After a promising start last season, Liverpool starlet Raheem Sterling is now finding it hard to get regular game time at Anfield. Sterling's development seems to have staggered to a halt this season, and Reds legend John Barnes has indirectly blamed Brendan Rodgers and Roy Hodgson for mishandling the youngster.
Discussing LFC's young players on the 5-Times Podcast last week, Barnes bemoaned the modern trend of overpraising players 'when they haven't achieved anything', and suggested that Sterling needs to work harder to improve. He observed:
"He [Sterling] wasn’t handled right by anyone. He had 7-8 good games and was then catapulted into the England set-up. His Agent then wanted more money.
"His final delivery has never been the best, but maybe he feels that because he’s in the England squad and being paid so much he doesn’t need to improve.
"Is Sterling any better now than when he made his debut? He needs to work harder, but we’re guilty for overpraising him"
I absolutely agree with Barnesy here, and it ties into an issue I'm constantly raising on the site. Gross overpraise of players is (arguably) a massive NEGATIVE, and leads to dulled competitive edge, and in many cases, a lack of proper focus. Rodgers is as guilty of this as anyone, especially last season, when his constant servile praise of his players bordered on sickening. To be fair, he's toned it down this season, but it's a perennial problem for Liverpool.
Take Saturday's game, for example: a 4-0 win at home against one of the worst teams the Reds have faced in a couple of years. Liverpool *should* be winning such games, but afterwards, it's the same old story, with players falling over themselves to massage each others' egos, and declare each other the best in the world.
Sterling - reportedly the subject of a £7.5m bid from Spurs last season - is a prime example of the detrimental effect of gross overpraise. A few good games for Liverpool, then promotion to the England squad, and all of a sudden he thinks he's arrived.
As Barnes asks: is Sterling any better now than when he made his debut? I personally don't see any major improvement, and if he doesn't buckle down and work on improving, he may find himself on the Anfield scrapheap like so many other young players down the years.
Author: Jaimie K
Discussing LFC's young players on the 5-Times Podcast last week, Barnes bemoaned the modern trend of overpraising players 'when they haven't achieved anything', and suggested that Sterling needs to work harder to improve. He observed:
"He [Sterling] wasn’t handled right by anyone. He had 7-8 good games and was then catapulted into the England set-up. His Agent then wanted more money.
"His final delivery has never been the best, but maybe he feels that because he’s in the England squad and being paid so much he doesn’t need to improve.
"Is Sterling any better now than when he made his debut? He needs to work harder, but we’re guilty for overpraising him"
I absolutely agree with Barnesy here, and it ties into an issue I'm constantly raising on the site. Gross overpraise of players is (arguably) a massive NEGATIVE, and leads to dulled competitive edge, and in many cases, a lack of proper focus. Rodgers is as guilty of this as anyone, especially last season, when his constant servile praise of his players bordered on sickening. To be fair, he's toned it down this season, but it's a perennial problem for Liverpool.
Take Saturday's game, for example: a 4-0 win at home against one of the worst teams the Reds have faced in a couple of years. Liverpool *should* be winning such games, but afterwards, it's the same old story, with players falling over themselves to massage each others' egos, and declare each other the best in the world.
Sterling - reportedly the subject of a £7.5m bid from Spurs last season - is a prime example of the detrimental effect of gross overpraise. A few good games for Liverpool, then promotion to the England squad, and all of a sudden he thinks he's arrived.
As Barnes asks: is Sterling any better now than when he made his debut? I personally don't see any major improvement, and if he doesn't buckle down and work on improving, he may find himself on the Anfield scrapheap like so many other young players down the years.
Author: Jaimie K
Replacing Suarez, when he leaves, requires a Diego Costa or Lewandowski type player plus a Roberto Firmino.
ReplyDeleteJamie, I normally agree with you but i must disagree here mate. I agree on the Sterling issue but give Rogers some credit when it comes to his comments on the team and the players response and end product. In less than 2 years he has cleared out the average players and has transformed the team into one of the best teams to watch in the league. the players need to be complimented (look at Rafa, nevers did and the players felt that). they are human after all and confidence is everything in football. yes the players can be delicate souls and precious at times but I think Rogers has learnt from last season and is growing all the time. The team were outstanding on Saturday and they can only beat whos infront of them. we had 32 shots on goal, so 4 conversions is fantastic, of course it could of been better. I think some fans are as guilty of not enjoying this moment, stop picking holes and just soak it up. We will inevitably have a wobble at some stage but man, its looking good. I really believe we will get top 4, I think Spurs and UTD will struggle.
ReplyDelete"This fear that he would go play for Jamaica is unwaranted, if he had half a brain he would know that his chances of winning anything would be better with England than Jamaica".
ReplyDeleteI reckon the chances of either Jamaica or England winning anything are remotely the same.
From what I hear, they want Sterling out of Liverpool for a while, to separate him from his mates and lifestyle, not just for footballing reasons,
ReplyDeleteand hopefully he will come back a more mature character, with more experience football wise also. That sounds like a good idea and logical to me.
I think Barnes has a point. He got praise before he archived anything. But you have to remember this time last year the liverpool squad was so weak that BR had to play him pretty much every game. He still has talent and is only 18. I still think he can develop into a very good player but may need a successful loan move to do so.
ReplyDeleteRAY
ReplyDeleteI WILL TELL YOU NOW FOR A FACT THAT TEXIERA IS A TOP CLASS PLAYER BEING RUINED THROUGH IN HOUSE POLITICS OR INCOMPETANCE - THERE CAN BE NO OTHER EXPLANATION AS TO WHY HE IS RATED BEHIND PLAYERS WITH A FRACTION OF HIS VISION TALENT POTENTIAL AND CLASS.
Some cost 15 million and come on at 4 - 0 up - he cost buttons why cant he get a game ? it must be off field nonsense that is behind any loan. YOU CANT HAVE ENOUGH OF PLAYERS THAT MAKE THINGS HAPPEN, we only have 3 first teamers who fit the bill plus Gerrard we do have two others Raheem and Texiera but there faces don't fit.
ReplyDeleteWhere do your facts come from? From his Transfermarkt page I see 5 goals in 4 matches on this season's U21 schedule. Before that he was so-so at best. All this tells me is that he is progressing well and with some stability and consistent progression this year he could make a call-up in January. That is a far cry from TOP CLASS on a BPL side. I think you need to take a breath.
ReplyDeletethank you. couldn't have said it better. he linked everything together for arsenal. made henry a legend in the process. but it was bergkamp who should get the credit. could make the killer pass, the beautiful shoot, the finesse touch. maybe he wasn't the best at any specfic facet of the game but he was top 5 in most. and that is rare. my favorite player of all time.
ReplyDeleteI would have to say saurez is more of a bergkamp type player, his passing ability is truly underrated (if you don't believe me watch his assists at ajax) but not quite bergkamp level. however he is used as a more out and out striker than bergkamp. but still doesn't overall touch bergkamp quality, but he can still grow
I honestly think with sturridge and coutinho in the side you will see his assist rate increase greatly. but in my imo the best of them all was bergkamp, and saurez can play just like him, however for the most part he was the only person we could depend on to score, so assists kinda went away.
ReplyDeleteI did watch a lot of Bundesliga. I think Maxim is a good player and definitely better than Aspas.
ReplyDeleteThe assists came from set pieces mostly. Very good delivery on these ... from open play he is far less productive though. Still, could be a nice back up to Coutinho.
ReplyDeleteBut answer me this, is he a quality player or just a decent player that happens to be in good form?
ReplyDeleteHe is a decent player who is responsible for every free kick and every corner. This is where all the assists came from. He wouldn't be able to replicate this stats if he came to LFC because Gerrard would probably take the set pieces.
ReplyDeleteGood point. Seems like he would be yet another squad filler.
ReplyDeleteForget him so, we need quality, we already have quantity.
ReplyDeleteI would much rather we spend big money on a player that will strengthen the first team and perhaps force coutinho to play back up or up his game even more to compete and keep his place.
ReplyDeleteI haven't actually seen this lad so can't really say how good he is but to those who have is he better than Suso? From what I have seen and heard he is doing very well and has five assists himself this season for a struggling side. We need real quality in Jan and I am not convinced this lad is it.
ReplyDeleteSo u agree with Barnes that Suarez was the victim in the evra case too?
ReplyDeleteNone of them....Ronaldo r9 was:) The greatest defender ever to walk on a field of soccer,( apart from cafu and aldair maybe) was maldini and he said playing against him was like playing against Robocop!
ReplyDeleteThe main thing that's holding raheem back is his lack of physical strength. the club should be bulking him up like Barcelona did with messi. This is the reason why Ibe has more of a chance of making a impact at the moment.
ReplyDeleteExactly making JK's point. Texeira is not ready. neither was Sterling. He's rated at his level, but that's a level behind the first team.
ReplyDeleteAnd as for saying there's no other explanation- absolute rubbish.
Strengthen the areas like DM, RB & LB. maybe one quality forward
ReplyDeleteBR said many times last season that the lad hasn't achieved anything yet and that he needs to work hard to improve. The media, the fans, his agent and his ridiculous England call up are more to blame.
ReplyDeleteAs usual john I on he ball but he lad was played too much to soon due to lack of quality in the squad
ReplyDeleteThanks for the info...
ReplyDeleteStill hanging on to what Grobelar said...
ReplyDeleteGreat points, but I hope he will score 15 in next 8 games and get sold for 65-70 mill. If you say you want to quit Anfield, you should be sold. But all the best wishes for him- I will be Uruguay fan in 2014..
ReplyDeleteCarra doesn't have a brain!
ReplyDeletethink it will be el-shaarawy
ReplyDeleteFormer Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher has hailed Luis Suarez as the best striker he played with during his 16-year career.
ReplyDeleteCarragher represented the Reds 737 times before retiring in May, and the Reds legend said that he rates the Uruguayan as the finest of all the forwards he played alongside.
"Let's start with Suarez, I played with some brilliant strikers for club and country, but none was better than Luis," Carragher told the Daily Mail.
"He has done things I've never seen before, like a 50-yard lob at Norwich, the 'chest control' goal versus Newcastle United and the bamboozling of Manchester United's defence in March 2011.
I notice that this article fails to mention this!
He might be a good pick-up. I understand many of his assists are from set pieces that SG presently does. However, if SG goes down it would be good to have that capability. Additionally if he's good with the ball and can pass like PC, then he would be good there too. Look at the table folks. 6 points separate 1 from 8 in the table. Top 4 will probably come down to one bad game, close calls, lucky goals...etc. The 4 dropped points Newcastle and Swansea could be huge. We need all the quality we can get.
ReplyDeleteI'm hoping for Mata.
ReplyDeleteJK,
ReplyDeleteCompletely agree with your articles nod also Barnes evaluation of Sterling. I am glad that BR has stopped over praising as much. Last year, he laid it on a bit thick after we tied a crap team.
Wish we would see Jordan Ibe on the field soon..........
Seems a short window of success to anoint him to "keen to sign" status.....
ReplyDeleteHe appears to be a improved and younger version of Charlie Adam. Adam was sensational for blackpool but since he's been a dud.
ReplyDeleteWouldn't this spell the end for someone like Suso? He's also got more assists in La Liga than Messi. It also seems to me as if we'd be loading ourselves up with more "mid range" targets. Maxim is having a good start to the season but is he going to blossom into a bona-fide superstar? Rodgers would have to be pretty confident to make a signing like this given that we'd previously been aiming for players like Mkhitaryan and Costa. Is Maxim in that same class? Seems like this is the common concern of most fans. We need unquestionable quality, not another project player who may or may not be good enough.
ReplyDeletelol he was talking about Rosanna Davison..
ReplyDeleteI don't think he had any good games with the first team! A decent player the most but not someone that could change a game like Gerard or Suarez! Apart from speed and stamina, can he do a constant pinpoint cross like Gerard, can he dribble past defenders like Suarez do, can he defend well?
ReplyDeleteGuys you're really raising my hopes, Mata or shaarawy that would be some awesome shit!
ReplyDeletejaimie k you took what carragher said purposefuly out of context, he never compared suarez to henry,
ReplyDeletePlus if you knew suarez was gonna win the poll why waste your time.
Suarez is still playing, Henry is not.
Suarez is present, henry is the past.
and suarez has the quickest goal ratio this season.
I said it before and i'll say it again, you know how to start an arguement.
YNWA
The only person to blame for his lack of continued development is himself. He is at a great club with brilliant coaches and facilities, if he cant develop there then he is not cut out to be top pro.
ReplyDeleteLets stop making excuses and put the blame where it truly lies, which is with the player and HIS attitude.
No
ReplyDeleteOur priority should be a defensive midfielder and a backup RB as Johnson is injury prone and the full backs are really important for our system. We have a number of players for the AM position like Coutinho, Alberto and even Hendo/Gerrard can play there if need be, especially if we buy a strong DM like M'Vila or Matic. What we really need in attack is an out an out winger because Moses is the only one we have and Sterling/Ibe are not ready yet. Someone like Griezmann could be decent. But if we get a couple in Midfield and a fullback I'll be happy with jan. A defensive midfielder is a must , and I'll be disappointed if we don't get one. Other requirements can certainly wait till summer.
ReplyDeleteSterling is 18 for fucks sake. Give him time to develop and you will see a great player emerge.
ReplyDeleteWhy are we not considering Sterling's off-field problems (legal issues, etc.), which are psychological and could be having a negative impact on his performance as well?
ReplyDeleteI agree. It's a tragedy that has happened many times. These kids should be regarded as the future of the club and not just a short term fix. At such a young age handling the rise in fame is hard but handling the fall from grace is even harder and sometimes too much.
ReplyDeleteMata and Sharavy. plus Matic, but now I am pushin it...
ReplyDeleteSorry to be the bearer of bad news but there are hundreds of players better than Aspas!
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely agree with your post!
ReplyDeleteJamie or et al,
ReplyDeleteIs there a common source where you got your assists data from? I find it hard to find a good freebe statistic site for assists. Thanks