Transfer Rumours The Sterling Discussions

He is a striker which is something you don't have therefore he will improve your team.
He is far more than a target man and will work well with Firmino and Milner (both of who can cross), Henderson has been more inclined to put long balls into the box of late as well so he could well use his height to be a target if required to do so.
When you say he doesn't suit your style, what so you see your style as now?

 

Agree with this. We bought Firmino first to get a decent deal (debatable for some) whereas we were always going to meet the release clause for Benteke; means having £49m sat in our bank account doesn't effect the price. Villa can't ask for more.

 

Sterling's been bragging about this move for months in training, he signed for them back in November.

 

I have watched Benteke for Belgium and he doesn't work that well with Hazard, De Bruyne etc. players who are similar to our attacking players.

Firmino doesn't cross often, he 'created' 68 chances last season, only 5 of them were from crosses. Coutinho, Firmino, Sturridge are all about high tempo passing and movement while Benteke is the opposite, he wants the bring the ball down and then hold it up for supporting runners, which isn't suited to the type of game others want to play. We had this problem with Carroll and also with Lambert. I don't see why you think our players will miraculously start doing things to suit target men like Benteke.

 

I can see both sides of the argument with Benteke. Sure, he doesn't suit the fast free flowing style most of us crave, but on the other side, if all our players played in that way wouldn't we be predictable? Having Benteke would give the opposition something else to think about. Of course, they could just setup to stop him getting the ball and then we're back to 2014-15

 

I think we all know deep down that Sterling is a very good young player (compare him to other 20 year olds and he stands out head and shoulders when he's on form) and if he continues to play like the Sterling of 2013/2014 then he will become a top top player no doubt.

However, the last 6 months or so have shown that he is very easily distracted by off the field issues which have an effect on his on field performances. City have taken a risk (because they can afford it) that they'll get the 13/14 Sterling and not the 14/15 one we saw.

He may think his agent is gods gift after getting him a move and 200k a week, but he obviously doesn't give much of a **** about his life outside of football as proven by letting him go off the rails a bit. Best thing he can do still is get a decent agent that will actually stand up to him and put him in his place and he'll see the long term benefits.

Sterling's issue will be what happens when he has a bad patch. With us, we could continue to play him through it and he wasn't under pressure. At City, will he get the same treatment?

For £49m and 200k a week, you expect him to be playing every week however if he's playing poorly then City fans will start to get on his back and if that happens, then can City afford to keep him in the team? Probably not because they have quality players to replace... if he's replaced and sat back on the bench then his development and confidence might take a big hit..

All the time he's playing well he'll look like a "bargain" in footballing terms, but as soon as he hits a bad patch which will happen as he's 20 years old and far from finished article, that's when he, his agent and the decision to move will be questioned the most.

 

this is what I've been saying to Jimmy a lot when he says Benteke doesn't suit our play.

Our play in last year has been go through Coutinho/Sterling in the middle as if we get wide we have **** all options as we can't cross as we have Coutinho/Stering in the middle! Means teams push us wide and we are easy to defend against... with Benteke, someone who can be a threat, if teams push us wide then we actually have an option to put the ball into the middle. Means teams will be less reluctant to push us wide so easily which will free up more space for playing like Coutinho/Firmino in middle to play etc.

People say "we hardly crossed the ball so Benteke won't be any good as needs a team that cross it lots", but they don't look at why we don't cross it

Lazy punditry.

 

^

 

I don't think Benteke is the right player, far from it, but he wouldn't be the disaster (aka Balotelli) that some (well, mainly Jimmy) seem to suggest.

I do think he'd be better in a front two so maybe we'll see Benteke and Firmino or Benteke and Sturridge up top? I doubt it as I think Brod wants to play one up top in a 433 / 4321 system.

 

Don't think Raheem is fit to lace his boots.

 

Because our players don't cross often or well. Coutinho doesn't, Firmino doesn't, Johnson didn't, Moreno doesn't, Lallana doesn't, Sterling didn't, Markovic doesn't, Ibe doesn't. I could go on but you get the point.

James Milner crosses a bit but he's hardly David ****ing Beckham, we aren't going to build an attack around his crossing ability. And in any case bring Benteke in and we reduce the effectiveness of our best attacking player of last season and other fringe players like Markovic, Ibe etc.

And yes, in theory Benteke gives us an option in middle to cross, but in reality what will happen is we won't have anyone running in behind trying to stretch the opposition defence which will result in us crabbing the ball across the box eventually working it out wide to float a crap ball that is no use to anybody and go right into the arms of the keeper for 90 minutes. It'll work in 1 game against Watford in December where we'll score a late goal via Benteke header and we'll talk about how we've turned a corner and how we've finally started getting the right sort of delivery into him and then we'll proceed to crab the ball across the box and launch aimless crosses in for another 3 months before Benteke gets injured and we'll finish the season strongly without him. Then we'll tell everyone we've learnt our lesson and that we're better without Benteke then new season comes around and we will STILL start the season with Benteke up front and repeat EXACTLY the same mistakes again.

Its just unbelievable to me that we've had this situation with Carroll a few years ago and Lambert/Balotelli last season yet we are going to do it again this summer and waste another transfer window.

 

I've said numerous times on these boards, SWP is remembered for the bad things in his career, when he first broke onto the scene (basically, before he ruined his career by joining Chelsea) he was brilliant. Much more to his game than Sterling currently has although he was older (24) when he moved too.

 

Because the only person they could cross the ball to was Sterling

When we had SASAS we did actually get wide and put crosses in (although they were more small dinks or cut backs). That's because we had players in the box to put them away... last year we would get wide and have no option in the middle so Moreno had to cut back and pass backwards instead of just whacking it in there.

Milner's delivery is actually very good from open play and set pieces.

 

Sterling - "I've joined a club who can win trophies"

Ouch! <------- in the style a very camp Michael Jackson (or as we like to call him, astro)

 

Technically any club he joined could win a trophy...

 

Fixed

 

No heard any of the Man Utd signings say this

 

If Sterling turns out to be the player we all think he could be then City will look prescient and the transfer will be hailed as a great move, if not they'll be mugs.
To me, the sad- and frankly unforgivable- thing is that so much ridiculous money is thrown about on a highly speculative move.
Imo, this sort of money should be reserved for players at the top of their game who have a number of consistent, high performing seasons to their name. If we get to the stage when anyone with promise is commanding this sort of fee, then there's little hope of any club outside of the mega-rich being able to build and hold on to a team capable of mounting a serious challenge.

 

They don have to, it's obvious

Besides, most of them are coming from clubs that won trophies

 

Even if Sterling does great they're not going to get much credit for paying £46m* for the most highly rated young player in Europe

*based on the actual performance clauses likely to be triggered