Oh no doubt he can be frustrating

But he has proven that in the Premier League he can score goals, create chances and dribble past players all at a pretty high level. Only a handful of players in the league can do all three. Hazard, Salah, Mane...?

Son, Martial, Willian, Sane? Possibly Moura when we see a bit more.

He had a good season for sure, but it was an outlier compared to his prior totals.

Son and Martial aren't chance creators, and haven't had those 3000+ minute seasons. Willian and Sane haven't had a high scoring season, although Sane could in the future. Lucas is far from being proven in this league

Defeats part of the object, but I don’t need to read the article.

All of our attacking players bar maybe Lingard failed to perform as they do at club level. Simple answer as to why is that Sterling, Kane and Dele play in more creative and expansive teams at club level where they’re able to flourish. Lingard on the other hand plays for a more functional team at club level - more similar to England than the other players I’ve mentioned - and therefore the disparity in his performances was far less.

Only Southgate knows what he instructed Sterling to play, but I’d have had him just roaming wherever he sees fit in the attacking areas. Identifying the opposition weakness or spaces and attacking them.

Granted this Sterling season could be an outlier, but his expected goals being high show that it has a good chance of being replicated

Good at running without the ball. Struggles when he has any length of time on the ball or has a decision to make.

Good player but at his age should be at a much higher level performance wise.

He had an okay World Cup but just couldn’t bet end product

Looked dangerous at times

Son and Martial are actually quite bad/frustrating at creating chances. With the only assists I believe the South Korean has made this season are mishit shots (see Everton).

I think what people find most frustrating about Sterling is he is a very good goal scorer, he is also very good at dribbling past people. Yet he seems to be incapable to dribble past people AND score - which someone with his skill-set you would hope he would be able to do more. I think people do judge him too harshly though.

Sterling is a decent player that fits well at city because he had a lot of intelligent players around him. His decision making is terrible, ala Nani, but he doesn't have to think too much at city as his team mates and manager know how to get the most out of his attributes.

For England we don't have the same quality of players and his lack of footballing brain is obvious. His finishing is usually OK, but his confidence for England is shot to pieces.

Sterling was particularly poor because his mentality was wrong rather than any individual mistakes. He gave up on balls and causes he could've won as did Kane.

comment by Analog (U17200)
posted 12 hours, 24 minutes ago
Son and Martial aren't chance creators, and haven't had those 3000+ minute seasons. Willian and Sane haven't had a high scoring season, although Sane could in the future. Lucas is far from being proven in this league
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You could argue Sterling is not a big goalscorer really - this is roughly 3x his usual output.

For England's sake hopefully he has set a standard for himself now though.

but his confidence for England is shot to pieces.

And why is that, booed by his own fans and at the end of a media witch hunt, to the point he had to make a statement about the effects on his mother and family.

But he never hides even when he’s on a hiding to nothing.

Good article... I don't think England play to his strengths despire Southgate's loyalty to him.

Also, Man City score lots of goals from open play whereas this summer England scored almost all their goals from set pieces. Sterling is not a big player nor does he take freekicks so his lack of goals at the World Cup is not surprising.

comment by LQ (U6305)
posted 1 hour, 42 minutes ago

but his confidence for England is shot to pieces.

And why is that, booed by his own fans and at the end of a media witch hunt, to the point he had to make a statement about the effects on his mother and family.

But he never hides even when he’s on a hiding to nothing.
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I wouldn't disagree that he has had a rough ride in the press - it has been totally out of order. However, he has been booed by his own fans because of his performances for England. Lets be honest, he hasn't been good enough, which is at least partly down to the players he has around him and partly down to the fact he isn't a particularly clever footballer.

As for not hiding, I would disagree with that. Time after time during the world cup he failed to commit defenders. His main attribute is his pace, yet he usually ran towards to the defenders, before turning back and making a backwards or sideways pass. We lost a lot of attacking momentum through Sterling not being willing to actually run at the opposition (with the ball) and commit their defenders. He was better at running off the ball I should add.

When Rashford replaced him for the last 20 minutes or so against Tunisia he immediately began taking players on and gave us a bit of a lift. I honestly think that by the end of the group stage Sterling should have been out of the team, as he wasn't playing particularly well and Rashford is more likely to make something happen, rather than relying on someone else to be creative for him. But once we got into the knockout stages, it is always difficult for a manager to change a winning team.

I disagree with the second part of that post.

Several times sterling did run an get in behind and no one was there.

He passed several times to someone who was in a great position to score and they didn’t, he was always ready to receive the ball and never stopped trying.

The movement of the players around him was hardly dynamic we were as a team too slow in the build up and allowed teams to get back into defensive positions.

comment by LQ (U6305)
posted 19 minutes ago

I disagree with the second part of that post.

Several times sterling did run an get in behind and no one was there.

He passed several times to someone who was in a great position to score and they didn’t, he was always ready to receive the ball and never stopped trying.
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Several times over the course of the tournament isn't enough. I think you are being clouded by club bias. I watched the matches with various members of my family/friends and Sterling's unwillingness to commit players/run at the opposition was mentioned in every game and by different people.

We were certainly too slow in our attack building as a team, but Sterling is one of the key players in the team that has to take on that responsibility. He is in there to use his pace to create space for other players, and he simply didn't do that anywhere near enough.

Yet every time he went off the opposition pushed up field.

comment by LQ (U6305)
posted 4 minutes ago

Yet every time he went off the opposition pushed up field.
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The only game where I think the opposition pushed up was against Croatia and that was already happening with Sterling on the pitch. We simply sat too deep in the second half and tried to hold on to what we had when we should have kept on pushing forwards. Once Croatia scored they had the momentum and we looked mentally weak across the team.

I don’t think you can bet 23 goals from midfield without knowing one or two things about playing football 🤷‍♂️

comment by gratedbean (U4885)
posted 23 minutes ago

I don’t think you can bet 23 goals from midfield without knowing one or two things about playing football 🤷‍♂️
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I'm not saying he doesn't know anything about football, just that he isn't a clever footballer in the same way that De Bruyne or Silva are. He is more of an instinct player and relies on his pace and reflexes, which is great when you have top players in the team pulling the strings. England don't have that quality and Sterling doesn't seem to have that ability (or perhaps confidence) to make things happen himself.

“just that he isn't a clever footballer in the same way that De Bruyne or Silva are.”

That’s a bit different to not having a footballing brain, there aren’t many on the same level as De Bruyne or Silva 😂 watch his goals from last season, yep a few tap ins, but largely goals he’s made himself - he wants to be in the box, England just aren’t set up that way. Lots of long range efforts or buying FKs 30 yards out.

comment by gratedbean (U4885)
posted 6 minutes ago

“just that he isn't a clever footballer in the same way that De Bruyne or Silva are.”

That’s a bit different to not having a footballing brain, there aren’t many on the same level as De Bruyne or Silva 😂 watch his goals from last season, yep a few tap ins, but largely goals he’s made himself - he wants to be in the box, England just aren’t set up that way. Lots of long range efforts or buying FKs 30 yards out.
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I think his decision making is pretty poor to be honest. Reminds me very much of Nani. Can be amazing but equally frustrating. More so for England than City. I think with City he has less thinking to do. The ball is put into the right areas for him and he is then away and relying on his instinct. When he has more time and has to think for himself he struggles.

comment by 9ctics (U21076)
posted 2 days, 4 hours ago
Why does sandy card more about kane winning next season's golden boot than Spurs achieving any tangible success?
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Because he knows the players are not good enough to win anything.