5 hours ago, hawkster said:

Not sure how they gave him MOM but most of the commentators are twats .

Gusto MOM for me , Sterling too selfish for me although I do understand all great strikers are like that except Sterling isn't a great .

Bang on regarding the commentators. 

53 minutes ago, bisright1 said:

was another game where the people who watched for 90 minutes would say he was average, but with an assist and a goal he seems like our best player. 

He pops up with something special every so often but we play better without him. 

I think the best piece of transfer business we could do in the summer is to get the Saudis to take him off us. 

Always a good move to get rid of the only talented attacking player at the club that has a record of consistent goals and assists.

As a club are we in a position to bring in a better player than Sterling?

Or is the plan to sell him and hope a mule of a striker with 3 goals in 50 odd games,  a pair of wingers with about 10 career goals each and a few sick notes can all consistently deliver goals.

Sterling's been our most consistent and productive attacking player since he signed,  the fact we've largely surrounded him with absolute crap meaning he has to pick it up from deep and do it all himself which isn't his forte rather than getting on the end of things like he did at City is our failing as a club not his.

1 hour ago, bisright1 said:

It was another game where the people who watched for 90 minutes would say he was average, but with an assist and a goal he seems like our best player. 

He pops up with something special every so often but we play better without him. 

I think the best piece of transfer business we could do in the summer is to get the Saudis to take him off us. 

Well apart from the 11 people on here who gave him MOTM most of which, if not all, watched the full 90 minutes.

Sterling is a fair way from a top class player and is undeniably frustrating and inconsistent. However despite all of that he still merits a place in our starting eleven  which really speaks volumes for the quality of the squad. As such there are players ahead of him in the list of who to prioritise getting rid of.

It really depends who we are comparing him with. If it is as a winger then his competition is Mudryk, Madueke and probably the part time winger that Jackson might be. On that list if be keeping Madueke first and foremost  then Sterling.  Mudryk and Jackson are  a long way  behind. 

If we are broadening it to 'attacking players' in general then Palmer and Nkunku should be kept ahead of him but I'd put Broja behind him.

Either way he is still needed unless we piss even more money on creative 13 year olds 

6 hours ago, bisright1 said:

It was another game where the people who watched for 90 minutes would say he was average, but with an assist and a goal he seems like our best player. 

He pops up with something special every so often but we play better without him. 

I think the best piece of transfer business we could do in the summer is to get the Saudis to take him off us. 

An assist and a goal, think that's more than enough for a good day in the office. Alternatively, you could have a player run like a 100M sprinter and contribute nothing to the score line, we have players like that. Realistically, if everyone is match fit ( just about impossible), Palmer and Nkunku ( based on reputation since he hasn't proved much on the field) could play ahead of Sterling, throwing Mudryk, Jackson etc ahead of Sterling is just blind faith at this stage.

I think Sterling sums up how many fans feel about chelsea as a whole…most have not forgotten what happened last season and so every time he/they play badly the same negativity returns. 
but if you take the preconception away and just judge him on his form this season, he is actually having a pretty good time of it. Seven goals and six assists in 22 appearances is a good return. 
Obviously he is not worth the wages he’s on…but I don’t think he can be accused of just going through the motions and picking up his pay check. He does seem to give a sh*t. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t give a toss about beating Preston, but he was one of the better players. 
even against wolves, where everyone will rightly remember how he stuffed up a 3 on 1, he was still one of Chelsea’s better players on the day and ended up providing an assist for Nkunku after stuffing up.

Edited January 7, 20242 yr by The Brit

One factor that everyone here need to consider before judging Sterling is  why he is playing on the right. 😁😁

I'm with most people in saying I wasn't his biggest fan even before he came here, but I'll say he's been one of our best players this season. It can't even be denied, if it weren't for his contributions we would probably be in relegation. 

He's just incredibly frustrating, he can make something out of nothing, but completely f**k up an easy opportunity. What he did against Wolves sums him up perfectly. I've noticed that when Sterling has time on the ball, he loses his composure, but when playing with high intensity he can produce complete magic. 

I don't think he's a nailed on starter though, I would like to see us integrate Madueke more on that right-hand side. 

30 minutes ago, Victor90 said:

I'm with most people in saying I wasn't his biggest fan even before he came here, but I'll say he's been one of our best players this season. It can't even be denied, if it weren't for his contributions we would probably be in relegation. 

He's just incredibly frustrating, he can make something out of nothing, but completely f**k up an easy opportunity. What he did against Wolves sums him up perfectly. I've noticed that when Sterling has time on the ball, he loses his composure, but when playing with high intensity he can produce complete magic. 

I don't think he's a nailed on starter though, I would like to see us integrate Madueke more on that right-hand side. 

He is not a particularly intelligent or consistent player. Never has been throughout his entire career. Generally needs 4 chances to finish 1. But he has definitely been one of our better players this season. An important member of the squad.

On the ball he is instinctive and this terrifies defenders though not always delivering benefit.

Good to have someone that hits decent free-kicks again.  

2 hours ago, Bob stark said:

One factor that everyone here need to consider before judging Sterling is  why he is playing on the right. 😁😁

Everyone seems to overlook this.

Mudryk can only play on the left, so Sterling is asked to move to the right. I think as well Sterling is trusted to retain possession and help us recycle in order to (in theory) move the opposing defence over to his wing and allow Mudryk to isolate his fullback. He does this to a decent standard but it's not what he's best at.

It's a bit like the job Willian would do in order to balance things and allow Hazard to do his thing on the opposite flank (not making a comparison in terms of ability, just role in the side). Now was that Willians best role? No, he always wanted to play left wing so he could cut in and shoot, but we needed him to do that job for the good of the side.


 

15 hours ago, Bob stark said:

One factor that everyone here need to consider before judging Sterling is  why he is playing on the right. 😁😁

Like others said, part of the 'feeding Mudryk' grand plan😅

19 hours ago, cfr95 said:

Everyone seems to overlook this.

Mudryk can only play on the left, so Sterling is asked to move to the right. I think as well Sterling is trusted to retain possession and help us recycle in order to (in theory) move the opposing defence over to his wing and allow Mudryk to isolate his fullback. He does this to a decent standard but it's not what he's best at.

It's a bit like the job Willian would do in order to balance things and allow Hazard to do his thing on the opposite flank (not making a comparison in terms of ability, just role in the side). Now was that Willians best role? No, he always wanted to play left wing so he could cut in and shoot, but we needed him to do that job for the good of the side.


 

Sterling started on the right at Liverpool. Personally think it works quite well in this team. Sterling and Gusto can be a good combo as was Sterling and James for a game or was it two. James and Mudryck are a good combo. 

One of Sterling's problems and a problem for the team is that Poch keeps changing everyone's positions. Sterling is on the right, then he is on the left then he is on the right. Same with Gusto now. Jackson is striker then he is wide left second striker. 

Thats even before we get to players permanently out of position like Colwill and Enzo.

But as far as Sterling goes I think he does ok on the right. Maybe scores a couple less goals but probably more assists, assuming we had anyone to do the finishing.
I will never understand the criticism of Sterling this season, he clearly is putting in a shift every time. He clearly understand what he is doing and why he is doing it better than most on the team. Yes maybe he should have passed that ball but as someone else remarked it was still only an XG of 0.4X and it wasn't the easiest pass, but yes he should have passed it. In terms of visible effort over the season I would rate him no 3 behind conor and Jackson.

18 minutes ago, ozboy said:

Sterling started on the right at Liverpool. Personally think it works quite well in this team. Sterling and Gusto can be a good combo as was Sterling and James for a game or was it two. James and Mudryck are a good combo. 

One of Sterling's problems and a problem for the team is that Poch keeps changing everyone's positions. Sterling is on the right, then he is on the left then he is on the right. Same with Gusto now. Jackson is striker then he is wide left second striker. 

Thats even before we get to players permanently out of position like Colwill and Enzo.

But as far as Sterling goes I think he does ok on the right. Maybe scores a couple less goals but probably more assists, assuming we had anyone to do the finishing.
I will never understand the criticism of Sterling this season, he clearly is putting in a shift every time. He clearly understand what he is doing and why he is doing it better than most on the team. Yes maybe he should have passed that ball but as someone else remarked it was still only an XG of 0.4X and it wasn't the easiest pass, but yes he should have passed it. In terms of visible effort over the season I would rate him no 3 behind conor and Jackson.

Clear solution for me is Sterling on the left and Madueke on the right.

Mudryk can order the post game celebratory tattoos from the bench 

2 hours ago, loz said:

Clear solution for me is Sterling on the left and Madueke on the right.

Mudryk can order the post game celebratory tattoos from the bench 

I am not of that opinion. Madueke can replace Sterling on the right after an hour in my book.

3 hours ago, ozboy said:

Yes maybe he should have passed that ball but as someone else remarked it was still only an XG of 0.4X and it wasn't the easiest pass, but yes he should have passed it. In terms of visible effort over the season I would rate him no 3 behind conor and Jackson.

Sterling's chance was a relatively low xG, but I don't think that takes any account of a colleague in a better position to score. If Sterling makes the pass, the xG for where Palmer was is probably 0.98. Shouldn't have been a hard pass for any professional footballer ... even Sanchez and Mendy LOL

On 07/01/2024 at 15:47, Whats_The_Mata? said:

Always a good move to get rid of the only talented attacking player at the club that has a record of consistent goals and assists.

As a club are we in a position to bring in a better player than Sterling?

Or is the plan to sell him and hope a mule of a striker with 3 goals in 50 odd games,  a pair of wingers with about 10 career goals each and a few sick notes can all consistently deliver goals.

Sterling's been our most consistent and productive attacking player since he signed,  the fact we've largely surrounded him with absolute crap meaning he has to pick it up from deep and do it all himself which isn't his forte rather than getting on the end of things like he did at City is our failing as a club not his.

Sterling isn't scoring consistently. He isn't performing consistently. 

He's not the best of a bad bunch, he's behind Palmer and I think Madueke and Mudryk are more in form than him 

My view is that when he plays, the team is worse. I didn't realize that was controversial among Chelsea fans.

My flabber is gasted.  Did someone suggest say Mudryk was in any kind of form? 

You trying to get a free premium account off @Modueke?

I don't think Mudryk is in good form, he's looked better than he has been, but he's still a long way off being what I would consider to be good. That doesn't mean I think Sterling has been good either though. Sterling's only good performances have come against Championship level teams and against his former club. In pretty much every other game he has been poor. 

1 hour ago, bisright1 said:

Sterling isn't scoring consistently. He isn't performing consistently. 

He's not the best of a bad bunch, he's behind Palmer and I think Madueke and Mudryk are more in form than him 

My view is that when he plays, the team is worse. I didn't realize that was controversial among Chelsea fans.

We've reached the point I called last year.

When the young players we've signed like Mudryk are so bad any performance they do the basics right are seen as great positives or good form.

Not seen anything from him to suggest he's remotely close to Sterlings level this season.

1 hour ago, Whats_The_Mata? said:

We've reached the point I called last year.

When the young players we've signed like Mudryk are so bad any performance they do the basics right are seen as great positives or good form.

Not seen anything from him to suggest he's remotely close to Sterlings level this season.

I said Mudryk is in better form than Sterling. 

But I hate everything about the way Sterling plays, I'm convinced he makes our whole team and attack worse. And I'm always going to give the benefit of the doubt to a player who could improve. 

I've hated how Sterling plays for years, for england and city. 

One beautiful moment from a free kick aside, Sterling looked like a lower Championship player against these two championship teams.

So did Mudryk, and Palmer, but Sterling is the finished article, our stop earner, and he is smiling and laughing near the end there. Nice.

24 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

One beautiful moment from a free kick aside, Sterling looked like a lower Championship player against these two championship teams.

So did Mudryk, and Palmer, but Sterling is the finished article, our stop earner, and he is smiling and laughing near the end there. Nice.

Pretty much. It's like I have been saying, his best performances have been against Championship standard opposition. Funny thing is that the two games he missed through suspension and getting left out, I thought we looked better in attack.

All he does is run into people. Then when he finally makes space for himself, he doesn't shot, he tries to dribble again before getting suffocated and losing the ball. He can't beat a single fullback for pace either.

He must really think he's as good as Messi every time leads the attacks.

Edited January 10, 20242 yr by Upb78

He had a bad game. The odds are he will follow that up with one or two more bad games. Then he will have a good game. Then he will have an average game. Then a bad game. Then another good game.

It really shouldn't surprise anyone. This is his entire football career path. 

11 hours ago, loz said:

My flabber is gasted.  Did someone suggest say Mudryk was in any kind of form? 

You trying to get a free premium account off @Modueke?

Most people use 18 year old academy grad standard when they asses Mudryk performance.