Raheem Sterling

[Redplane]

Please can someone bump the thread when he is having world class performance, because every time I watch him for City(not that often tbf) and for England(quite often), he is usually one of the worst forwards on the pitch. It's really tough for me to rate him and to understand the hype, even though I quite like players of his calibre, but I just don't see it, sorry.

Maybe I am just racist, who knows.

I agree with you. Not the racist part of course but to me he is easily one of the the most frustrating players to watch. For some reason it seems his mind and legs don't operate on the same speed if that makes any sense.

 

[kouroux]

Great game from him.

 

[Nero]

Absolute rank in key moments.

 

[Minimalist]

Crap decision making tonight spoiling his good dribbling etc. Should have put away the third at the end.

 

[hp88]

Bar that one move he was owned by Robertson today, capped off the night with the miss towards the end.

 

[Murder on Zidanes Floor]

Bar that one move he was owned by Robertson today, capped off the night with the miss towards the end.

He cannot finish. Honestly he could be their top scorer if he could.

 

[SqualorVictoria]

Please can someone bump the thread when he is having world class performance, because every time I watch him for City(not that often tbf) and for England(quite often), he is usually one of the worst forwards on the pitch. It's really tough for me to rate him and to understand the hype, even though I quite like players of his calibre, but I just don't see it, sorry.

Maybe I am just racist, who knows.

You accidentally just bumped it after a great performance of his, so there goes your lucky day!

 

[iluvoursolskjær]

Please can someone bump the thread when he is having world class performance, because every time I watch him for City(not that often tbf) and for England(quite often), he is usually one of the worst forwards on the pitch. It's really tough for me to rate him and to understand the hype, even though I quite like players of his calibre, but I just don't see it, sorry.

Maybe I am just racist, who knows.

I’m sorry but you are most definitely racist but probably not

 

[Jordan_mufc]

Please can someone bump the thread when he is having world class performance, because every time I watch him for City(not that often tbf) and for England(quite often), he is usually one of the worst forwards on the pitch. It's really tough for me to rate him and to understand the hype, even though I quite like players of his calibre, but I just don't see it, sorry.

Maybe I am just racist, who knows.

best player on the pitch after fernandinho.

 

[Brwned]

Absolute rank in key moments.

Except the assist for the winning goal. He's been the one player they can rely on all season to break through the midfield with good dribbling and find a good pass. Before he was just getting into good positions and finishing lots but missing more. This season he's been a proper creative force just through clever dribbling.

 

[Amar__]

You accidentally just bumped it after a great performance of his, so there goes your lucky day!

I’m sorry but you are most definitely racist but probably not

Well if that is called great performance then I am definitely a racist.

 

[SquishyMcSquish]

Thought he was good tbh, went on some really good runs. End product was missing though, should have put away that chance near the end but overall was one of their most dangerous players for sure.

 

[Classical Mechanic]

He had the most key passes and successful dribbles of any player on either side. Some wretched finishing though.

 

[BluesJr]

He’s a really good player but you can’t trust him with a big moment, and that says a lot.

 

[kouroux]

Well if that is called great performance then I am definitely a racist.

Don't triviliaze racism please. We heard your bad joke the first time

 

[saivet]

Bar that one move he was owned by Robertson today, capped off the night with the miss towards the end.

He got the assist for Sane too

 

[Amar__]

Don't triviliaze racism please. We heard your bad joke the first time

Well people accuse others here for racism because they don't rate some players they like(see this thread) so I couldn't really care less about making a bad joke, it's probably my intention too. One of my favourite United players are Martial, Smalling, Rashford, and it used to be Welbeck, Nani, etc., so I don't feel the need to watch who I criticise.

Saying that, I would take Sterling in a heart beat at United, but he is nowhere near good enough as many people want us to believe. He is also getting more than fair criticism for his performances for England, Rooney also use to get it, Carrick, Scholes all used to get it, and not one of them openly criticised other folks for their poor performances as Sterling and his fans did. Smalling is twice the player Jones is, and did he call anyone racist for not going to the World Cup ahead of him?

 

[ThierryHenry]

I increasingly like Raheem. Dreadful finish but two fantastic runs in the last twenty minutes. Been their best forward this season.

 

[I_live_cement]

He's so close to becoming a world class player, he just doesn't have the composure.

 

[AKDevil]

best player on the pitch after fernandinho.

And Bernardo Silva and Stones.

 

[charlenefan]

Yeah he was good tonight. Final end product is still hit and miss but I like how confident he is at running with the ball and taking the initiative to try and make something happen

 

[El Zoido]

I’m almost never impressed by him, I just don’t see it. His numbers are decent but he hardly ever looks really good, such a weird player to me.

 

[kouroux]

Well people accuse others here for racism because they don't rate some players they like(see this thread) so I couldn't really care less about making a bad joke, it's probably my intention too. One of my favourite United players are Martial, Smalling, Rashford, and it used to be Welbeck, Nani, etc., so I don't feel the need to watch who I criticise.

Saying that, I would take Sterling in a heart beat at United, but he is nowhere near good enough as many people want us to believe. He is also getting more than fair criticism for his performances for England, Rooney also use to get it, Carrick, Scholes all used to get it, and not one of them openly criticised other folks for their poor performances as Sterling and his fans did. Smalling is twice the player Jones is, and did he call anyone racist for not going to the World Cup ahead of him?

Just because other people do or say stupid shit, doesn't mean you have to stoop to that level or that it makes it ok. 2 wrongs don't make 1 right

 

[Adisa]

Thought he was decent.

 

[VeevaVee]

He's a quality player but is it the big stage he can't handle? Is that why he fluffed the WC too? He wasn't terrible tonight and looked to be able to make an impact...just often didn't when it came to it.

 

[Amar__]

Just because other people do or say stupid shit, doesn't mean you have to stoop to that level or that it makes it ok. 2 wrongs don't make 1 right

Fair enough, but I think I got tired of people accusing others of being racist just because they don't rate some players.

 

[thepolice123]

Became such a dangerous player for them. Skinned Robertson at the first opportunity he got and would have another assist had Aguero scored.

 

[RedDevilCanuck]

He was great today. Poor finish but excellent assist and should have had another.

The Sane assist was amazing. If that pass is not perfect, that chance is gone.

And he had some runs at the end that really took the pressure off city.

I wish we had a player like him on our right side. We would be a completely different team. Also works hard tracking back and all over the pitch.

 

[Stacks]

Incredible today. His playmaking was something else. Should have 2 assists. MoTM. what a player

 

[antihenry]

I must have watched a different game. I expected much more from Sterling but Robertson and him in his pocket for most of the game.

 

[Brwned]

I must have watched a different game. I expected much more from Sterling but Robertson had him in his pocket for most of the game.

In what was one of the tightest games of the season among the two best teams in the league, it's entirely expected that he had very few opportunities to really hurt the opposition. Yet in those relatively few opportunities he got Bernardo Silva in behind the defence for an easy pass to David Silva 8 yards from goal only to feck it up, Aguero in behind for a 1 on 1, and picked out Sane 16 yards for goal for him to score the winner. People might suggest that creating the opening for two big chances isn't that impressive, but according to the stats, he's the only one that did that. No-one else had more than 1 "key pass", and Sterling got 4. No-one else completed more than 2 dribbles, but Sterling did it 3 times.

In other words in a game largely devoid of creativity, primarily because both teams gave each other so little time on the ball in good areas, Sterling was the most consistent threat. It's not like he played like Sane, who had a few moments of creativity and a few moments of destroying the build-up unnecessarily (e.g. he more unsuccessful touches than anyone else). Sane found himself in more dangerous positions due to raw pace but almost every time didn't pick out the right pass, while Sterling often did but from less threatening positions. He was a creative threat while being reliable in the build-up. He was like a combination of Bernardo Silva and Sane in the attacking 3rd.

At the end of the day it's easiest to pay attention to and remember the final moment of an attack, rather than the final few. In the final moment, in a couple of key moments, Sterling fecked things up. Giving that's a consistent issue of his it's easy to focus on that. However there's a reason a neutral stats aggregator gave him the highest rating of all the attackers despite 3 different attackers scoring crucial goals, and why many fans were saying Sterling was a close 2nd or perhaps even the best. In those final few moments he made an impact more often than most.

 

[RochaRoja]

I swear it would take Sterling to put in Messiesque performances for some people to acknowledge that he's a quality player.

 

[red4ever 79]

Electric last night. Pace, power, direct carried the threat to Liverpool and allowed City to push their backline further up the pitch as he carried it forward.

 

[Adisa]

I wish he played on our right wing. He has everything. Best English player imo.

 

[RobinLFC]

I swear it would take Sterling to put in Messiesque performances for some people to acknowledge that he's a quality player.

He's a quality player no doubt but his finishing is simply dreadful whenever I watch him - not simply average, but dreadful. That's the difference between him being a very good or a great player for me at the moment.

 

[SqualorVictoria]

He's a quality player no doubt but his finishing is simply dreadful whenever I watch him - not simply average, but dreadful. That's the difference between him being a very good or a great player for me at the moment.

Thing is though, he's not a dreadful finisher. It's actually pretty much average within the context of top leagues (see his historical xG data). Could or should he improve it? Sure as hell. Could or should he score his goals better 'distributed' in games? Probably so, yeah.

 

[Amar__]

His numbers are high mostly because he plays for City, and they are scoring really high number of goals lately. In his last season with Liverpool he was involved in 14 out of 52 they scored, which is pretty much identical percentage of goals he's been involved in City's last two seasons(16/56 so far this season, and 29/106 i 17/18 season).

He can be very good in the build up, but I don't think his end product has improved at all. For example, both Pogba and Rashford are involved in similar percentage of the goals scored by their team, and hardly anyone is calling Rashford world class or anywhere near England's best player, and pretty much every non United fan is calling Pogba overrated.

 

[El Jefe]

I have to give him a lot of credit for yesterday. Andy Robertson went full Ashley Cole mode on him for about 75mins and rather than giving up he kept trying and eventually created most of City's best opportunities.

It can't be understated how well Roberston defended yesterday. Another fullback and Sterling would have run riot yesterday.

 

[breakout67]

No chance Robertson 'pocketed' Sterling this game. Not only should he have conceded a penalty, but Sterling was the driving force for City when they were pushing for a second goal.

 

[AR87]

I thought Sterling was at fault for Liverpool's goal as he didn't track Robertson back at all, but going forward he was decisive for City even if he squandered a golden chance to seal the points for City.