Manchester City have a squad of world class talent.

Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus will grab the goals, Ederson will stop them and the likes of Bernardo Silva, David Silva and Kevin De Bruyne are all on hand to set-up chance after chance.

But I think English international Raheem Sterling is the player that gives City the most overall contribution.

Last season in the Premier League, Raheem Sterling scored seventeen goals and created ten assists as he help his side secure back to back league titles.

The wide forward played with such persistent energy that opposition teams just couldn’t contain him.

Under Pep Guardiola, Sterling has become a world class player. He seems to influence any game he’s apart of, both domestically and in Europe. A main change in the twenty-four year old’s game has been that he’s added composure in the final third. He now doesn’t rush his chances, and will make the right decisions inside the box.

As a youngster at Liverpool, Raheem would burst beyond opponents but his final product would often let him down. Now he looks assured when on the ball and you’ll bet on him taking his chances. He’s also very smart when making his runs and will often lose his markers as he charges in between a fullback and a centre-back.

The winger has started this campaign with a bang!

He scored against his former side Liverpool at Wembley Stadium as The Citizens claimed the Community Shield.

Sterling followed up that performance with a scintillating outing against West Ham United in City’s opening English top flight game of the season.

Man City crushed their hosts by a 5-0 scoreline (BBC Match Report), with Sterling stealing the show with a well taken hat-trick.

The London Stadium’s left flank must be scorched considering the amount of times Sterling burst down that wing.

In fairness I think Hammers fullback Ryan Fredericks did well on Raheem on quite a few occasions, the problem is that the Man City star was just relentless!

He took his trio of goals with much aplomb!

His first saw him latch onto a De Bruyne through ball and then Raheem cooly nutmegged West Ham keeper Lukasz Fabianski. He doubled his tally with a lovely dink over the Hammers shot-stopper and then Sterling superbly slotted in his third from close range with just minutes to go.

Raheem was great throughout the game and unfortunately had a lovely assist chopped off due to a correct VAR decision. He also enjoyed a 78% passing success rate, had four shots on target (scoring three), was fouled twice and he won two aerial battles.

After today’s game Pep praised the player to the club’s website and also stated that he could become a centre forward:

“On the first day he played striker and for me striker will be an incredible position for him. He can play in three positions up front.”

“They are incredibly talented players but they need the group, they need the team. When the team takes a step forward he plays better.”

“But I know the special quality of the player, the consistent physicality and the finishing.”

ManCity.com

That shows you the confidence Guardiola has in his player and let’s be fair Raheem has worked his socks off for his manager and he hasn’t let him down either.

Not only has Raheem Sterling become a superstar off the pitch, he’s now a hero off of it too.

He’s a young man that has had to put up with major negative media scrutiny and he has also had to put up with personal abuse from opposition supporters. Yet he still plays with a smile on his face, has time for his fans and will speak out on important issues.

Raheem doesn’t get bitter, he gets better!

He’s a credit and a vital cog in the Manchester City winning machine. Personally if I were Gareth Southgate I would have Sterling as my number one player for England.

Posted on August 10th, 2019 by scott
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