In isolation.. couldn’t believe the lack of effort and quality he showed… I can still give a pass to some of the youngsters who are probably playing their first or second full season of football but for a top player was completely anonymous.. seemed he didn’t want to be there or care enough..

but the lack of quality he produced makes u wonder ..

3 hours ago, just said:

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. 

The bigger problem with Sterling is that he is our best attacker

Only 3.5 more years on £325k a week 

1 minute ago, RIP Mourinho said:

Only 3.5 more years on £325k a week 

Hopefully they can sell him to the Saudis in the summer

2 minutes ago, Sexyfootball said:

Hopefully they can sell him to the Saudis in the summer

I think that is the plan and we will replace him with another wonder kid 

17 minutes ago, Sexyfootball said:

Hopefully they can sell him to the Saudis in the summer

That's hoping he will go though. From the looks of it there's a mass exodus of players leaving the Saudi league this Jan/summer. Can't imagine Henderson would be encouraging him to go. 

If we do sell him next summer his face will always be a reminder of the Chelsea banter era. 

I don't care how well he plays now and again, against Burnley, Preston and his former club. The fact is, we look a better TEAM when he's not in the starting line up. Keep him on the bench.

 

On 10/01/2024 at 13:44, Nibs said:

I don't care how well he plays now and again, against Burnley, Preston and his former club. The fact is, we look a better TEAM when he's not in the starting line up. Keep him on the bench.

 

We need to play him into form. I’m frustrated, everyone is frustrated and he’s an easy target, rightly so because he’s the most experienced forward we have and on the most money. There’s a reason for that though because he’s the best one we have which is why he needs to start and we have to find consistency. 

There is so much patience with younger players and we get excited by any sort of glimpse of brilliance but when the older wise head has bad game it reminds me of that Gordon Ramsey meme. It’s rare that a young player thrives in pressure. The pressure is a lot bigger at Chelsea than it is as say Brighton. Cream always rises to the top and you can see that with Palmer. If he can why can’t the others? Pressure.

This is a very young squad and we are 10th, our project is failing at this moment in time and the last thing we should be doing is benching our experienced players out of frustration. He needs to be played into form with the hope he can capture it. If we sell him, who’s going to replace him? Some 18 year old from the Danish league. 

We are so eager to get rid of the older players when it’s probably likely that if we kept one or two around we would be in a much better position this season and in the longer term.

 

 

 

 

Edited January 12, 20242 yr by Sheva

6 hours ago, Sheva said:

We need to play him into form. I’m frustrated, everyone is frustrated and he’s an easy target, rightly so because he’s the most experienced forward we have and on the most money. There’s a reason for that though because he’s the best one we have which is why he needs to start and we have to find consistency. 

There is so much patience with younger players and we get excited by any sort of glimpse of brilliance but when the older wise head has bad game it reminds me of that Gordon Ramsey meme. It’s rare that a young player thrives in pressure. The pressure is a lot bigger at Chelsea than it is as say Brighton. Cream always rises to the top and you can see that with Palmer. If he can why can’t the others? Pressure.

This is a very young squad and we are 10th, our project is failing at this moment in time and the last thing we should be doing is benching our experienced players out of frustration. He needs to be played into form with the hope he can capture it. If we sell him, who’s going to replace him? Some 18 year old from the Danish league. 

We are so eager to get rid of the older players when it’s probably likely that if we kept one or two around we would be in a much better position this season and in the longer term.

 

 

 

 

Is it even possible to play him into consistent form? This has been common throughout his entire career, he just doesn't have KDB and Aguero to pick up the pieces anymore when he's having one of his numerous 'off days'.

6 hours ago, Sheva said:

We need to play him into form. I’m frustrated, everyone is frustrated and he’s an easy target, rightly so because he’s the most experienced forward we have and on the most money. There’s a reason for that though because he’s the best one we have which is why he needs to start and we have to find consistency. 

There is so much patience with younger players and we get excited by any sort of glimpse of brilliance but when the older wise head has bad game it reminds me of that Gordon Ramsey meme. It’s rare that a young player thrives in pressure. The pressure is a lot bigger at Chelsea than it is as say Brighton. Cream always rises to the top and you can see that with Palmer. If he can why can’t the others? Pressure.

This is a very young squad and we are 10th, our project is failing at this moment in time and the last thing we should be doing is benching our experienced players out of frustration. He needs to be played into form with the hope he can capture it. If we sell him, who’s going to replace him? Some 18 year old from the Danish league. 

We are so eager to get rid of the older players when it’s probably likely that if we kept one or two around we would be in a much better position this season and in the longer term.

 

 

 

 

They are good points Sheva. With the young squad we now have, we need that bit of experience. I was guilty of being "happy" to see Pedro & Willian go when we are crying out for players like that now.

But in Sterlings case, I have been seeing the same thing throughout his career and think it's too late for him to change now. I'm no fan of Southgate, but understand why he has dropped Sterling from the England squad. He's just too frustrating and goes from being close to unplayable to wrong decision time and again. You are right, there is more patience with young players but that's because they are expected to make mistakes and hopefully learn from them and improve. Sterling just hasn't learned.

 

2 hours ago, Nibs said:

They are good points Sheva. With the young squad we now have, we need that bit of experience. I was guilty of being "happy" to see Pedro & Willian go when we are crying out for players like that now.

But in Sterlings case, I have been seeing the same thing throughout his career and think it's too late for him to change now. I'm no fan of Southgate, but understand why he has dropped Sterling from the England squad. He's just too frustrating and goes from being close to unplayable to wrong decision time and again. You are right, there is more patience with young players but that's because they are expected to make mistakes and hopefully learn from them and improve. Sterling just hasn't learned.

 

There's been games this season where he's been the difference, can we say that for alot of players in our squad? This is not a Torres situation where injuries have ruined him and he's just lost it. Sterling can still go and make the difference, he thrives in a team that's fit and firing. If we find some sort of consistency as a team and our performances improve he needs to be the focal point of that because he will score.

You don't get the amount of goals hes had from being a bad player, sure he's been in one of the most attacking teams over the past decade but he still performed and was the difference for City many times.

Do I think he's overated? Yeah sure but I think alot of the young players we've bought are not good enough right now and the ownership have expectations. Sterling is paid to get us results and he needs to play to earn his money. The pressure should be on him to perform and we need to get those performances out of him.

I'd start him on the left in every game and Palmer on the right if Nkunku is fit. Noni and Mudryk should be fighting to start and brought on to change games for us if not going well.

 

 

40 minutes ago, Sheva said:

There's been games this season where he's been the difference, can we say that for alot of players in our squad? This is not a Torres situation where injuries have ruined him and he's just lost it. Sterling can still go and make the difference, he thrives in a team that's fit and firing. If we find some sort of consistency as a team and our performances improve he needs to be the focal point of that because he will score.

You don't get the amount of goals hes had from being a bad player, sure he's been in one of the most attacking teams over the past decade but he still performed and was the difference for City many times.

Do I think he's overated? Yeah sure but I think alot of the young players we've bought are not good enough right now and the ownership have expectations. Sterling is paid to get us results and he needs to play to earn his money. The pressure should be on him to perform and we need to get those performances out of him.

I'd start him on the left in every game and Palmer on the right if Nkunku is fit. Noni and Mudryk should be fighting to start and brought on to change games for us if not going well.

 

 

We need experience that will pull us through the tough times, not a £325k a week 28 year old that will start doing well when the teams doing well.

Even when the team is clicking, its 1 good game in 4. Its been the same throughout his entire career.

19 minutes ago, RIP Mourinho said:

We need experience that will pull us through the tough times, not a £325k a week 28 year old that will start doing well when the teams doing well.

Even when the team is clicking, its 1 good game in 4. Its been the same throughout his entire career.

How do you score 120 premier league goals and not be consistent? He's no Aguero or De Bruyne but who is? You're talking about some of the best players in the league over the last 10 years.

I do agree that he doesn't have it in him when times are tough but we've also surrounded him with kids who look like lost puppies. Collectivley we need to do better and IF and to be honest its a big IF that happens we need Sterling because he's going to be the one who's going to win us games.

51 minutes ago, Sheva said:

How do you score 120 premier league goals and not be consistent? He's no Aguero or De Bruyne but who is? You're talking about some of the best players in the league over the last 10 years.

I do agree that he doesn't have it in him when times are tough but we've also surrounded him with kids who look like lost puppies. Collectivley we need to do better and IF and to be honest its a big IF that happens we need Sterling because he's going to be the one who's going to win us games.

He's in his 13th season in the league with 3 elite goalscoring seasons in arguably the best squad the Premier league has witnessed and had a steady decline on his return year on year since 19-20. He's probably about on par with Schurrle when we had him, except he was 23 years old and wasn't on £325k per week. 

Edited January 12, 20242 yr by RIP Mourinho

6 minutes ago, RIP Mourinho said:

He's in his 13th season in the league with 3 elite goalscoring seasons in arguably the best squad the Premier league has witnessed and had a steady decline on his return year on year since 19-20. He's probably about on par with Schurrle when we had him, except he was 23 years old and wasn't on £325k per week. 

and he still can't make a final pass as his brain is 1 second slower than it should be.

1 hour ago, RIP Mourinho said:

He's in his 13th season in the league with 3 elite goalscoring seasons in arguably the best squad the Premier league has witnessed and had a steady decline on his return year on year since 19-20. He's probably about on par with Schurrle when we had him, except he was 23 years old and wasn't on £325k per week. 

I get you don't rate him, heck I don't even like him as a player but he is only behind Aguero in goals for that City team in the premier league era and he's been playing with some very good players who are no where near him in terms of numbers. I just think he's better than what we have right now because what we have isn't very good.

Mudryk is no where near ready and should likely be on loan, Noni has now only just got game time and we're in January and Nkunku is always injured.

Palmer and Sterling have to start every game and form a partnership because out of all our attacking players those 2 seem to be always fit and ready to play.

 

 

 

17 hours ago, RIP Mourinho said:

Is it even possible to play him into consistent form? This has been common throughout his entire career, he just doesn't have KDB and Aguero to pick up the pieces anymore when he's having one of his numerous 'off days'.

You can help him by not playing him on the right 😁😁😁

But you will get a phone call from Boehly. 

I don't like he has decided to start diving again. I don't want to see anyone our players diving.

On 12/01/2024 at 08:18, Nibs said:

They are good points Sheva. With the young squad we now have, we need that bit of experience. I was guilty of being "happy" to see Pedro & Willian go when we are crying out for players like that now.

But in Sterlings case, I have been seeing the same thing throughout his career and think it's too late for him to change now. I'm no fan of Southgate, but understand why he has dropped Sterling from the England squad. He's just too frustrating and goes from being close to unplayable to wrong decision time and again. You are right, there is more patience with young players but that's because they are expected to make mistakes and hopefully learn from them and improve. Sterling just hasn't learned.

 

I was actually doing this very comparison yesterday. I think both Pedro and Willian would stake a claim for our first team now!

8 hours ago, axman2526 said:

I don't like he has decided to start diving again. I don't want to see anyone our players diving.

How else are we gonna score?

7 hours ago, Remodez said:

How else are we gonna score?

It is not our way, at least it should not be. Our fans would not have it from Drogba, nor would JT and Lamps who set him straight.

13 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

It is not our way, at least it should not be. Our fans would not have it from Drogba, nor would JT and Lamps who set him straight.

I love Drogba but he would try for an occasional dive.. as Sterling said there are plenty of times where the forwards don’t get one so if makes slightly more of a contact.. then it is what it is..

21 hours ago, axman2526 said:

I don't like he has decided to start diving again. I don't want to see anyone our players diving.

I wouldn't call it diving, it's more of a reaction when a player being hit in the box. The defender was diving in, so there were sufficient contacts to warrant him going down. The fact referee ( no other than the Chelsea hating AT) gave the penalty suggested enough contacts.  If he stayed up, probably hit the post and we'd be calling him all sorts of names again😅

7 hours ago, Jangz said:

I love Drogba but he would try for an occasional dive.. as Sterling said there are plenty of times where the forwards don’t get one so if makes slightly more of a contact.. then it is what it is..

he never got a penalty from diving... just scored instead 🙂