The resurrection of Raheem Sterling is nearly complete. If England progress to the Euro 2020 final on Sunday 11th July, and England defeat Italy or Spain, all past discretions will be forgiven & forgotten.
It wasn’t long ago Sterling was getting hammered in the media for his lavish lifestyle, his choice of tattoo, and his performances for England.
A BBC article from December 2018 stated, ‘Sterling divided opinion at this summer’s World Cup in Russia as England reached the semi-finals for the first time since 1990. Some criticised his finishing while others praised his tireless attacking runs. Before the defeat by Croatia in the last four, he had the lowest average score in the team on the BBC’s Player Rater tool, where the public give their ratings’.
Public opinion isn’t always the best barometer of performance, especially just after a game when emotions are exaggerated and club bias may influence perspective, but Sterling clearly had a public image problem. Sterling felt the media had played their part.
A Guardian article from December 2018 says, ‘The England international screen-grabbed a story that had appeared on MailOnline last January about his club-mate, Tosin Adarabioyo, under the headline: ‘Young Manchester City footballer, 20, on £25,000 a week splashes out on mansion on market for £2.25m despite having never started a Premier League match’. He went on to reference another story from October about City’s teenage midfielder, Phil Foden, buying a house which had carried the headline: ‘Foden buys new £2m home for his mum’.
“You have two young players starting out their careers – both play for the same team, both have done the right thing, which is buy a new house for their mothers who have put in a lot of time and love into helping them get where they are,” wrote Sterling. “But look at how the newspapers get their message across for the young black player and then for the young white player. I think this is unacceptable, both innocent, have not done a thing wrong but just by the way it has been worded.
“The young black kid is looked at in a bad light. Which helps fuel racism an[d] aggressive behaviour. So for all the newspapers that don’t understand why people are racist in this day and age all I have to say is have a second thought about fair publicity an[d] give all players an equal chance.”
Anthony Joseph, who wrote the Mail Online article about Adarabioyo, spoke to the BBC and described the reaction to his story as “astonishing”, saying it was “topical and not based on race”, and a follow up to a story in the Sun.
“The story was done in January at a time when BT aired a documentary on teenage footballers who are earning millions. It was topical and there was a huge debate about it. The same day there was at least an hour segment about the same issue on Talksport,” said Joseph.
“The reaction to my story was bizarre at the time. Ironically, I received quite a lot of racist abuse for it – and have done again since the story was brought up. People have been trying to call out alleged racism with actual racism towards me – it’s been astonishing”.
“But I can only explain the story I wrote – it was topical and not based on race.”
The racist element of this story is unacceptable, but the purpose of this article is not to discuss racism within sport or society, the focus is Raheem Sterling himself.
There is no denying Sterling’s image has seen a huge turnaround in the last few years, and the plaudits from ex players turned TV pundits have continued to flow during this most recent tournament, his charity work receives just as much attention as his performances for England.
He did have a slight blip when he was dropped for an England Euro qualifier vs Montenegro for instigating a ‘bust up’ with Joe Gomez, a hangover from a recent Manchester City defeat to Liverpool. Sterling confirmed in a subsequent Instagram post that he and Gomez had “figured things out and moved on”. Unfortunately no-one told the thousands of England ‘fans’ who booed Gomez during the subsequent England fixture……
After four games of Euro 2020, Sterling sits top of the goalscoring charts for England with three goals. He’s been described as England’s ‘Star of the tournament’ by one commentator, and has been debated as man of the match in numerous games. Whilst England Head Coach, Gareth Southgate, has received scrutiny for a perceived lack of attacking intent, there is no disputing Sterling has delivered on the goals front. 15 goals in his last 20 England appearances is an incredible achievement, especially for someone who isn’t a recognised out & out centre forward.
His performance against Germany was applauded by teammates, media and ex-players alike. Having watched the England vs Germany game live, and being influenced by an overriding sense of frustration at the England style of play, I felt the hugely positive reaction to Sterling’s performance didn’t pass the smell test. I decided to watch the game again, devoid of any nervous energy or frustration, in an attempt to analyse the performance more accurately.
During the second time of watching, what became abundantly clear was how well Southgate had prepared for the match. The switch to three centre backs completely nullified the German wingback threat, with Shaw & Trippier putting in excellent performances to win their individual battles with Gosens & Kimmich. Shaw was fundamental in both goals. Whilst it wasn’t pretty to watch, Southgate got the tactics spot on and secured the required result.
| On second viewing, the first thing I noticed was the incredible defensive discipline Sterling showed. Starting on the left of a front three, he fought his natural desire to chase & press, instead focusing on maintaining his defensive shape. Constantly peering over his shoulder to check where Shaw was, he stuck to Southgate’s plan and ensured the collective unit remained solid. One of my biggest frustrations with Sterling is his tendency to run up blind alleys, not lifting his head to involve teammates and losing the ball. There were a few instances of this in the Germany game, he lost possession nine times in total, the last time nearly resulted in Müller equalising shortly after England had just taken the lead. However, on several occasions he served to release pressure by running with the ball and winning free kicks, giving the defence time to refocus and take a breather. He only completed three forward passes in the whole game, compared to 13 backwards passes, but this was a reflection of the team as a whole, not just Sterling. England’s two best moments of the first half game from Sterling. He drew a fine save from Neuer after a nice turn and curling shot, then late in the second half he intercepted a German pass before driving at the centre of their defence. No less than six panicked German defenders eventually dispossessed him, but the loose ball fell to Kane and could easily have resulted in a goal. His crossing was not very efficient, he had two attempts and both found German defenders rather than his teammates. However, his ability to beat his man was a constant pain for Germany. He drifted past German defenders on six occasions, often drawing three or more defenders in an attempt to slow him down. |
His best moment of the second half proved pivotal to England’s victory. In the 75th minute he picked up the ball inside the German half and drove towards their defence. Surrounded by German defenders he eventually spread the ball wide and moved himself into a central position to finish off a fine English move.
His confidence on the ball is vital for England, defenders fear him and don’t like the sight of him dribbling at speed. If I was playing England I would assign a man marker to Sterling and erase him from the game completely. If we make it to the final and face Italy, I think Sterling will face one of his biggest challenges. It doesn’t come any tougher than an Italian defence in a major tournament, let alone a major tournament final.
On reflection I think my frustration with Sterling vs Germany was misguided, a byproduct of my frustration with the England tactics. I’m not the first person to misjudge Sterling and I hope he continues to prove me and many others wrong throughout the course of this tournament. If he can lead us to victory on July 11th, I suspect there will many people eating humble pie.