sterling

[Bobvilla]

They have turned on Suarez and Coutinho as well. Anyone in general that dares leave Liverpool. They’re just cunts, it’s nothing to do with race.

Wasn't saying that the dippers hatred was anything to do with race. Was more why the media and other fans simply chose to follow suit. The Sterling/Foden house story comparison as an example IMO was probably race driven. I think there was a misconception amongst some that he was just a big time charlie who was all about himself and bling, something that is often feilded at young black sportsmen.

[Mase]

They have turned on Suarez and Coutinho as well. Anyone in general that dares leave Liverpool. They’re just cunts, it’s nothing to do with race.

Wasn't saying that the dippers hatred was anything to do with race. Was more why the media and other fans simply chose to follow suit. The Sterling/Foden house story comparison as an example IMO was probably race driven. I think there was a misconception amongst some that he was just a big time charlie who was all about himself and bling, something that is often feilded at young black sportsmen.

Like we’ve mentioned though, Beckham had all that “big head” “blingy” “big time Charlie” stuff thrown at him by the media for years. He’s white. Rashford hasn’t had anything bad said about him and he’s a young black sportsman.

[johnny crossan]

Yorky staff writer giving Raz the thumbs down
If Raheem Sterling had a point to prove against Burnley, he struggled to do it

Raheem Sterling, Manchester City

By Nancy Frostick Oct 18, 2021 16

This was Raheem Sterling’s big audition.

After speaking out this week to suggest that he would be open to a move away from Manchester City if it meant he would get more regular game time, his start against Burnley was his chance to show why he deserves exactly that at his current club.

“If there was an opportunity to go somewhere else I would be open to this at this point in time,” Sterling said at an event with the Financial Times. “Football is the most important thing to me, challenges that I’ve set myself from a young age, and dreams as well, to be honest with you, to play abroad.

“As an English player all I know is the Premier League and I have always thought one day I would love to play abroad and come up against that challenge,” he said as he also joked, “I actually should be learning a few different languages. I quite like the French accent and Spanish.”

It has been a frustrating season so far for the 26-year-old, which perhaps goes some way to explain the rhetoric and timing of his comments which are not dissimilar to those that he made in the months leading up to his £49 million move to the Etihad Stadium from Liverpool six years ago.

Back then, he cited a desire to “be the best that I can be” as “the kid that wants to play football and do the best for the team” after much speculation about his future.

So far in 2021-22, he has made 11 appearances for Pep Guardiola in all competitions but Saturday’s 2-0 win over Burnley was just his third Premier League start of the season. To start, especially after Guardiola revealed that he was unaware of Sterling’s feelings, was a golden opportunity for Sterling to make a case for more minutes but in the end his performance was lacking in a hard-earned win.

It should have been exactly the type of game that fuels him, as he revealed recently that he likes “a bit of criticism, something negative (…) to spin to make a point” ahead of big matches. While Burnley, defeated by an aggregate scoreline of 32-1 in their last nine matches against City, probably does not come close to the classification of “big game” for the team, there was added scrutiny on Sterling as an individual to claim his chance to shine.

And in the first half, as he was used once again as a false nine, he appeared lost or a victim to the system as City pushed and probed for an opener and the Burnley defence stood strong. Bernardo Silva, the standout performer in a below-par performance from a number of key players, opened the scoring when he slammed home from close range after Nick Pope got down to save a rasping drive from Phil Foden.

Sterling’s involvement in the opening 45 minutes was limited (as illustrated by his touch map below) compared to the second half, when he was more involved as he moved to the left wing with Foden occupying a more central role.

Sterling’s touch map for the first half v Burnley

Sterling’s touch map in the second half v Burnley
City’s second goal came from Sterling’s involvement — after he was dispossessed making a mazy run inside, he tracked back to regain possession on the halfway line which allowed Rodri to set Riyad Mahrez off on the attack that would lead to Kevin De Bruyne’s goal. The Belgian has now scored in successive games for the first time since July 2020, while the City defence stayed resolute despite good chances for Maxwel Cornet and Ashley Barnes on the way to a sixth clean sheet in eight league matches.

Keeping all of his players happy remains one of Guardiola’s great challenges, as he himself admitted. “Raheem is our player, has been and hopefully will be an important player for us so I don’t know if he wants to play more game time like Riyad — when he doesn’t play he complains and Joao when he doesn’t play he complains. Some players complain and want to play all the time but I cannot assure it. I have spoken many times about that, I cannot assure how many minutes every player is going to play. Always they have to speak on the grass, on the pitch.”

“The amount of good players we have in this squad is crazy,” Silva said after the game, expressing sympathy for Sterling. “It’s tough when you’re not playing the minutes you want to. It’s happened with me and most of the players here — you have to fight for your place.”

And judging by Sterling’s final act of a frustrating individual performance where little seemed to fall in his favour — a shoulder-to-shoulder challenge to secure a throw-in right in front of an applauding Guardiola on 90 minutes — the fight has not gone out of him yet. While this opportunity to make a case for more regular involvement passed him by, until he does enough to cement his place the long-term issue is likely to linger with those comments out in the open.

“They have to be satisfied to be here, they have to be delighted to be in this club,” Guardiola said. “If they are not then they are free to make the decision best for the players, for the families, for all the people who love them. This is the most important thing, they have to be happy.”


Nancy Frostick is a staff writer for The Athletic who covers Sheffield Wednesday and the EFL. She previously reported on the Owls for The Star in Sheffield and is a keen follower of women's football. Follow Nancy on Twitter @nancyfrostick.

[Bobvilla]

He was terrible against Burnley, I went to the game and made a conscious effort to watch him closely throughout. Made zero impact and made the wrong decisions consistently. His own brain is his worst enemy, he doesn't seem mentally strong on the pitch.

[john68]

Whether it's the system or whether it's the player, the situation is clear. Despite his obvious talent,he does it foe England but not consistantly for City.
His stock and value remains high and we have a plethora of talent in the positions he can occupy.
City need a striker, it has to be a top striker to replace Aguero and that will cost mega money.
Time to offload Razza, raise some cash and bring in a worldy to replace Kun

[carl_feedthegoat]

Whether it's the system or whether it's the player, the situation is clear. Despite his obvious talent,he does it foe England but not consistantly for City.
His stock and value remains high and we have a plethora of talent in the positions he can occupy.
City need a striker, it has to be a top striker to replace Aguero and that will cost mega money.
Time to offload Razza, raise some cash and bring in a worldy to replace Kun

Any purchase has to be next summer and not before but if Sterling continues his current form then a loan and buy clause buy in January has to be on the cards.

I have high hopes for Palmer and Delap.

[john68]

Whether it's the system or whether it's the player, the situation is clear. Despite his obvious talent,he does it foe England but not consistantly for City.
His stock and value remains high and we have a plethora of talent in the positions he can occupy.
City need a striker, it has to be a top striker to replace Aguero and that will cost mega money.
Time to offload Razza, raise some cash and bring in a worldy to replace Kun

Any purchase has to be next summer and not before but if Sterling continues his current form then a loan and buy clause buy in January has to be on the cards.

I have high hopes for Palmer and Delap.

Agree with that if that's the best option to offload Razza and recoup money.
The next thing, considering our current status, is whether we go for a worldy like Haarland. Doing this would cost a lot and also cut off a pathway for Delap or Palmer.
With Torres already a youngster in place, would we be better served in the longer term not buying and tasking the risk that Torres, Delap and Palmer make the standard we need?

[Mase]

From what I’ve seen of Palmer, he’s an attacking midfielder that can play anywhere across our front three. Seems more like Mahrez. I think signing Haaland could potentially halt the development of Delap, but one is proven and one isn’t.

[brite blu sky]

Well that is the big question 68 and is basically unanswerable.

if we weren't just commenting on this and had to actually make the decision i guess most of us would start using a different tone as well as looking to hedge our bets.
no-one knows if Palmer or Delap will evolve into the real deal, or even how long that might take. A sub plot of that problem is that to be a top striker you need some muscle as well as the obvious abilities. Haaland is a monster so he has been able to fill the role from young.
So just throw 160M and get him - job done.
Apart from it might not be, he may not fit in etc, no EPL. Also when do we really really need a proper striker? not all games tbh, we need that presence and cutting edge mostly against the really good defences... mostly bigger games.
Didn't we completely nullify Haaland in our games v Dortmund ? OK so maybe that is not a problem for us as we dominate possession, but it is the basis of a doubt until proved otherwise.

Palmer and Delap imo are not quite ready to play an out and out focal point role and that is due to mental experience imo, they need a certain arrogance to play that role. For me that arrogance comes from realising you can do it in the situation, as a kid you have to grow into that.
Now i'm not sure that Pep is the best coach to support that kind of growth, he will tend to water it down by demanding midfielder qualities from them.

As i see it Palmer and Delap will get turned into false9/ striker blends - not out and out strikers.

If i were the person deciding i'd go for a stop gap decent prem experienced striker to cover a couple of years while the youngsters grow a bit more. And as we probs all know, if you put any half decent finisher in this team they are going to get a shit load of scoring chances.

anyways Sterling is gone, thats clear.

[Mase]

Should have gone for Ings if we wanted a stop gap striker until Delap is ready. We wasted far too much time on Kane imo.

[brite blu sky]

Yeah Ings would have been fine imo and comparatively cheap too.

As i say we dont even need a striker to play all games, or even all of a game. Nearly any out and out striker would have a field day on the pitch in 2nd half after we have tired out defences.

Sometimes i think the clubs' culture of perfection is a hinderance

[sheblue]

He was very poor when he came on tonight.
It's just so hard to see a way back for him at the moment.

[Bluemoon4610]

He was very poor when he came on tonight.
It's just so hard to see a way back for him at the moment.

Dodgy feed but looked like one of the first things he did was set up Palmer. That was also the last good thing he did, too, assuming it was him!

[Nick]

Bye. Greedy and fucked up when wr had 4 on 1

[john68]

AsI look at the current squad, It does seem that we are getting to a position in the very near future when our own kids could be at a standard where they can almost fulfill our needs.Palmer once again fitted in well tonight, albeit v (a poor and already beaten)) Brugge. Certainly good enough to play quite a number of games against the poorer Prem sides.
There are others coming through (not before time) that could be pushing their cause for 1st team opportunities.

The next few years are going to be very interesting and finally in the position that our owners aimed at when they bought us.Mainly self sufficient, only buying the special players when necessary.

Our next big decision will certainly be whowill replace Pep. A conversation we need to have.

[zuricity]

AsI look at the current squad, It does seem that we are getting to a position in the very near future when our own kids could be at a standard where they can almost fulfill our needs.Palmer once again fitted in well tonight, albeit v (a poor and already beaten)) Brugge. Certainly good enough to play quite a number of games against the poorer Prem sides.
There are others coming through (not before time) that could be pushing their cause for 1st team opportunities.

The next few years are going to be very interesting and finally in the position that our owners aimed at when they bought us.Mainly self sufficient, only buying the special players when necessary.

Our next big decision will certainly be whowill replace Pep. A conversation we need to have.

it is not fair to say that john. Palmer was played in and scored with an excellent shot from outside the box . Brugge being poor is not relevant .

Raheem was in a 4-1 attack and shot at goal from a poor angle and missed . That was unforgiveable, open net for the other players .

[Dimples]

According to Didi Hamann when Sterling asked Pep why he was not a regular starter, he was told there were better players than him available. He had dropped down the pecking order.
Tonight he dropped even further, not only is he missing chances but now he is choosing the wrong options, shooting instead of passing for tap ins.

Hard to see a way back for him now.
He will be gone before next season, maybe even in January.

[nottsblue]

According to Didi Hamann when Sterling asked Pep why he was not a regular starter, he was told there were better players than him available. He had dropped down the pecking order.
Tonight he dropped even further, not only is he missing chances but now he is choosing the wrong options, shooting instead of passing for tap ins.

Hard to see a way back for him now.
He will be gone before next season, maybe even in January.

Remember Pep going ballistic at Nacho when he did something similar and he was out of the door soon after.

Pep doesn't like individuals over the team

[carl_feedthegoat]

According to Didi Hamann when Sterling asked Pep why he was not a regular starter, he was told there were better players than him available. He had dropped down the pecking order.
Tonight he dropped even further, not only is he missing chances but now he is choosing the wrong options, shooting instead of passing for tap ins.

Hard to see a way back for him now.
He will be gone before next season, maybe even in January.

You would have to be completely delusional to even ask that question to the manager.

If he did ask that question and PeP answered it like that ....then Kudos to the manager.

[PeterParker]

According to Didi Hamann when Sterling asked Pep why he was not a regular starter, he was told there were better players than him available. He had dropped down the pecking order.
Tonight he dropped even further, not only is he missing chances but now he is choosing the wrong options, shooting instead of passing for tap ins.

Hard to see a way back for him now.
He will be gone before next season, maybe even in January.

You would have to be completely delusional to even ask that question to the manager.

If he did ask that question and PeP answered it like that ....then Kudos to the manager.

What I think is Pep realized that playing him in the final was ultimately our downfall. A bit late, but it means that he is looking to fix some flaws he has. That or he reads the forum.