Disgraceful what he did today. 

w**ker knows he’s our best winger too so the likelihood of getting dropped is small. 

The league has always punished sides who miss chances they simply have to score. That was a big, bug miss.

He deserves to be dropped after today.

He didn’t play too bad but he definitely cost us a easy tap in and so many times he decided to go down instead of staying up and possibly get a chance at goal.

Please don’t give him another start for a few games now. Give Madueke a chance.

3 minutes ago, dansubrosa said:

He deserves to be dropped after today.

He didn’t play too bad but he definitely cost us a easy tap in and so many times he decided to go down instead of staying up and possibly get a chance at goal.

Please don’t give him another start for a few games now. Give Madueke a chance.

Nkunku and I think it was Palmer also played him in multiple times, only for him to mess up his first touch which took him a bit wider than it should have.

Sterling has always been an enigma. Undoubted talent but complete lack of football brain means he invariably makes the wrong decision. And he falls over. A LOT,

Be quite glad to see him not in the starting line up.

9 minutes ago, Nibs said:

Sterling has always been an enigma. Undoubted talent but complete lack of football brain means he invariably makes the wrong decision. And he falls over. A LOT,

Be quite glad to see him not in the starting line up.

I'd agree however I still think he starts when you look at the other dross to choose from.  Not exactly a massive compliment I'll grant you.

Madueke deserves a run, Nkunku obviously starts.

Jackson and Broja I wouldn't even bother putting on the bench. I'd rather play a false 9, or a garden bench up front than waste any more energy playing either of them.  

Mudryk gets better by not playing, then plays and we remember why he wasn't picked.

Had been a fan of Sterling, but now I've realised something. I think its now abdunately clear why Southgate doesn't pick him anymore. 

He's just not good enough, I don't even think he gets in City's team anymore. The primary reason is his ego, he's a selfish player and its been on show time and time again this season. It's my biggest pet peave in a team game selfishness.

Yes as a goalscorer you have to be ruthless in front of goal, but to not give your teammates tap ins when you as a team are underperforming and struggling for goals is beyond negligent. Don't get me wrong he's scored some decent goals this season but I no longer look at him the same way. He is a player at 29 on a downward projectory and the owners and unfortunately Tuchel didn't see it.

I still can't get over that chance he messed up in the first half.

Footballers must do that kind of 2 on 1 thing multiple times per week in training and hardly ever does the goalkeeper come out on top in that situation.

The only decision he had to make was when to pass and give another player an open goal, finishing with that tame shot was one of the worst thing he's done since he signed for us.

He did similar against Villa as well.

That was a classic case of personal glory over 99% guaranteeing that the team scores.

Just had to square it and we are 1 up

it shows the lack of quality we have that Sterling is one of our best players. This version of Sterling does not feature heavily in title winning squads, if he gave the ball away, and made as many poor decisions under Pep as he does here, he wouldve been sold a long time ago. 

I dont even know whats worse, the fact he didnt have the IQ to pass the ball for a tap in to get an invaluable 1st goal, or that Jackson and Palmer barely berated him for it. That to me just screams that Sterling feels he is untouchable, and so do his team mates.

I'll be a happy man when we sell him. Goes down far too easily, maybe we are spoiled with watching Hazard, who always tried to stay on his feet, but Sterling seems content to give up possession in promising areas, and just throw himself to the ground. Ironically his yellow card, was probably one of the few times he couldn't stay on his feet. 

The most frustrating player I've ever seen, because he does show moments of class, but the bad outweighs the good massively for me.

42 minutes ago, El regreso said:

Just had to square it and we are 1 up

Really just had to put it away. 

1 minute ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Really just had to put it away. 

Keeper read his movements so just pass it for a tap in

Fraud....He can f**k off. Bench him. Should have been hooked straight away after this. Unforgivable.

4 minutes ago, nonotnowjim said:

Fraud....He can f**k off. Bench him. Should have been hooked straight away after this. Unforgivable.

If you watch it all the way through from when he wins the ball, not once does he look to his left to see who might be up there with him ... very poor footballing intelligence.

52 minutes ago, El regreso said:

Keeper read his movements so just pass it for a tap in

I’m under the opinion that as an attacker if you are going to shoot vs pass, you better put it away. 

1 minute ago, Sconnie Blue said:

I’m under the opinion that as an attacker if you are going to shoot vs pass, you better put it away. 

Agreed but in this situation that simple tap it changes the entire game and potentially sets us up for a win.

Pretty funny this tbh.

 

I understand that, after you win the ball back through your own endeavor, you want to finish it off.

He wanted the glory and believed in his own ability to finish it off. If he does no problem, but you have to score, otherwise you have screwed over your own team and your team mates.

As the above video shows though this is the second time Sterling has been through and had at least 1 team mate to pass to for a tap in and not taken that.

Had it been Jose with SWP or Joey Cole they would have been subbed immediately and given a public dressing down, Conte likely would have too.

Unfortunately Sterling shows once more why I had concerns about him coming here. His ego is just too great for him to be a leader of our front line. If he won't play for the team, what message does this send to younger players, or the message from the manager that it is ok?

Edited December 24, 20232 yr by axman2526

3 hours ago, loz said:

I'd agree however I still think he starts when you look at the other dross to choose from.  Not exactly a massive compliment I'll grant you.

Madueke deserves a run, Nkunku obviously starts.

Jackson and Broja I wouldn't even bother putting on the bench. I'd rather play a false 9, or a garden bench up front than waste any more energy playing either of them.  

Mudryk gets better by not playing, then plays and we remember why he wasn't picked.

I suppose with the suspensions of Palmer and Sterling we will get a chance to see how things look with Madueke/Mudryk as our wide players.

He knows what he did. It’s bloody awful 

 

Berated Sterling on the match thread so don’t want to go over about the things which people have already covered. One of his most annoying plays for me today was the shot he had blocked. 
Don’t know who passed to him and not going to watch it back but this is typical of his bad decision making. 
If he’d taken it first time he had the keeper to beat from about 6 yds.  He took a pointless touch and 3 defenders came sliding across to block. 
 

Very limited footballer and certainly no Hazard. Oh for another prime Hazard who would play with a smile on his face and didn’t crumble at the slightest touch.

On 25/12/2023 at 01:37, nonotnowjim said:

Fraud....He can f**k off. Bench him. Should have been hooked straight away after this. Unforgivable.

 

Agreed.

His problem is Palmer - he's obviously jealous that Palmer is getting all the praise and noted as the stand out signing in the media.

Is he going to set it up for Palmer to tap in?

Is he fck!

Edited December 25, 20232 yr by Bebe1980

Honestly not sure I’ll ever forgive him for that miss. If one moment of football ever summed up an individual and the state of a team, it was that. 

May be biting my nose to spite my face, but he’d be benched every week for me and allow Mudryk, Palmer and others to continue their development. Disgraceful moment from Raheem. 

TBH I'm a bit surprised by the reactions here. Sterling has never been a natural finisher nor IMO has he been a consistent player at any point in his career except for maybe a period, years ago, in his Liverpool days. He is always capable of games where he comes off the field and you would rate him a 9 out 10 and the best player on the pitch. But he will then often follow that up with four or five games where he will range anywhere from a 5 to a 7. There is very little consistency in his game and as he gets older that becomes even more apparent. That said, he has been miles better this season than he was last season IMO but he will never be in the same league as a Hazard and TBH I am shocked that some people thought he would be.