da aviator aposta： As Raheem Sterling netted three goals past a helpless Bournemouth on Saturday, he gave Manchester City a glimpse into the future – a future they invested the best part of £50million in during the summer.
da roleta： Indeed, City paid that seismic sum knowing it was for world-class potential rather than world-class talent and his performance against the Cherries was the first significant piece of evidence to suggest they’ve spent wisely.
Two of the England international’s goals were relatively routine but his second of the afternoon was something truly special; a double-fake inside the box, leaving Steve Cook and Sylvain Distin on their backsides, before rolling the ball past the equally tangled Adam Federici. It was the kind of goal you’d expect from City’s star striker Sergio Aguero or, dare I say it, Barcelona’s Lionel Messi.
Yet Sterling’s hat-trick must be put into context and Bournemouth represent the weakest level of opposition City will face at home this season. That’s no disrespect to Eddie Howe’s side, who have enough faith in their own principles to avoid relegation, but those principles of open and positive football condemned them before a ball was kicked at the Etihad – the venue where City have averaged 2.9 goals per game in the Premier League since Manuel Pellegrini’s appointment in summer 2013.
Opportunities like that won’t come around too often for Sterling and if he wants to repeat the feat against superior opposition, improvements must continue to be made upon his most fundamental flaw – a lack of technique and composure when in front of goal.
It may seem paradoxical to accuse a player of poor finishing just days after netting his first Premier League hat-trick, even more impressively at the tender age of 20. Overall, his career return of 30 goals in 156 outings isn’t too bad.
But it could have easily been five or six for the former Liverpool attacker on Saturday, as simpler chances than his mazy demolition of Bournemouth’s backline went disappointingly begging. Likewise, only one of Sterling’s career strikes has come from outside the box – an area of his game he really needs to improve upon. To give some comparison, Alexis Sanchez has scored seven in 63 games for Arsenal.
Of course, inconsistent end product plagues most players of Sterling’s age and the fact City broke their club-record fee to sign him regardless is testament to the rest of his increasingly holistic game.
In 102 Premier League appearances, he’s already featured on both wings, at No.10, at centre-forward and for a brief time with Liverpool in both wing-back positions as well. He’s not always shone the brightest when thrust into unnatural roles but he’s never let down those who have placed him into them either, demonstrating not only positional intelligence beyond his years but most impressively self-sacrifice for the sake of the team.
Clearly Sterling’s array of attributes, his speed, athleticism, agility, dribbling ability and vision, make him suitable for more than one position – against Bournemouth, he operated as a second striker, nomadically drifting behind Wilfried Bony – and that consistency and versatility can be of immeasurable benefit to a club like Manchester City.
But, first and foremost an attacking player will always be judged by the tally of goals, especially in a team creating as many chances as Manchester City and especially a forward who gets himself into as many scoring positions as Sterling. The first rule of football is that goals win games, which is why Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi boast seven Ballon d’Ors between them, but only three defenders have won the accolade since its 1956 incarnation.
In four or five years’ time, goals will be the ultimate decider of whether Sterling is a truly world-class player; the next Eden Hazard or the next Willian, the next Arjen Robben or the next Jesus Navas; and consequentially, whether City spent their £50million wisely.
But this article does not intend to be all doom and gloom. The fact is that Sterling has improved upon his finishing significantly since first emerging as a Liverpool prospect in 2012. Back then, he couldn’t even make the right contact with the ball to project it towards goal; now he’s scoring hat-tricks for a City team with impeccably high standards. Likewise, his shooting accuracy has increased from 43% in his debut season to 67% during the current one, despite averaging just shy of one more shot per match.
Clearly progress is being made, but when goals don’t come naturally to an attacking player there is always inevitable cause for concern. Some, like Arsenal great Theirry Henry, develop to defy their weaknesses. Others, like Danny Welbeck, do not.
Right now, City have £50million on Sterling following the former, and although the Bournemouth display suggests he might, the England prodigy still has a very long way to go.
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