da realbet： Raheem Sterling’s impact on Saturday’s Manchester derby will be unfortunately remembered for the three glorious chances he missed in the first half. Had the former Liverpool forward netted just one of them, the game would have been over, Manchester City would have won the Premier League title and Manchester United wouldn’t have staged a stunning three-goal comeback after the interval – most probably, anyway.
da dobrowin： And yet, in many ways, that analysis epitomises the negative narrative which always seems to accompany the England international. It’s true that Sterling could have put the game to rest, and his failure to do only emphasised his biggest and most discussed weakness, an often painstaking lack of composure in front of goal.
But it’s also true that City wouldn’t have gone two goals ahead of the Red Devils at the Etihad Stadium without Sterling’s influence; after an opening 15 minutes which left incredibly little to choose between the two sides and suggested a surprisingly uneventful Manchester derby, it was Pep Guardiola’s decision to swap the wide-man with Bernardo Silva – making him the new focal point of the attack as a false nine – that really pushed the home side into a higher gear and set Saturday’s game alight.
Shortly after, City’s pressure told as Vincent Kompany headed home from a corner. And shortly after that, Sterling played a direct hand in the scoreline linking up to great effect with Ilkay Gundogan, whose swivel and shot put the Citizens two goals up. Sterling continued to create chances as the central attacker – in fact, he made the most of any City player on Saturday – while completing three dribbles and 86% of his passes.
Overall, aside from those misses, it was a strong performance from a young wide attacker utilised in a less familiar position, one which would have been instrumental to the victory had City not suffered such a lapsed 15 minutes that saw the visitors net thrice.
But perhaps because he’s already been on the Premier League scene for such a long time, perhaps because of all the negativity associated with his move from Liverpool to the Etihad Stadium in 2015, perhaps because he’s English and therefore comes with that extra dose of expectation, we still seem to only judge a 23-year-old with 21 goals and eight assists this season on his mistakes.
Admittedly, Sterling’s were costly on Saturday in terms of the result. But there are far more senior players in that team who made bigger mistakes against United, particularly the two centre-halves, and who failed to have anywhere near the same level of positive influence as the 37-cap attacker. It’s just become too superficial to make Sterling the villain of the piece every time he misses a convertable chance.
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