Raheem Sterling

It's quite baffling how he goes from being mercurial in front of goal for City to utterly impotent for England. I mean if Stones hadn't banged in the rebound from that header and if this wasn't a rout against Panama, that miss alone was probably enough to haul him off in the second half.

He had a clear view of the situation and all the time in the world to make the right choice. The ball is coming to him from a header on the far side and the goalkeeper is scrambling across the goal. You aim the header low towards the corner he's running away from. Instead he headed it at chest height, towards the same side that the goalkeeper's momentum was carrying him. With no pressure whatsoever. How disconnected must your brain be to do that?

City player or not, I want him to do well for England's sake, but he's not helping himself at all at the moment.
 
Lingard missed at least four or five good chances against Tunisia, yet there was no mass outrage about his position in the team. Sterling assists two goals in a convincing 6-1 win and he gets slaughtered. The lad can do no right.
 
Dumbfounded by the criticism he receives. People want Rashford to start despite the fact he's clearly the most inconsistent attacker in that England squad.
 
ShadesOfTomato said:
Dumbfounded by the criticism he receives. People want Rashford to start despite the fact he's clearly the most inconsistent attacker in that England squad.
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Yeah it has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that he now has gone 22 games and almost three years without a goal for England. If Rashford had those numbers people wouldn't even want him in the squad.
 
MadMike said:
It's quite baffling how he goes from being mercurial in front of goal for City to utterly impotent for England. I mean if Stones hadn't banged in the rebound from that header and if this wasn't a rout against Panama, that miss alone was probably enough to haul him off in the second half.

He had a clear view of the situation and all the time in the world to make the right choice. The ball is coming to him from a header on the far side and the goalkeeper is scrambling across the goal. You aim the header low towards the corner he's running away from. Instead he headed it at chest height, towards the same side that the goalkeeper's momentum was carrying him. With no pressure whatsoever. How disconnected must your brain be to do that?

City player or not, I want him to do well for England's sake, but he's not helping himself at all at the moment.
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Haha he misses a LOT of chances for us too, don't worry about it.
 
ShadesOfTomato said:
Dumbfounded by the criticism he receives. People want Rashford to start despite the fact he's clearly the most inconsistent attacker in that England squad.
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Rashford would have been in the team if the English media didn't go about leaking team news
 
BlueMoonOutcast said:
Lingard missed at least four or five good chances against Tunisia, yet there was no mass outrage about his position in the team. Sterling assists two goals in a convincing 6-1 win and he gets slaughtered. The lad can do no right.
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Lingard missed two against Tunisia. One was the volley which was the easy one, the other one he hit the post with while stretching to beat the keeper to the ball. Not sure where the 4-5 comes from, care to elaborate?

Ultimately Lingard’s in midfield while Sterling’s a striker yet he’s got a better goals-per-minute and assists-per-minute ratio. Let’s not act like Sterling is doing a helluva lot right at the moment and the criticism is wholly unjustified.

I still think he’s the best candidate to start, just, but he needs to start banging some in because those chances will really cost against better opposition.
 
ShadesOfTomato said:
Dumbfounded by the criticism he receives. People want Rashford to start despite the fact he's clearly the most inconsistent attacker in that England squad.
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Rashford isn't inconsistent for England though?
Raheem scored 20 odd goals for City last year and has 2 in 40 for England while missing chance after chance.
Surely it's not that hard to see why?
 
How anyone can watch his performances this World Cup and say with a straight face he deserves to start. He’s been truly awful. Terrible finisher, and an average player.
 
I find it really sad that the English press are treating him the way they are. Yes, he's a professional footballer, and he's bound to come under scrutiny at times, but I just feel they're really trying to break him mentally.

Granted he's not been great for England and hasn't scored since 2015, but the guy has just had his best season, playing a pivotal part in City winning the title and breaking numerous records. You could argue that he's been the most consistent English player in the Premier League.

I just think the press need to give him a break. He's a top player!
 
Walters_19_MuFc said:
Average player? Wonder if you said that with a straight face?
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Pre-season and international tournaments: Sterling, Otamendi, Walker, Stones, Jesus are all average/suck
League season: Guardiola bought the best players in the world and is the only reason he's running away with the league
 
Walters_19_MuFc said:
Average player? Wonder if you said that with a straight face?
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I’ve always maintained that he’s hugely overrated. His finishing is atrocious and while he is a good dribbler he isn’t particularly direct. It’s a massive credit to pep that he has got the performances from him this season and even more credit to city who manage to produce enough chances for someone like sterling to bag 20 goals. I can only imagine what someone like Marez would score in a similar setup. If city are serious about winning the biggest honours, then they will upgrade on Sterling and I personally think they will.
 
Poor fecker has been missing a lot of sitters. Will be interesting to see how he addresses it. The Belgium game doesnt mean anything, so maybe the best thing to do is to keep Sterling in for that game and then address it when the knockouts starts. He seems to be the odd man out at the minute, which is a shame. It's typical "10 heroic lions, 1 stupid boy" shit. I'm sure if we get knocked out in the next round, he'll be the scapegoat.
 
TrustInJanuzaj said:
I’ve always maintained that he’s hugely overrated. His finishing is atrocious and while he is a good dribbler he isn’t particularly direct. It’s a massive credit to pep that he has got the performances from him this season and even more credit to city who manage to produce enough chances for someone like sterling to bag 20 goals. I can only imagine what someone like Marez would score in a similar setup. If city are serious about winning the biggest honours, then they will upgrade on Sterling and I personally think they will.
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The league isn't a big honour?
 
I get that he's a City player so he's not going to get 100% fair judgement from anyone. I'm guilty of this too for others, I'm not a hypocrite. But let's be serious, he's a fantastic player and if he's playing with low confidence right now then the media assassination (that there is even a thread for on here) has done its job.
 
he just isn't a natural finisher, and probably doesn't relish the chance to score a goal. He's a dangerous player but give someone else the pressure of scoring
 
BlueMoonOutcast said:
I get that he's a City player so he's not going to get 100% fair judgement from anyone. I'm guilty of this too for others, I'm not a hypocrite. But let's be serious, he's a fantastic player and if he's playing with low confidence right now then the media assassination (that there is even a thread for on here) has done its job.
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Agreed, the fact that the attack came from his own countries media is an absolute disgrace, going into the tournament you'd be thinking Sterling would be up there with Kane as one of our best players but like you said his confidence when playing for England looks shot.
 
BlueMoonOutcast said:
I get that he's a City player so he's not going to get 100% fair judgement from anyone. I'm guilty of this too for others, I'm not a hypocrite. But let's be serious, he's a fantastic player and if he's playing with low confidence right now then the media assassination (that there is even a thread for on here) has done its job.
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Only the best players in the world can go from club football to international football and not skip a beat.

Sterling's confidence was sky high coming into this tournament, but he will never be among the best if he doesn't sort out his finishing. Luckily for him it's something that can be worked on and he has 3-4 years till he's at his best. A great player, but the english media have an unhealthy obsession with him.
 
TrustInJanuzaj said:
I’ve always maintained that he’s hugely overrated. His finishing is atrocious and while he is a good dribbler he isn’t particularly direct. It’s a massive credit to pep that he has got the performances from him this season and even more credit to city who manage to produce enough chances for someone like sterling to bag 20 goals. I can only imagine what someone like Marez would score in a similar setup. If city are serious about winning the biggest honours, then they will upgrade on Sterling and I personally think they will.
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Thats fine, but do you think he's an average player?
 
Walters_19_MuFc said:
Thats fine, but do you think he's an average player?
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Yeh unpopular opinion, but I think he is. Doesn’t possess any incredible qualities that set him apart. He’s just lucky to have been a part of two fantastic attaching systems surrounded by top class talent.
 
TrustInJanuzaj said:
Yeh unpopular opinion, but I think he is. Doesn’t possess any incredible qualities that set him apart. He’s just lucky to have been a part of two fantastic attaching systems surrounded by top class talent.
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Lucky? He was pivotal those attacking systems working, but hey, you're entitled to your own opinion.
 
Why are people even complaining? England just won 6-1 for feck's sake.

cyberman said:
Rashford isn't inconsistent for England though?
Raheem scored 20 odd goals for City last year and has 2 in 40 for England while missing chance after chance.
Surely it's not that hard to see why?
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Harry Kane scored 0 goals in Euro 2016. That doesn't exclude him from being one of England's best players.

Also, Rashford has 3 England goals in 20 appearances.

RedDevil@84 said:
Rashford would have been in the team if the English media didn't go about leaking team news
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Do you cover your house in tinfoil by any chance?
 
I'm fine with him still starting because his general play is still very good and Rashford is still inconsistent himself. I just hope none of our big chances fall to him!
 
He is the only player in the England team contributing nothing so far.

I'm actually convinced the only reason he's still there is because of this idiotic campaign to paint him as some kind of victim of unfair criticism, every time a finger is pointed at him. It's created a scenario where people will blindly jump to his defence when he receives valid criticism for poor performances...it's happening in this thread.

The reality is he's played consistently for England since the last world cup, and in that time has yet to produce a single performance that really justifies keeping him in the team. A vast majority of his performances have strongly justified him being dropped. At this point he isn't being picked in the hope he will come good, or that he's capable of doing better, because after 4 years only an insane person would conclude that is the case.

His most notable contribution to the national team in this time was missing an England game because he "felt tired" which in itself is also an extremely good reason to drop a player even if they are performing well.

When you remove all the stupidity about claiming he's the victim of racism because there was an article about him buying a sink. Or that people are picking on him for some illogical reason, the reality you're left with is that it shouldn't even be a question of Rashford or Sterling, it should be a question of Rashford or someone else.

Rashford has done more for England in single games or 3 minute substitute appearances than Sterling has in his career. Vardy has shown more for England than Sterling has. Sturridge and Defoe have shown more for England than Sterling has. He isn't a significantly better player than any of these to justify constantly picking him ahead of them anyway.

It isn't racism or victimisation to notice that someone is consistently among your worst players and can't score a goal to save their life.

It's becoming a massive annoyance because it's so obvious we would improve if we just made the change and it's simply impossible at this point that Southgate isn't aware of this.
 
noodlehair said:
He is the only player in the England team contributing nothing so far.

I'm actually convinced the only reason he's still there is because of this idiotic campaign to paint him as some kind of victim of unfair criticism, every time a finger is pointed at him. It's created a scenario where people will blindly jump to his defence when he receives valid criticism for poor performances...it's happening in this thread.

The reality is he's played consistently for England since the last world cup, and in that time has yet to produce a single performance that really justifies keeping him in the team. A vast majority of his performances have strongly justified him being dropped. At this point he isn't being picked in the hope he will come good, or that he's capable of doing better, because after 4 years only an insane person would conclude that is the case.

His most notable contribution to the national team in this time was missing an England game because he "felt tired" which in itself is also an extremely good reason to drop a player even if they are performing well.

When you remove all the stupidity about claiming he's the victim of racism because there was an article about him buying a sink. Or that people are picking on him for some illogical reason, the reality you're left with is that it shouldn't even be a question of Rashford or Sterling, it should be a question of Rashford or someone else.

Rashford has done more for England in single games or 3 minute substitute appearances than Sterling has in his career. Vardy has shown more for England than Sterling has. Sturridge and Defoe have shown more for England than Sterling has. He isn't a significantly better player than any of these to justify constantly picking him ahead of them anyway.

It isn't racism or victimisation to notice that someone is consistently among your worst players and can't score a goal to save their life.

It's becoming a massive annoyance because it's so obvious we would improve if we just made the change and it's simply impossible at this point that Southgate isn't aware of this.
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ShadesOfTomato said:
Why are people even complaining? England just won 6-1 for feck's sake.



Harry Kane scored 0 goals in Euro 2016. That doesn't exclude him from being one of England's best players.

Also, Rashford has 3 England goals in 20 appearances.



Do you cover your house in tinfoil by any chance?
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To be fair to Marcus, he's started 8 games. And he's primarily been used as an impact sub.
 
ShadesOfTomato said:
Why are people even complaining? England just won 6-1 for feck's sake.



Harry Kane scored 0 goals in Euro 2016. That doesn't exclude him from being one of England's best players.

Also, Rashford has 3 England goals in 20 appearances.



Do you cover your house in tinfoil by any chance?
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But Rashford isn't on for goals. How many times does he come on and change the game for England?
Adds that bit of directness to the left hand side?
Rashford has had half the games (many as sub) yet I'd bet you could remember more impressive performances from Rashford than Raheem.
And I like Sterling but there's only so many chances you can fluff.
 
In this England team you don’t know what he is. He just looks lost most of the time.
 
Really bad performance. Position doesn't suit him. He can use his pace to get into the right areas, but it's not sticking to feet nor has he got in behind effectively.
 
He shouldn’t be in the team. He’s a total waste of space and detrimental to our performances. But England always has at least one player who plays regardless of how crap they are.
 
Had a poor game and a poor tournament so far.
Can only imagine he's going to score the winner now!
 
I think he's been ok today myself. He's given a bit of spark to the team on a good few occasions. Generally he's rubbish for England but this is one of the few times he's justified his place in the team...it's not like there's stacks of talent just waiting in the wings.
 
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