Chelsea
Acquiring the 27-year-old core player of the England national team at an affordable price is certainly a wise investment from a financial perspective. Analyzed on a tactical level, Raheem Sterling's strength from the wing is unquestionable, and his skill in grabbing points in the middle of the field may even surpass Kai Havertz's. Capable of playing on the wing as well as up front, his versatility in front of goal becomes
Chelsea
An essential insurance card in the lineup.
With only the last year left on his contract.
Manchester City
Failure to wait for the player to return to form, the player can not wait for satisfactory playing time, and ultimately the two sides chose to part ways. The price of £47.5 million is probably fair to both teams, and compared to Leroy Sane's $50 million transfer fee that year, it's barely reasonable considering the "enemy" factor and the financial pressures brought about by the epidemic. However, from the perspective of the squad, the deal is no longer so obvious.
Manchester City
Why so determined to let go and why do you want the players' playing time to decrease year after year?
Before the article was published, I launched a little poll on my personal social media platforms, "Do people really hate Sterling?"
The results show that the left-of-center answers seem to be just fine, but there are still 13 people (about 11%) who gave the rightmost answer - specifically labeled "Yeah, he's really thunderous, go away". Therefore, this article will look at Sterling's shortcomings from the perspective of "disgusting to fans".
The Potential Risks of Being Gorgeous
Constantly attempting crosses is Sterling's trademark skill. According to fbref, he ranks second, second, second, first, and first on the team in attempted crosses per game, but fourth, second, fifth, first, and first in successful crosses per game, with fluctuating results. The reason for this is that his success rate on the plate, while occasionally excellent, is generally lower than the rest of his teammates.
Source: fbref
Kevin De Bruyne's high-risk, high-reward direct kick can be a classic moment when it works, and when it doesn't it makes
Manchester City
The possession came to an abrupt end and saw KDB's face redden with frustration. In a similar vein, Sterling constantly tries to go one-on-one with opposing wingbacks, perhaps even sprinting into the box with the ball despite facing a tackle, and when successful sees the follow-up inside shot or underhand cross look effortless, and when unsuccessful sees the
Manchester City
The possession comes to a screeching halt and sees Sterling's slightly stupid buy foul down move, with extreme fans even pointing at his butt-crossing body movements.
In regards to dish attempts, the gap between him and his teammates widened further last year's ball season, and that's exactly what Sterling himself said.
The previous style was more dynamic, more passing: me on one side, Sane on the other, two motorcycles swooshing around. The current style is more patient, keeps the ball more, and has a slower tempo, but both styles take care of the ball well and score goals.
In the 20/21 season, Phil Foden and Sterling rode side by side on the left wing like two motorcycles. In the 21/22 season, Foden was moved to the center of the field as a false 9, and Sterling became the Adama Traore of the Wolves and the Allan Saint-Maximin of the Newcastle, with success and efficiency put aside, and "dominance" becoming the primary goal. Last year, Sterling averaged 4.62 crosses per game, far more than Gabriel Jesus, who was second on the team with 2.92.
45.0% success rate, below average (26th percentile of Premier League wingers). "Sterling is pulling the rug out from under the team by disrupting the tempo of City's attack instead!" Such skeptical voices began to coalesce quickly.
End in front of the door
Only three penalties have been scored in his Premier League career from seven penalty kicks, a 42.9% strike rate well below the xG model's expectation of roughly 0.76.
And that's just the beginning. In April this year, in response to the derisive voices of "City's Happy Feet", I wrote an article on the goal-scoring finishing ability of all of City's midfielders. Below is a career tracker of Sterling's actual goals - expected goals.
Source: understat
After the no-huddle began to be used frequently, Sterling's finishing ability was suddenly knocked back down to earth, and last year saw a career low.
The blocks with the best goal-scoring efficiency are the sure-fire tap in at the red box above, where the xG per shot is almost always above 0.5 (the usual wrong expectation of goal-watching is probably 1?), followed by the BIG CHANCE from the outside of the penalty area to near the 12-yard line, at the yellow box, where the xG per shot mostly falls somewhere between 0.3 and 0.5 (the usual wrong expectation of goal-watching is probably 0.8 or more?). Sterling's record on the latter shot was dismal to say the least. And at the red box, despite near 100% certainty last year, many fans were never able to get out of the 19/20 Champions League haze.
