Raheem Sterling had a good season last year but remains a bit of a controversial topic amongst Premier League fans. He appeared in 33 Premier League matches last year getting 7 goals and 7 assists last year and City won 21 of the games he appeared. He played as a right winger last year and was tasked with beating full-backs and sending in service into the box. This year I see him playing a number of different roles for City and his versatility will allow him to see plenty of game time.
I’d like to start by saying that people who criticize Sterling don’t appreciate what he does well. When we criticize players we must also state what they do well and if certain players strengths provide more than to a team than their weaknesses than that player is a plus to a team and I believe Sterling is one of those players who is a plus to any side that has him. With that said, Sterling’s end product needs to be better, and I thought last season it improved, also, I saw enough signs in preseason to expect big things this year. Sterling possesses the physical ability but it seems he lacks confidence from time to time. While Sterling’s end product needs to improve let us not forget what he does well. Sterling possesses elite pace and dribbling ability and can beat fullbacks regularly. He puts fear in the opposition fullbacks and when they are isolated on him he will win those battles. Let’s not forget that Sterling is good at drawing fouls because he is so fast opposition defenders are left trailing him and will find themselves in trouble and fouling him.
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Sterling will be utilized as a left winger and a striker this year depending on the formations, in a 4-3-3 he will play on the left wing and in the 3-5-2 he will play as the striker. I see him on the left wing because Mendy and Walker are attacking fullbacks who want to play on the touchline, therefore the wingers are going to have to cut inside to provide space for the fullbacks, this will cause Sterling and Sane to play as inverted wingers cutting in instead of playing on their strong side. Sterling also played as a striker in the 3-5-2 formation the Pep used in the preseason. I personally love seeing Sterling play as a striker in this formation, he looked sharp and was able to find space. Sterling’s pace is a major factor in this formation because he can drop deep, pick up the ball, and beat defenders through the middle. Sterling also has an underrated skill to provide movement and slip through the defenders when playing as a striker. He was able to get through balls and confuse the back line playing as a striker an if this formation becomes the prominent formation used by Pep I expect Sterling to excel in this role.
I expect big things from Sterling this year, another year with Pep will only improve his game and I’ve seen enough signs to expect his end product to improve. Him playing as a striker and inverted winger will provide many more opportunities for him to score and his numbers should improve this year. The depth that City have added should help Sterling because he will see more rest and when players do get rotated in the midfield they will be of higher quality than Delph and Fernando were last year; all these factors should see Sterling breaking out in a big way this year.