Yes. He's very good. You have to remember this is his first professional season, and wide players rarely add end product to their game until later on. Ronaldo 3 goals in 28 games in his first professional season, in a much weaker league. Gareth Bale 38 games 5 goals in his first full season, and that was in the much weaker championship.
Yeah, but you can't judge him so much on the assists stat. It isn't his fault if he sets up good chances and the other player misses. People often seem to forget the second part of the assist. I think key passes is a stat that is more reflective of creative input. He made 4 of those against Reading alone. He should, however, have a couple more goals. He had very good chances against Everton and Newcastle, in which he either took the wrong option, or took too long, and missed. His finishing and decision making in front of goal is the area of his game that needs the most work.
Couldn't agree more about assists, it takes two to tango Sterling is young and his finishing will get better. Look at just about every attacking player in the history of football and you will see their goalscoring stats get better with age. It comes with experience resulting in composure
Sterling gets his 1st cap, Gerrard gets his 100th. Hallmark moments for both in their England careers. I would prefer if they were both left out, though, really. ATM, I couldn't care less about England friendlies, and -- if either of those two get injured -- it'll further weaken our already admittedly weak squad. Good luck to them, but I hope they are both subbed after 45 mins.
Anyone else hoping Raheem Sterling can replicate John Barnes...? Choose England over playing for Jamaica and is awesome for Liverpool and rank for England
Mmm. Tough. Gerrard, probably. We've been reliant on him for too long, already. We need to start phasing him out (although I still love watching him play!). My suspicions are he'll probably want a big move to another club to see out his career, anyway. (The rumours are continuing and even Ibrahimovitch has got in on the action!) However, I think we over use Raheem, as it is. We should be using Assaidi more. I suppose, though, there is a fine line between giving him confidence by utilizing him and overplaying him. What about you, Gerrez? Same question.
Easy for me, Gerrard to be the injured one. We have more options in the middle than in the attacking roles, Sahin, Shelvey or Suso can slot in there, part of me thinks the latter would do a better job at the minute (nothing against Stevie)
Yep, fair play. You make a good point in that we only really have two options on the left, and Sterling is the number one choice at the moment. If Gerrard wasn't the captain he might not have started as much this season. I do however agree with RHC that when Lucas is back Gerrard will have a much better time of it -- so will Allen, too! The system we are playing needs a good DM and we are missing a very fine DM at the moment. (Lucas is superb but, as we have seen. we need cover.) I'm sure BR will remedy that soon, but strikers are the first port of call, obviously.
No doubt about it, we absolutely miss Lucas. I reckon only Lucas is more or less (no one is 100%) guaranteed a starting spot with the players we have for the middle
Lucas, in the last few years, has been as important as Gerrard. In fact, with Gerrard scoring less goals than previous years, you could argue Lucas has been more important for us. I just hope he comes back and can be as instrumental for us again.
