lots of pundits/fans were thinking(including me) that he made 2 aggressive, dangerous red card tackles, so he could get more that 3 games. I didn't see any communication regarding this, but let's harrass Sterling for throwing garbage out of field. 

[Vesper 27,338]

Raheem Sterling to face no action after allegedly throwing object in crowd during Tottenham vs Chelsea

https://theathletic.com/5052124/2023/11/10/raheem-sterling-fa-tottenham-Chelsea/

Raheem Sterling will face no further action after a review into an incident in which he allegedly threw an object back into the crowd during Chelsea’s Premier League clash against Tottenham Hotspur.

The Athletic previously reported that the Football Association were reviewing the incident but they have since concluded their investigation and the 28-year-old will face no punishment.

The incident occurred shortly after Cole Palmer successfully levelled the scoreline for Chelsea with a penalty in the first half, prompted by Cristian Romero’s red card for a challenge on Enzo Fernandez.

Sterling helped Chelsea secure a 4-1 victory on Monday, in a game which saw five disallowed goals and two red cards.

Despite an improved start to the season, the former Liverpool and Manchester City player has been unable to force his way back into Gareth Southgate’s England setup, missing out on a call-up to England’s squad for their European Championship qualifiers against Malta and North Macedonia later this month.

Chelsea, meanwhile, are next in action this Sunday against Sterling’s former club Manchester City in the Premier League.

GO DEEPER

Is Sterling being unfairly overlooked by Southgate, or have England simply moved on?

[Vesper 27,338]

Raheem Sterling’s three eras in the Premier League: Dribbler, poacher, dribbler again

https://theathletic.com/5048294/2023/11/10/raheem-sterlings-three-eras-in-the-premier-league-dribbler-poacher-dribbler-again/

This might make you feel old, but Raheem Sterling should be considered a veteran.

The Chelsea winger is into his 13th Premier League campaign, and has made 359 appearances — only 70 players have made more. He also has 82 England caps — only 15 players have more, while no player has ever appeared for England at more World Cups than Sterling, having been selected for the tournaments hosted by Brazil in 2014, Russia in 2018, and Qatar in 2022.

Sterling has had an unusual career. He’s appeared for three of the Premier League’s ‘Big Six’, but Liverpool fans resent the nature of his departure, some Manchester City fans weren’t always sold on him, and Chelsea fans haven’t yet learned to love him. He’s often appeared unconvincing in front of goal, and yet has scored 118 times in the Premier League, finishing fifth, sixth and fourth in the Premier League scoring charts during his best seasons. And, in some ways, he felt like an old head on young shoulders in his formative years, but now is playing like a youngster despite all his experience.

Before Sunday’s meeting with one of his former clubs, Manchester City, this is an opportune moment to assess the evolution of one of the Premier League’s most intriguing players.

---

All footballers evolve throughout their careers. Age catches up with everyone eventually, particularly in terms of speed — which has always been Sterling’s defining asset, and is particularly important for wingers. This graph, using data from Twenty First Group, shows that, in terms of dribbling past opponents, players tend to peak very early, around the age of 22.

After that, because of declining mobility and a more risk-averse approach, they gradually ease off. Ryan Giggs, originally a flying winger and later a calm passer, would be the classic example. But the curious thing about Sterling is that, in some ways, he has been returning to the Sterling of old.

In his career, Sterling has been primarily a dribbler, then almost a poacher, and now a dribbler again.

The statistics demonstrate that neatly. In terms of attempting to dribble past opponents, 2023-24 Sterling is more like Liverpool-era Sterling than City-era Sterling.

And the pattern is even more pronounced when you look at how often Sterling simply carries the ball forward. Not necessarily the most crafty, technical dribbler, Sterling is more effective when running with the ball at speed into space.

You expect that from young wingers, but the interesting thing about teenage Sterling was his level of tactical intelligence. Although theoretically a typical modern winger, Sterling was used as a second striker by Brendan Rodgers at times in his first full campaign, and then often at the tip of a diamond in Liverpool’s near-title-winning campaign of 2013-14.

At the end of that season, for England’s opening World Cup game against Italy, Roy Hodgson elected to use him in that No 10 role against Italy, handing him the task of marking Andrea Pirlo at the age of 19. That showed Sterling’s tactical ability, and how managers placed trust in him. In the following campaign, Rodgers sometimes fielded him as a wing-back. This was not a pure speedster focused on attacking, but someone who offered discipline and defensive awareness.

The question, in Sterling’s early years, was about his end product. That’s common for a winger, although primarily in terms of whether they can cross the ball. For Sterling, who has never played in sides based around crossing, it was more about his finishing. After a 4-1 win over West Ham United in December 2013 when Sterling wasted a couple of good chances, Rodgers said it was just about him “getting that bit of composure” in front of goal, and decided to re-position Sterling — against the player’s wishes.

“He is (now) scoring goals, which is important,” said Rodgers. “It’s interesting because he has always preferred playing from the left. And if you’ve seen him in the youth team, he played from the left. But when I looked at him in training, all his goals were coming from the right.” Over his career, he has played slightly more on the left (the minutes classified as being at right-back were in more of a right-wing-back role).

Still, Sterling never quite became prolific at Liverpool, and his finishing ability prompted debates about his technical skills. “I don’t rate him that highly as a striker of the ball and by that, I mean, literally, how he kicks it,” wrote Paul Scholes in a newspaper column. “Too often his shots are a scuff or a bobble.”

When he left Liverpool, many were suggesting Sterling lacked the clinical edge to become a truly top-class player — and it wasn’t uncommon to hear people saying that another Liverpool youngster, Jordon Ibe, was the better long-term bet.

The 2015-16 season, Sterling’s first at Manchester City under Manuel Pellegrini, was a little flat, but Pep Guardiola recognised that Sterling’s speed and positional awareness meant he could become a regular goalscorer, given a bit of coaching.

Midway through his first season under Guardiola, 2016-17, Sterling’s performances were promising but his goal return hadn’t improved sufficiently. “There’s something wrong with me — there’s actually something wrong with me,” he said in an interview with the Guardian. “I should have so many more goals. It’s terrible. I should be on about 15-16 goals right now and that’s what I need to do to get to the player I want to be… you need to start scoring goals. I’m putting too much pressure on myself at times.”

That feels strange coming from a player who, today, sits 22nd in the goalscoring charts for the Premier League era, and 17th, if you take away everyone’s penalties. For a winger, that’s a truly excellent record and owes more to Sterling’s tactical intelligence than his literal shooting ability.

Under Guardiola, Sterling became a brilliantly efficient goalscoring machine. At his best, he scored 18, 17 and then 20 goals in three straight league seasons, primarily because he proved brilliant at popping up at the far post to finish simple chances from balls played across the six-yard box. It didn’t matter which flank he played from. Here are a couple of memorable examples from 2019: one in a famous Champions League second leg against Tottenham from the left, another from a 6-0 thrashing of Watford in the FA Cup final from the right.

The finishes were simple, but getting into the right positions was key.

To underline the point, it’s worth looking at where the goals came from. More precise data could be used to demonstrate his close-range finishes, but perhaps a simpler barometer is looking at how few of his goals have come from outside the box. Of the 34 players to have scored 100 or more Premier League goals, only Peter Crouch, Dion Dublin, Darren Bent, Sadio Mane, Jamie Vardy and Dwight Yorke have scored a lower percentage of their goals from outside the box.

Meanwhile, as the earlier graph proves, his dribbling numbers fell. “Now I’m just going at it 100 per cent,” he said. “Before, I was trying to be silky.”

It felt inevitable that Sterling’s departure from City would come at the same time as Erling Haaland’s arrival. It wasn’t just that, after a couple of years generally playing without a proper No 9, City were now built around a true striker who needed to be serviced — after all, Sterling happily co-existed alongside Sergio Aguero. It was also that Sterling’s more literal role was filled by Haaland. The Norwegian is a master of the far-post finish, and therefore Sterling’s presence there wasn’t required.

GO DEEPER

Premier League clubs have ushered in a golden era of back post goals

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His first campaign at Chelsea is almost not worth much consideration, given that he played under three managers — Thomas Tuchel, Graham Potter and Frank Lampard — while the squad was being turned upside-down. But under Mauricio Pochettino this season, Sterling has a more obvious purpose and a very different one from at City. And it’s not about goalscoring.

This chart shows Sterling’s shooting performance in each season throughout his career. The higher up the graph, the more shots he was taking. The further to the right, the better quality of shots he was taking.

His Chelsea performance is very different to his peak goalscoring years; it’s more like his first couple of seasons at City.

But Sterling’s ball-carrying skills, which we haven’t seen to this extent since his Liverpool days, have come to the fore, as the numbers show. Chelsea have only won four league games this season. In two of them, the 3-0 victory over Luton Town and the 4-1 win against Burnley, Sterling has been involved in all of their goals. There have been demonstrations of his close-range finishing ability and also his off-the-ball running. But the main factor has been that ball-carrying skill.

In the game against Luton, he received the ball out on the right, carried it infield into a goalscoring position, and fired home.

Against Burnley, he received the ball out near the touchline, dribbled into the box and forced an own goal.

Later in that game, he again received the ball out near the touchline, dribbled into the box and was tripped for a penalty.

And for Chelsea’s final goal at Turf Moor, he received the ball on the halfway line, on the turn, and carried it to the opposition box before playing a ball in behind for Cole Palmer. Eventually, Nicolas Jackson finished off the move.

This is a side of Sterling we haven’t seen consistently for a few years — he simply wasn’t encouraged to do this kind of thing under Guardiola. And in the Premier League this season, no one has attempted to dribble past more opponents than Sterling.

The question, though, is about Sterling’s consistency when attempting dribbles. While his raw numbers are high, his success rate is low. There’s a danger that he goes down too many blind alleys, and that highlights packages show an unreasonably favourable reflection of his displays.

In that respect, Sterling’s numbers are back where they started over a decade ago. City fans this weekend might remark upon what a different player he is at Chelsea. Liverpool fans tuning into the game might consider him pretty much the same player they remember from a decade ago.

Both would be fair assessments. The Sterling of 2023 isn’t too different from the Sterling of 2013 — he just became one of the Premier League’s most consistent goalscorers in between. Rather than evolved, he has revolved back to the player he used to be.

GO DEEPER

Is Sterling being unfairly overlooked by Southgate, or have England simply moved on?

[Vesper 27,338]

Is Raheem Sterling being unfairly overlooked or have England simply moved on?

https://theathletic.com/5048230/2023/11/09/sterling-england-southgate/

Gareth Southgate often sounds very convincing when speaking in public on pretty much any subject.

But on the Raheem Sterling issue? Not so much.

Sterling, capped 82 times by England — 55 of them under Southgate — a mainstay of the side from the 2018 World Cup to the European Championship in 2021 where he was named in the team of the tournament, has played only 150 minutes for his country in the past 12 months.

There are numerous reasons for that. First, having started the first two matches of England’s World Cup campaign in Qatar, scoring and assisting against Iran, he briefly left the tournament to be with his family after armed intruders broke into his home.

He returned for the quarter-final against France, coming off the bench for the final 11 minutes.

Since then? Nothing. He missed the March internationals due to a hamstring injury. In June, there was a “mutual decision”, as it was described, for Sterling to miss the qualifiers against Malta and North Macedonia to focus on some post-season rehabilitation.

“He’s not happy physically with his condition — he’s been carrying a hamstring problem,” Southgate said at the time. “He really wasn’t in consideration. He doesn’t think he’s operating at the level he needs.”

A representative of Sterling said of his omission: “Following a private conversation between coach and player, a mutual decision has been made for Raheem Sterling to sit out the upcoming internationals, focusing instead on recuperating his body in preparation for the upcoming season.”

But for the next games in September? No Sterling. Same again in October and now, for the last two qualifiers for Euro 2024 against Malta and North Macedonia, he misses out again.

Southgate insisted at a press conference on Thursday that the door remained open for Sterling to return, but he did not sound particularly convincing about the reasons for Sterling’s continued omission.

“We don’t need to know about his qualities or his personality,” Southgate said. “I can only repeat that the team are playing really well. We had an exceptional win against Italy last time around. Who do we leave out to put him in?

“Look, he wasn’t available for the games in March or June, so the team had started on a good run. We won in Italy for the first time in 60 years. The two performances in June were excellent, so we have stuck with that group. We’ve deliberately not made many changes because that wouldn’t be fair to the guys in the squad.”

Given England’s positive results in 2023 — no defeats, qualification secured, two wins over Italy — that is an argument that would stand up handsomely on its own two feet had anyone nailed down the left-forward spot vacated by Sterling.

But nobody really has. James Maddison was shoehorned in there for three starts in Sterling’s absence and did fine, but that is not his most effective position. Jack Grealish had a chance against Australia and was seriously underwhelming, perhaps partly owing to a lack of minutes for Manchester City this season.

Marcus Rashford started in England’s last match against Italy, where an excellent second-half performance (and a brilliantly taken goal) secured qualification for next summer’s tournament. Phil Foden, another option, was on the right that night due to Bukayo Saka’s injury absence, but may get his chance on the left over the next couple of weeks.

It remains a vacant position, though, at least from what we have seen. Perhaps Southgate has other ideas.

He called Sterling “re-energised” on Thursday and said the 28-year-old is “looking dangerous” for Chelsea, where his form has been much improved this season compared to last.

So can his omission really be just for football reasons? Or, by missing the June internationals, or even that time at the World Cup, did Sterling annoy Southgate to the extent that his England career is now at an impasse?

“I’m not looking to send a message,” Southgate insisted. “That’s an area where we have as much competition for places as anywhere. Jarrod Bowen has scored seven goals this season already, Anthony Gordon is playing very well for Newcastle, Cole Palmer is starting to play well for Chelsea. There’s just a changing landscape there.”

Again, the logic does not quite add up.

Sterling’s numbers this season may not demand inclusion, but he is playing at a good enough level to warrant a place in the squad when you combine his form with everything he has previously done for England, plus the lack of bona fide left-forward alternatives.

Only Maddison and Grealish beat his expected assists and no one comes close to his exceptional take-on figure of 7.3 per match.

And the argument of not changing a winning squad when specifically talking about Sterling is weakened when you consider Bowen was only brought in last month having earned his spot with his West Ham form.

There is more bemusement than acrimony from Sterling over his recent snubs and he will continue to focus on his Chelsea form in the hope of earning a recall. Yet, in terms of the reasoning behind his exclusion, it appears to some observers that Southgate is now proving a point players cannot pick and choose which international camps they join.

The England manager seemed a little tetchy on the line of Sterling questioning. In fact, tetchiness has been a theme of his recent press conferences, namely on subjects such as Jordan Henderson or Harry Maguire, perhaps a sign of growing weariness as he possibly/probably (delete as applicable) nears the end of his England reign next summer. (“I’m genuinely not thinking about it… I’m not interested in just racking up games or racking up years,” he said when asked if his time in charge will extend beyond Euro 2024.)

And, after breezing through qualification yet again — this time with two games to spare — Southgate is probably right to be tired of perceived negative questions at every England camp given his record since 2018.

But the Sterling questions are legitimate. It does not take Einstein to put two and two together, reach four and come to the realisation that this is not purely related to football.

The real question is whether it really matters. In other words, does Sterling being out of the picture damage England’s prospects of winning Euro 2024?

Until someone steps up to fill that left-forward void definitively, the answer veers towards yes. But as Ben White and others will tell you, Southgate is not for easily turning.

[OneMoSalah 8,615]

Less games for England more for us, sounds good.

[NikkiCFC 7,589]

Pathetic diver. 

[TheHulk 1,395]

Hope he is gone in the summer.

[robsblubot 3,228]

Was our best attacker by far in the first half until the fuckup on the one-on-one w/ the goalie, which TBf was his play; still he had to pass the ball to 2 open players next to him.

Perhaps he does not trust his teammates? I mean it did look, esp first half, he was playing alone at times. 

[Strike 6,965]

Far from the worst performer but choosing to shoot in that moment and failing was both typical Raheem. I think the only thing saving him from more stick is the fact that I can't imagine other attackers winning the ball and getting to that position he did 

[calculatingInfinity 1,443]

17 hours ago, robsblubot said:

Perhaps he does not trust his teammates? I mean it did look, esp first half, he was playing alone at times. 

It also looked like this at City quite often. Maybe he is just a player who sets himself before the team.

[robsblubot 3,228]

6 hours ago, calculatingInfinity said:

It also looked like this at City quite often. Maybe he is just a player who sets himself before the team.

yeah could be... he is certainly not without his flaws otherwise he'd be still at City eh.

I do think he worked harder at City... more like what he was doing pre-fuck up in the first half. Like for us, he has moments of City intensity and desire, but only moments.

TBf to him, right before the fuck up, which was his solo play anyway, he did provide a nice lobbed pass to Jackson who inexplicably could not control it.

[OneMoSalah 8,615]

Again our only attacker who has got some credit in the bank this season, sure lets get rid of him…. Idiots

[LAM09 6,552]

On 26/12/2023 at 18:10, OneMoSalah said:

Again our only attacker who has got some credit in the bank this season, sure lets get rid of him…. Idiots

We can't afford to have anyone at this club who thinks they're above the rest. He's far from an elite attacker.

Edited January 2 by LAM09

[OneMoSalah 8,615]

14 hours ago, LAM09 said:

We can't afford to have anyone at this club who think they're about the rest. He's far from an elite attacker.

What gives you this impression? The fact he took a shot instead of passing? Fuck sake I am sorry but that is an absolutely ridiculous take 😂

I have no problem with someone willing to try and take responsibility and take a shot in a position where they perhaps could of passed or whatever. It is actually refreshing as I am sick of watching the likes of Jackson, Mudryk, Broja etc all trying to pass it instead of actually having the balls to shoot. It doesn’t make me think he’s above the rest or anything ridiculous along those lines which again I have seen in here. 

If he isn’t an elite player then what about the other £1bn of players we have signed? Barring Palmer and to a lesser extent Raheem, they’ve all done next to nothing. Even World Cup winner £106m Enzo Fernandez has looked well beyond average this season and his body language for me looks a huge issue also. Just half arsing games. But nobody mentioning that - as if we are lucky to have him despite being anonymous for months.

Also on Sterling, why has Poch asked him to try and play more like he did 10 years ago? Why not continue to utilise him as Pep did at City, getting into the box, scoring goals? He has such a good record in arguably the best offensive teams in modern PL history. But yeah ask him to take the ball 40m and then not get in the box?

Nkunku and Sterling are the closest/only top/elite proven attacking players we have at the moment. Simple as that. Even top or elite players, we don’t have very many. Silva is slowing down so he is maybe not there anymore but he could be there as would Reece & Ben perhaps. The rest the jury is out. 

What blows my mind is people jump on Sterlings back after one little moment in one game but will sit there saying the likes of Mudryk needs time, “will come good” and he is a project when he is about to turn 23 years old and fucking hopeless.

Some of you need your heads checked.

Edited December 27, 2023 by OneMoSalah