It's hard to comprehend how people can be defending Sterling over this. Or calling Southgate's decision an overreaction. The case is pretty clear cut and you could argue Sterling got off lightly with a one-match suspension.
Raheem Sterling vs Joe Gomez
- Thread starter roonster09
- Start date
We'd have paid him the money to keep him here, its as simple as that.
Greenwood has been at United since he was 8 so its not really an analogous example. That said, if he's going to get a massive pay rise at club that was going to win trophies then it would be hard to convince him to stay.
I completely agree, minor incident and minor punishment. Everyone should move on, but by the sounds of it some players including Sterling are unhappy.
sterling is a bad guy and Suarez is a good guy. That’s Liverpool fans logic in nutshell
If you’re going to fight, you fight to hurt and end the fight as soon as possible. No fight coach advises not to scratch, pull hair, kick in the bollocks and go for peoples eyes.
There’s no zero honour in fighting outside of sport. To suggest there are ‘rules’ suggests high levels of naivety.
The irony in a City fan taking the moral high ground
I didn't know the scratch was this severe 
Sterling did that? For reals?I didn't know the scratch was this severe
^Should this not trigger a police investigation by default?
That's proper 'girl with false nails' cattiness, that picture above. That's not a 'slip of the hand' scratch that's a deliberate rake across the face. I'd fecking level him if I was Gomez, lad did well to hold it together it seems. And I hate both sides equally.
That actually confirmed to be sterling?I didn't know the scratch was this severe
When asked in the press conference Southgate refused to confirm or deny. Make of that what you will.
Few tabloids are running the picture
https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/new-pictures-show-full-extent-20873863
Someone needs to gif itchy & scratchy with Gomez and Sterling's heads imposed on the characters. @Olly Gunnar Solskjær ?
Last edited:
Also, to everyone wondering why Sterling would scratch someone, the reports suggest he got him in a headlock. Maybe that's how he caught him?
Well if Sterling was the cause of that I'm not sure the 1 match ban is really enough, could have been made to sit out both games
I can’t lie a lot of you guys’ anti Liverpool bias is showing. None of you can tell me you would downplay it to ‘just a little scratch’ had sterling done it to one of ours
Whats even more ridiculous about this situation is that Gomez came on in the 87th minute. He was barely on the field and they had one coming together, yet Sterling has carried on a feud the next day. He had more pushes and clashes with other players so to single out Gomez is ridiculous.
And its not like he himself was an angel in that game given he put his studs into Van Dijks ankle.
And its not like he himself was an angel in that game given he put his studs into Van Dijks ankle.
I don't know how this thread got to the point of discussing Sterling's departure from Liverpool, but I think he was completely justified in doing so. He didn't play particularly well leading up to his move but it's no different to Van Dijk being 'injured' for Southampton just before we signed him. I'm pretty sure the club has actively encouraged players at Southampton to kick up a fuss to force a move. Lovren definitely did.
Sterling's trajectory at City has been upward since he signed for them. He's won two league titles and other cups as well, and he's one of the best players in the league playing for the best manager in the world. Torres left and won loads with Chelsea. Alonso left and won loads at Madrid & Munich. Suarez left and won loads at Barcelona.
Our fans need to come to terms with the fact that we've not been very good over the last thirty years and that's why our best players have wanted out. We're in a fairly strong position at the moment but players like Sterling won't stay at a club like Liverpool until we can maintain a strong position like City do. We need to move away from this image as a stepping-stone club.
Raheem should probably trim his nails though. That's a nasty swipe.
Sterling's trajectory at City has been upward since he signed for them. He's won two league titles and other cups as well, and he's one of the best players in the league playing for the best manager in the world. Torres left and won loads with Chelsea. Alonso left and won loads at Madrid & Munich. Suarez left and won loads at Barcelona.
Our fans need to come to terms with the fact that we've not been very good over the last thirty years and that's why our best players have wanted out. We're in a fairly strong position at the moment but players like Sterling won't stay at a club like Liverpool until we can maintain a strong position like City do. We need to move away from this image as a stepping-stone club.
Raheem should probably trim his nails though. That's a nasty swipe.
Let's be honest, if the players name wasn't Sterling he would be fired from England squad way more than 2 games.
Last edited by a moderator:
Yeah, every time a person gets a scratch on their face the British police are compelled to investigate
Good. That's what I thought.
Well I think if a work colleague did that to me I'd want him 'suspended' for more than just one day wouldn't you?
Or in football context if it happened on the field I'm sure the FA would be handing out multiple game bans
From what I can tell:
- Sterling's departure from Liverpool was very acrimonious
- Sterling wanted to play at another club - justifiable
- Liverpool fans create playing conditions for Sterling utterly horrible - justifiable
- Sterling has a very scratchy record against Liverpool
- Sunday's game became toxic for Sterling which spilled over into handbags
- Sterling was very upset about viral clip of him being pushed about
- Four years of toxicity and baggage all too much to cope with and he flips
- Southgate takes a stance - justifiable
- Lots of think pieces about Raheem Sterling - nauseating
- Sterling's departure from Liverpool was very acrimonious
- Sterling wanted to play at another club - justifiable
- Liverpool fans create playing conditions for Sterling utterly horrible - justifiable
- Sterling has a very scratchy record against Liverpool
- Sunday's game became toxic for Sterling which spilled over into handbags
- Sterling was very upset about viral clip of him being pushed about
- Four years of toxicity and baggage all too much to cope with and he flips
- Southgate takes a stance - justifiable
- Lots of think pieces about Raheem Sterling - nauseating
This is an excellent point - could someone direct me to the commercial monolith that is the Professional Game Match Officials Limited? I need a new Mike Dean top.
Pretty much.
Seems like Sterling has been trying to use his goodwill in the media to paint himself in a positive light here too but it's quite evident that he's the one at fault here.
The whole "Liverpool fans are toxic" is such a pathetic excuse. It's nothing close to what Figo experienced at Camp Nou or generally players experience (or used to) during El Clasico.
Would have loved seeing Sterling up against Cantona or Keane. He would have ended each match against them in tears, no doubt.
And? He gets abuse everytime he plays against Southampton. Doesn't mean he will act like a petulant child and throw his toys out of the pram.
Is the massive global sales the reason why the human rights' record of City's owners was swept under the carpet? Or their falsely inflated deals for a tin-pot club?
Only because the PL wanted a new shiny toy after Chelsea to root for and they found the perfect sad bitter younger sibling of a hugely successful and famous person.
It didn’t happen at your work.
It didn’t happen on the pitch.
It’s a scrap between two competitive adults. I’ve been part of successful teams that have had plenty of routine tear ups.
Sterling is fine. Gomez is fine. Southgate handled it perfectly. People need to move on.
Team first. Ego second.
All involved should be commended for handling the fall out so well. It should stand Sterling in good stead. His public response seemed responsible and didn’t read as being PR-person influenced.
I also recall certain incidents involving Keane and Viera, Keown and Van Nistelrooy (and those pitch battles were considered the golden days), booing and abuse of Di Maria, Ashley Cole, Tevez, Sol Campbell, Gerrard and so on. Rooney and Neville got way more abuse at Anfield than Sterling ever gets.
The animosity between Man Utd and Liverpool players used to be much worse than this scuffle between Sterling and Gomez, and I dont recall them ever putting their hands on each other outside of the match.
Sterling was definitely affected, when he stamped on VVDs ankle that was pure frustration. The crowd getting at him, TAA and Gomez. I can imagine the viral of him being looked down by Gomez was still playing on his mind. But you have to be responsible for your actions, Southgate did the right thing.
Really nasty stuff and were not even your rivals. You lost a match. Get over it. Can’t imagine the vile stuff you must have sprouted when you were winning feck all and United were tearing up the league.
So because of that it lessers the severity of the indecent? It's ok to do what Sterling 'allegedly' did because it was to a team mate on the training pitch*
*except it wasn't even on the training pitch
That's f*ck-all compared to the bile and vitriol that regularly spews from the Manchester City thread on RAWK. Yet we're not even your rivals according to you. In fact, we were far lesser rivals of yours in the 1995-96 season when a 2-2 draw with Liverpool at Maine Road on the last day of the season saw us relegated on goal difference. It was a nothing game for Liverpool who had an FA Cup Final against United coming up the following week and naturally the vast majority of City fans inside the ground that day would've been wishing you luck in that fixture, and bore no animosity towards Liverpool fans and players that day despite the result. That was until our relegation was confirmed a couple of minutes after the final whistle and the vast majority of your away support took great delight in rubbing it in. Naturally, the mood amongst the home fans suddenly darkened - so much so, that there were many City fans coming out of the ground wanting United to turn you over the following week.
I wouldn't mind but it's not like there wasn't a lot of truth in what he said, and if you bothered to speak to fans of pretty much any other club in the country you'd find that many of them hold similar views.
That's not to say there aren't any decent people - fans, players, etc - who are associated with Liverpool FC of course, but what can't be denied is that there's a weird cult-like mentality that surrounds your club and plenty of people are more than happy to buy into it.
Maybe he was wearing something with a zip on the sleeve, like a leather jacket? Gomez trying to get out of the lock would cause that I imagine.
Yeah was thinking something along these lines. But naturally everyone is making fun of Sterling for 'fighting like a girl'.
I can imagine the headlines on the front page of the Sun; 'Raheem Girling'
He still has not come out and apologised to Sterling. How he is still in the squad is beyond me. I hope he has a shocker