Raheem Sterling
Age 19
Height: 5’7
From: Jamaica / London
Career:
|
Year
|
Club
|
Appearances
|
Goals
|
|
2012-
|
Liverpool
|
87
|
15
|
|
2012-
|
England
|
13
|
0
|
Some Raheem facts:
·
Raheem was born in Jamaica but moved to London
at the age of 5.
·
A 15 year old Raheem was signed from QPR by Rafa
Benitez in 2010 for an initial £600,000.
·
Raheem played for England a lot at underage
level and scored in the 2011 U-17 World Cup.
·
When Raheem made his full LFC debut in March
2012 he was the second youngest player to play for LFC (17 years & 107
days). He is now third (after Michael Owen and Jerome Sinclair).
·
In October 2012 Raheem became the second
youngest player to score in a competitive match for LFC (after Michael Owen).
·
Raheem went to the 2014 World Cup with England.
Before today:
·
Raheem’s strike rate for LFC to date equates to
17%.
·
Raheem’s strike rate for England to date equates
to 0%.
·
In the two seasons played under Brendan so far,
Raheem has done this in all competitions:
2012/13 – 36 appearances | Goals 2
| Assists 2
2013/14 – 37 appearances | Goals 10
| Assists 7
·
So far in 2014/15 Raheem has made 15 appearances in all competitions:
Total minutes 1,204
Goals 3 | Strike rate 20% | Minutes per goal 401 | Shot conversion rate 16%
Pass accuracy 80% | Chances created 26 (1/46mins) | Assists 3
Tackles 16, won 88% | Fouls won 34 | Fouls conceded 18 | Yellow cards 4
·
Apart from last season, when he played in an
attack with Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge and sometimes played in a central
attacking midfield position, Raheem’s overall scoring and assist rates are not
that impressive. But it must be noted
that in 2012/13 he was still only 17/18 and thus far this season the entire
team has been misfiring.
·
He can be quite combative in general play, which
in some ways is great but may also suggest the following: (i) fouling as a
result of a weakness in maintaining possession, (ii) fouling too frequently and
(iii) a tendency to go down easily and seek free-kicks.
·
His shooting is not great – this is a fact. He
does not generally strike the ball well.
·
The stats don’t do justice to his greatest
strength - running fast with the ball and causing havoc, though the ‘chances
created’ stat loosely reflects the threat that he can pose.
·
You could say that Raheem has not been doing
enough recently and that he has a long way to go to be considered as good IN
THE FUTURE as many suggest he is NOW, however, he is still only 19 and
expectations are perhaps higher than they should be. Nonetheless, you would like to see more
conviction in his shooting and more discipline in general play. It would also be good if The Hodge stopped
playing him for England!
·
After 11 games played, 14 points (W4 D2 L5 GF14
GD-1), this was a bottom half of table clash with LFC in 11th and
Palace in 19th. Given recent
results and the psychological aspect of ‘Crystanbul’ thing, this always looked
like a tricky fixture.
The match
Sunday 23 November,
2014
Premier League –
Match Day 12
Crystal Palace 3 – 1
Liverpool
LFC : Mignolet;
Manquillo, Johnson, Skrtel, Lovren; Gerrard, Allen, Coutinho, Lallana; Sterling, Lambert.
CP: Speroni;
Kelly, Ward, Delaney, Dann; Jedinak, Ledley, Bolasie, Puncheon; Chamakh, Gayle.
LFC play a 4-4-2 that is shaped more like a 4-1-2-1-2, with Gerrard
deep in midfield, Coutinho floating around ahead of Allen and Lallana (sometimes
interchanging) and Sterling alongside Lambert up front in the absence of the
injured Balotelli. Brendan is again
trying something different with Lallana more central and Sterling in a two-man
attack alongside Lambert. In recent
weeks many had suggested that Brendan should play two up front so as not to
isolate Balotelli up there on his own.
It is therefore quite funny that he selects two up front now that
Balotelli is out injured.
The Palace team looks suspiciously unlike recent line-ups
and suspiciously like the Crystanbul
team, with 9 of the starters in the May 3-3 draw starting today and Dwight
Gayle getting a rare start. Part of this
is due to injuries and suspensions but also probably Neil Warnock hoping that the
sight of Liverpool will set Dwight Gayle off on another goal-romp. The Dann & Delaney defensive partnership
so effective last season has been disrupted with the arrival of Hangeland, but
they make their second start in a row today.
Here is how Raheem fared:
2nd minute – Liverpool are 1-0 up already thanks
to Lambert’s classy control and finish from a nice Lallana pass. Raheem is yet to touch the ball but
noticeably makes up ground to be in position for a tap-in should Lambert elect
to square the ball rather than finish.
5 – Raheem’s first involvement is to receive a pass from Joe
Allen but fall over immediately and lose possession when trying to control the
ball with his back to goal. Less than 10
seconds later Crystal Palace have gone down the other end and won a corner,
which is only half-cleared and leads to a period of pressure in LFC’s defensive
third.
9 – Raheem picks up the ball in the centre circle from a
Lambert knock-down but has no clear options ahead of him and loses possession
quickly.
10 – Does very well to pick up a long clearance inside the
Palace half and lay off to a red shirt.
12 – Seems alert to anything that might drop in behind the
Palace back four. In this instance he
charges down a knock-on but keeper Speroni gets there first to collect.
14 – Johnson finds Raheem in the left channel but a free
kick is awarded against him as he tussles for possession. It didn’t look like a free kick.
16 – LFC lose possession and are not sharp enough in closing
down in midfield (with Joe Allen off the pitch having a head-dressing for an
open wound applied for the second time in a few minutes). Raheem makes a half-hearted attempt to challenge
Ledley but fails to stop him and seconds later the ball is in the back of the LFC
net for the equaliser.
20 – It is worth highlighting that Lovren plays a long ball
towards Lambert, who is offside, instead of finding a red shirt to feet. Sterling is not available to receive the ball
to feet, or, he is not being found by his mates. Either way Raheem is not really getting into
the game.
22 – Raheem comes a bit deeper to get involved, exchanging a
pass with Allen.
24 – After good play by Coutinho and Allen young Raheem
receives the ball in the final third but again loses it relatively quickly. This is more evidence of lack of control and
strength / weakness in maintaining possession.
24 – Again Raheem is found coming a bit deeper to get
involved in the build-up play.
26 – This time when picking up possession from deeper and
central Raheem gets the chance to run at the Palace defence but then tries a strange
chipped ball to Lambert’s head with which Lambert can do little.
27 – A casual attempt to close down Palace defenders in
possession.
33 – Receives the ball on the right flank, cuts inside and
lays off to Coutinho who tries to find Lallana in the box but it comes to
nothing. He also has the option to
trying to play Manquillo running in behind but can’t be blamed for opting for
Coutinho.
37 – Coutinho breaks quickly and finds Allen who finds
Raheem on the left side of the Palace box, however his feeble attempted centre
is easily blocked. The ball finds its
way back to him almost immediately as Palace fail to clear but he can’t produce
anything dangerous at the second attempt either.
41 – After a penetrating run by Joe Allen, Raheem produces a
good layoff to Coutinho who wins a free kick in a dangerous position 30 yards
out.
44 – Coutinho is in possession probing and seeking options
ahead of him but Raheem appears to be static.
45+1 –He peels wide right into a good position but Gerrard’s
ball does not find him.
45+1 – On the left touchline, Johnson is in possession and
tries to pass to Raheem less than ten yards ahead of him on the left flank, however
the pass is grossly overhit and Raheem can do nothing.
46 – Palace start well right from the kick-off and the LFC
back four is in panic mode. When the
ball comes out to Raheem he tries to run with it but loses it, putting more
pressure on LFC. He is good at running
with the ball so he cannot really be blamed for this, but nothing is coming
off.
47 – Receives the ball from Gerrard about 25 yards out with
his back to goal and wins a free-kick when trying to turn Kelly.
49 – Drops to receive the ball from Lovren in LFC’s defensive
third but loses it quickly. Not good.
55 – A typical Raheem run down the left flank towards the by-line
results in a corner. This is a bit more
like it.
57 – Picks up the ball wide left from Lallana and cuts
inside to find Gerrard. No real danger
though.
68 –Plays a one-two with Coutinho on the edge of the area
and tries a shot but is blocked.
71 – Runs down the left flank in possession but has his
cross blocked.
73 – Finds himself with the ball in a dangerous position on
the right side of the box having received it from Manquillo, but his cross is
cleared. Again nothing comes of a
promising situation.
76 – Another attempted Raheem cross comes to nothing.
84 – LFC are now 3-1 down.
Further evidence of Raheem trying to get involved from deeper.
84 – Takes possession on the edge of the box and wins a free
kick.
86 – Wins a free kick but nothing dangerous.
90 – Gives away a free kick when LFC are trying to get one
back.
No further action.
Post-mortem:
·
Largely ineffective. Failed to pose Palace any significant
problems. Caused none of the havoc.
·
There was no evidence of dangerous link-up play
with any of the players around him apart from the odd moment with Coutinho.
·
He was not always comfortable receiving the ball
with a centre-half on his back and had a tendency to drop deep to get on the
ball in areas where he is more used to getting on it. At other times he did not seem to be moving
enough to get into a good position to receive the ball into feet.
·
He lost possession in dangerous areas a few
times (though options ahead of him were limited).
·
A weak attempt in trying to dispossess Ledley
led to the Palace equaliser in the first half.
·
Any time he received the ball in a dangerous
position nothing dangerous came of it.
Both option choice and/or execution were off.
·
Some would say there is no point in being too
critical of Raheem for this performance, since he is still ‘only 19’. However, there is some evidence that
concentration and effort levels are not what they should be, or rather are not
what they were during more successful periods of last season, but this could be
said of many players in the team.
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