3 minutes ago, Victor90 said:

You always keep making excuses for him, you were literally saying it's okay for him to be lazy because the players around him aren't playing up to standard, almost laughable. 

Where did I say that?

2 minutes ago, OriginalS said:

Where did I say that?

 

On 12/03/2024 at 08:35, OriginalS said:

Form has certainly regressed since the first half of the season. Seems to have lost his motivation a bit and it's not a great excuse but I can see why. We have to remember that Sterling had essentially been starting for title challengers (and winning many) for ten consecutive seasons before he signed for us. It must be challenging to keep your motivation when you are used to that but now have found yourself battling it out in lower midtable with the likes of Wolves & Fulham for two consecutive seasons.

It's not a great excuse because he's our biggest earner but I can see why his motivation is gone. His entire tenure at the club will have been extremely far off what he expected.

Not making excuses but making a sh*tload of excuses as to why it's okay for his standards to slip and be a lazy bastard because the players around him aren't as good as they were at City. 

He's getting a lot of criticism because he's basically our MVP, highest wages, most experienced, and he's getting picked and played purely on reputation. I remember when Willian used to get a lot of slack later in the season because his purple patch ran out, but with Willian there was always that argument to be made that he worked his socks off every game. Sterling you don't get any of that.

His form has drastically dwindled and he hasn't had a good game in months. I've had a lot of criticism for Mudryk this season but Mudryk has played half the minute Sterling has and his stats aren't even that far behind, same with Madueke. So the whole Sterling stats argument doesn't really hold up that well when you compare his minutes played with Madueke and Mudryk, on average both of the other players would have better stats. 

6 minutes ago, Victor90 said:

 

Not making excuses but making a sh*tload of excuses as to why it's okay for his standards to slip and be a lazy bastard because the players around him aren't as good as they were at City. 

He's getting a lot of criticism because he's basically our MVP, highest wages, most experienced, and he's getting picked and played purely on reputation. I remember when Willian used to get a lot of slack later in the season because his purple patch ran out, but with Willian there was always that argument to be made that he worked his socks off every game. Sterling you don't get any of that.

His form has drastically dwindled and he hasn't had a good game in months. I've had a lot of criticism for Mudryk this season but Mudryk has played half the minute Sterling has and his stats aren't even that far behind, same with Madueke. So the whole Sterling stats argument doesn't really hold up that well when you compare his minutes played with Madueke and Mudryk, on average both of the other players would have better stats. 

I prefer calling it an explanation as I literally said it's not a great excuse. What I said there is that I can see why a player accustomed to a certain level will lose his motivation when it's become clear its two consecutive years of mid-table mediocrity.

And do you know who else I could say that about? Thiago Silva, but I fail to see a lot of hate or over the top crap about him. He also lost motivation last year under Potter and again this year under Pochettino and resembled a sulking bastard most of the time he's been on the pitch since September 2022.

Edited March 17, 20242 yr by OriginalS

7 minutes ago, OriginalS said:

I prefer calling it an explanation as I literally said it's not a great excuse. What I said there is that I can see why a player accustomed to a certain level will lose his motivation when it's become clear its two consecutive years of mid-table mediocrity.

And do you know who else I could say that about? Thiago Silva, but I fail to see a lot of hate or over the top crap about him. He also lost motivation last year under Potter and again this year under Pochettino.

Starting by saying "I'm not making excuses" doesn't mean you're not making excuses, especially when you go on to make excuses. 

Thiago Silva was signed at the age of 36 when he's been playing at a high professional level for years, he came on a free, the expectations for him weren't high yet he's consistently been our best player for years. Only until now he's starting to get dropped because his lack of pace has caused us problems at the back. Guess the difference there? One gets dropped for subpar performances, the other doesn't. One was signed for 50 million in his prime on ridiculous wages, the other one wasn't. I don't buy that motivation nonsense for Thiago at all, he's always been a top pro. 

Sterling has shown on many occasions he's putting himself before the team, and it's not good enough. Especially when you're the eldest and most experienced amongst the pack. 

Edited March 17, 20242 yr by Victor90

Stats will show he got an assist today.

BUT, he got in the way of a possible Mudryk goal. Then not hitting the target when clean through on goal was really poor. He shouldn't have taken the penalty and it was as poor a penalty as I have seen in a long time. But he then outdid himself with that free-kick. Has there ever been a worse taken free-kick in the history of the game? The absolute icing on the cake of what was a real shocker.

Said the other day, I can't hate a Chelsea player, but he is making things very hard with each & every appearance.

Edited March 17, 20242 yr by Nibs

Just now, Nibs said:

Stas will show he got an assist today.

BUT, he got in the way of a possible Mudryk goal. Then not hitting the target when clean through on goal was really poor. He shouldn't have taken the penalty and it was as poor a penalty as I have seen in a long time. But he then outdid himself with that free-kick. Has there ever been a worse taken free-kick in the history of the game? The absolute icing on the cake of what was a real shocker.

Said the other day, I can't hate a Chelsea player, but he is making things very hard with each & every appearance.

He was appalling today. No disputing that. The assist aside he offered nothing positive and a lot of negative.

However I'm not for blaming him for stopping the Mudryk effort. There was no way he could get out of the way of that. Arguably Mudryk should have looked up and realised he shouldn't have hit it there. That's maybe a tad harsh but not as harsh as blaming Sterling for blocking it.

1 minute ago, Victor90 said:

Guess the difference there? One gets dropped for subpar performances, the other doesn't. One wasn't signed for 50 million in his prime on ridiculous wages, the other one was. I don't buy that motivation nonsense for Thiago at all, he's always been a top pro. 

Are you blaming him for not dropping himself now or what? Perhaps he should be dropped despite rather poor alternatives but that is the managers imperative.

And if you want to go down the price/performance path we could sit here all evening and have a hate-fest about 80% of the squad. You interested?

 

2 minutes ago, OriginalS said:

Are you blaming him for not dropping himself now or what? Perhaps he should be dropped despite rather poor alternatives but that is the managers imperative.

And if you want to go down the price/performance path we could sit here all evening and have a hate-fest about 80% of the squad. You interested?

 

I think the manager deserves just as much blame for it. I could understand Poch playing Sterling on his experience and past record, but he's just starting on reputation now and it's getting ridiculous. We've got a young team to develop and he's wasting a space there with terrible performances. 

I and many others strongly dislike Sterling's attitude on the pitch and how he carries himself. But Pochettino is also to blame for starting him week after week when he hasn't had a good game in a long time. The best course of action the club could take right now is to try and get a good offer for him in the summer.

1 minute ago, Victor90 said:

I think the manager deserves just as much blame for it. I could understand Poch playing Sterling on his experience and past record, but he's just starting on reputation now and it's getting ridiculous. We've got a young team to develop and he's wasting a space there with terrible performances. 

I and many others strongly dislike Sterling's attitude on the pitch and how he carries himself. But Pochettino is also to blame for starting him week after week when he hasn't had a good game in a long time. The best course of action the club could take right now is to try and get a good offer for him in the summer.

You would have to give the manager all the blame for it. Imagine the reaction of Sterling refused to play? There would be carnage.

He probably should be moved on in the summer, I agree with that. That should happen because our aim isn't to compete anymore it's to develop players as you rightfully said. i.e, we have become the Brighton-esque development side the owners and directors always wanted us to become.

1 hour ago, Scott Harris said:

His early form wasn't even that good. He was playing well against the worst teams we have played against all season. When it comes to playing well against quality opposition, he's only done it twice, and both of those times were against City, and we all know why that was.

Look at who he has scored against this season. Luton (2) Burnley, Man City, Newcastle (played sh*t in this game) Man City again, Preston and Blackburn. Some pundits were telling us he's world class, the only thing he has ever been world class at is being selfish.

With all due respect Scott, we have lost the right to be looking down on the opposition this season so you downplaying him single handedly winning us games v Luton and Burnley doesn’t quite sit right with me. Especially when we would be 14th or 15th right now without those 6 points.

He also played well v arsenal where he assisted the first goal, spurs as well and sheff united. City too as you mentioned. 
 

i was just as frustrated as everyone else with him today, probably his worse game due to his selfishness but it’s important to have some perspective. The booing was unnecessary but thankfully it didn’t look like it was a large portion of the fans.

2 minutes ago, Remodez said:

With all due respect Scott, we have lost the right to be looking down on the opposition this season so you downplaying him single handedly winning us games v Luton and Burnley doesn’t quite sit right with me. Especially when we would be 14th or 15th right now without those 6 points.

He also played well v arsenal where he assisted the first goal, spurs as well and sheff united. City too as you mentioned. 
 

i was just as frustrated as everyone else with him today, probably his worse game due to his selfishness but it’s important to have some perspective. The booing was unnecessary but thankfully it didn’t look like it was a large portion of the fans.

Sorry, but nothing anybody says is going to convince me otherwise at this point. The guy has annoyed me throughout his career watching him for England, and he is exactly the same for us. The good moments are surrounded by a ton of sh*te. I don't rate him, I never have rated him, his general play is horrible and now I have to suffer watching him play for Chelsea. 

1 hour ago, Scott Harris said:

6 of them against Championship teams.

It's nothing special, it's poor for a player of his supposed standard.

Why is that only a criticism against Sterling? 

Sterling hasn't been good enough and was frustrating today but still created 4 chances today, got an assist and won a penalty. He's clearly capable of having a positive impact for us

But some obsessively focus on his negatives while clinging to the very few positives of our other players.

I genuinely wonder why.

4 minutes ago, Whats_The_Mata? said:

Why is that only a criticism against Sterling? 

Sterling hasn't been good enough and was frustrating today but still created 4 chances today, got an assist and won a penalty. He's clearly capable of having a positive impact for us

But some obsessively focus on his negatives while clinging to the very few positives of our other players.

I genuinely wonder why.

It's not, but he's 29 years old, supposed to be this world class player and has been one of the first names on the team sheets all season.

He has 18 goals and assists, most of it coming against Championship quality. Murdyk has played half the amount of minutes and is sitting on 9 goal contributions and Madueke has only played 800 minutes with 6 goal contributions. If either of those two was given the same time and patience Sterling has had, I see no reason why they wouldn't be putting up similar numbers and maybe better because their confidence would be given the chance to grow.

Sterling just gets worse as the season goes on and he's still a regular starter. Even City fans didn't rate him, and they got far more out of him than we ever will.

45 minutes ago, loz said:

He was appalling today. No disputing that. The assist aside he offered nothing positive and a lot of negative.

However I'm not for blaming him for stopping the Mudryk effort. There was no way he could get out of the way of that. Arguably Mudryk should have looked up and realised he shouldn't have hit it there. That's maybe a tad harsh but not as harsh as blaming Sterling for blocking it.

The thing about the mudryk one is sterling had a great chance to get a shot if but his first touch was appalling, then he compounded it by being in the way. He was shockingly bad all game, if he starts the next game over literally anyone then we know that spursy prick is taking the piss 

Apparently wanted to take the penalty.. non sensical .. especially given his poor track record with penalties..

 since the episode with Gomez in the national team I have seen him a negative light., 

1 hour ago, Scott Harris said:

t's not, but he's 29 years old, supposed to be this world class play

Think I am yet to see anyone who thinks Sterling is world class. What I would say is that he was a quality player for City & England and should have been a shrewd purchase for £45 million. Contributed a lot early doors this season despite you knitpicking the stats (do the same for Palmer and he'd look like a flat track bully too).

If we sell him I can see Arteta and Arsenal picking him up and if that was the case I think he'd become a rather important player for them. Just like the midfielder we sold them who's sh*te too obviously but who's somehow become a vital player for another side fighting for the biggest titles while we're hoping we can sneak past mighty West Ham before the seasons over.

Edited March 17, 20242 yr by OriginalS

4 minutes ago, OriginalS said:

If we sell him I can see Arteta and Arsenal picking him up and if that was the case I think he'd become a rather important player for them. Just like Jorginho who's sh*te too obviously but who's somehow become a vital player for another side fighting for the biggest titles while we're hoping we can sneak past mighty West Ham before the seasons over.

Please let this happen!

I'd love to see Sterling taking minutes away from Martinelli and Trossard while also selfishly relieving Saka from his penalty duties. Maybe then we both could struggle against mighty West Ham and we'd stop seeing Arsenal pretending to fight for the title. It's a win-win for everyone really. 

Sterling isn't (completely) sh*t, he just isn't likable and not that amazing either. Just rather we try again with another supposed "superstar" leading the way for our dubious youngsters, preferably one who doesn't show that stupid smirk every time he f**ks up. 

The only positive thing is that at least he didn’t hide which he could have easily done. But that’s the only positive. 

I was just watching a replay of his penalty and free kick and couldn't help but look at the way he strikes a ball. I have never seen a professional footballer shoot like he does. It just looks so odd.

Edited March 17, 20242 yr by Scott Harris

The Sterling "hate" is absolutely strange and ridiculous. He was terrible today and I would like him to be sold because his wages and fee doesn't match the level we expect. Terrible game today but the comments I'm reading are concerning.

Tbf I've said some bad things about Jackson which I apologised and took back.  Sterling is not a bad human being, he has been one of our most dangerous players in a poor season.  Far worse performers than him over the years e.g Cucurella, Sanchez even Kai Haverts (scrappy cl final goal aside).

31 minutes ago, KonaKai Blue said:

The Sterling "hate" is absolutely strange and ridiculous. He was terrible today and I would like him to be sold because his wages and fee doesn't match the level we expect. Terrible game today but the comments I'm reading are concerning.

Tbf I've said some bad things about Jackson which I apologised and took back.  Sterling is not a bad human being, he has been one of our most dangerous players in a poor season.  Far worse performers than him over the years e.g Cucurella, Sanchez even Kai Haverts (scrappy cl final goal aside).

Problem is those players weren't signed to lead the squad, they were either supposed to be role players or signed to eventually become elite (Havertz).

Sterling, on the other hand, has been signed to be the face of the team, with astronomical wages within our payroll, and yet is fumbling chances left and right alongside our young players.

Nothing new here as that's always been his game and obviously isn't his fault the board signed that contract. I don't believe it's hate (although not passing to open teammates thrice this season is like asking to be disliked) It's just that he's not good enough and also doesn't seem to be exactly the role model our players need at the moment, at least not on the pitch.

3 hours ago, OriginalS said:

You would have to give the manager all the blame for it. Imagine the reaction of Sterling refused to play? There would be carnage.

He probably should be moved on in the summer, I agree with that. That should happen because our aim isn't to compete anymore it's to develop players as you rightfully said. i.e, we have become the Brighton-esque development side the owners and directors always wanted us to become.

Wait so are you saying Sterling doesn't want to play? Yet you're still defending him? I'm sorry but what nonsense is this. He's a professional footballer, he's got a job to do, he should be ecstatic to play football. 

I don't want us to be a development club, my point is that Mudryk and Madueke are worth investing in if our expensive "professional" guy isn't putting in the performances and is pushing 30. At this rate I seriously don't see how Mudryk or Madueke would be worse with the same minutes? At the start of the season he was top dog, gave him loads of credit, but like I've said 50 times, can you remember the last time he had a good game? Because I can't, it was probably in November or something. 

3 hours ago, Whats_The_Mata? said:

Why is that only a criticism against Sterling? 

Sterling hasn't been good enough and was frustrating today but still created 4 chances today, got an assist and won a penalty. He's clearly capable of having a positive impact for us

But some obsessively focus on his negatives while clinging to the very few positives of our other players.

I genuinely wonder why.

Probably because he’s the highest earner in his prime years and spent an entire game against Championship opposition sabotaging us. Let’s not try to spin winning the penalty as him doing something good, he controlled a pass and was chopped from behind in a braindead challenge. He didn’t dribble a man and win a penalty with his ability. There was no positives to focus on today and anything he did was outweighed by the horrific negatives we all witnessed. 
 

You might only be interested in slandering 21 year olds with less than a years experience but I’ll hold players like Sterling, who should be leading this team to much higher standards than the others. 

2 hours ago, OriginalS said:

Think I am yet to see anyone who thinks Sterling is world class. What I would say is that he was a quality player for City & England and should have been a shrewd purchase for £45 million. Contributed a lot early doors this season despite you knitpicking the stats (do the same for Palmer and he'd look like a flat track bully too).

If we sell him I can see Arteta and Arsenal picking him up and if that was the case I think he'd become a rather important player for them. Just like the midfielder we sold them who's sh*te too obviously but who's somehow become a vital player for another side fighting for the biggest titles while we're hoping we can sneak past mighty West Ham before the seasons over.

Really weird to mention Palmer in the same breath as Sterling when he has goals against Arsenal, Spurs, Utd, City and Newcastle. 
 

I love the Jorginho revisionism after the last 2 or 3 games after spending the last 12 months costing them in every game he played. 

20 minutes ago, RIP Mourinho said:

Really weird to mention Palmer in the same breath as Sterling when he has goals against Arsenal, Spurs, Utd, City and Newcastle. 
 

I love the Jorginho revisionism after the last 2 or 3 games after spending the last 12 months costing them in every game he played. 

Not really as every goal bar the one against Newcastle was from the penalty spot as far as i'm aware. A penalty that someone else (including Sterling) won as well.

But i'm not holding it over his head. I said it to prove you can knitpick his stats as well and paint him as a flat track bully who's good at converting penalties and putting mid-table and lower and Championship sides to the sword.

 

Edited March 17, 20242 yr by OriginalS