At the moment Sterling is firmly in the bracket of players who don't live up to their club form when they pull on an international shirt. There are loads of those, of course, but not quite so many who fare better for England than for their clubs. Michael Owen was one, Andros Townsend and Danny Welbeck more recently.
Sterling is playing with better players at Man City than he would for England, he is scoring for Man City because of this. DDD is right he has been poor against iffy opposition, his first touch is still a problem.
England have been poor. Its not Sterlings Fault he went for 50 million at a very young age so is judge so. However he should be better than he has been. Man City are on fire at the moment and are good to watch. He is playing well in a strong team. His talent should expect that. He needs a good season behind him for club and country. At the moment he should not start for England until he shows he is worth it. Its just my opinion.
He may be having a good season for his club, but he's been utterly appalling for England and should definitely be dropped.
Whereas you on the other hand... Oh. The judge may have said that Sampson is not a racist. But she also said Sampson had said things that were "discriminatory on the grounds of race". So he exhibited racist behaviour, in other words. That's more than simply having a poor sense of humour. You seem to sympathise more with Sampson than Aluko based on what you've said on here. I don't, though I take your point that the circumstances behind Sampson's sacking look all too convenient for the FA. We do agree, however, that the FA are an utter, utter shambles that will hopefully be overhauled in a meaningful way after the revelations of the past few days. Maybe let's leave it at that.
I suppose what you consider young is a mindset - I am in Hull and listening to Burnsie talking about 50 being the new 30... my point is that the offences he has been sacked for were much younger that 38yrs of age. Racist jokes are not acceptable and some corrective action should be taken - it was at Bristol over his relationship issue and it was this that the FA sacked him from a totally disassociated job with England for. Where is the correlation? Make what wrong, his behaviour at Bristol or that at England?
Yes, I think I made it clear I knew that and yes, the Ebola joke was crass, but was it sackable as a first offence? But he wasn't sacked for that was he. Yes he is a prick, but is that something cause for the sack? I agree he had become a liability, but mainly because the FA senior management are a bigger liability. The wisdom of the FA to commission an active squad member, Aluko, to write a report (John's post), rather than an external agency, is the root of this. If Sampson were to be sacked it should have been transparent and for the right reasons, not a manipulated reason from previous employment surrounded by unconnected accusations from a totally separate report.
I know half of women footballers are dykes but putting men in charge of women's football teams is asking for trouble. Ron Atkinson has just rang me up and told me that. .
A bit of a coincidence don't you think? And the fact she is will be made a big thing by the media.....interim manager who wants the job full time bringing a player back that will put said manager in a good light, Hmmmm smells a little of using the situation to enhance her chances to me
I don't think it's a coincidence at all, she was dropped purely for speaking out against the manager.
Exactly. The FA even acknowledged this and offered the compensation on this basis, to replace lost earnings of a centrally contracted player. I'm not a huge follower of the women's game, but I don't think there's much doubt that she's still more than good enough to be in the squad on merit, is there?
