Sterling was once the darling of the liberal media in England, a key component of a successful City team and now he's behind Mudkip and Maduku in the pecking order at midtable Chelsea. What happened?
Alli is another obvious example.
Players who've declined rapidly
casemiro
varane (he was always overrated anyways)
Loss of pace and his legs look like they’ve gone. He doesn’t nearly have that explosive quality or guile compared to his prime. Sterling is also a player who was barely injured
>Alli
Had two good seasons being carried by Kane and Son
>Casemiro
I’d argue he knew his legs had gone and his agent got the best deal possible for him. He’d be fine in a league more like Serie A. He just has no pace.
While we’re here let’s throw Salah onto the fire. You’re now seeing his decline
Salah is just suffering from his usual post-Afcon depression, an injury and shit teammates. 37 G/A in 41 games this season isn't bad all things considered, he still has two years left in him
>Contract expires: Jun 30, 2027
Chelsea are fricking insane
Sterling had one sterling season - 2019? - cant remember him ever matching the hype otherwise tbh. And now he's shit
>What happened
He no longer has Pep and the City super squad to make him look good. He's a prime example of why you shouldn't just look at stats when judging players, his numbers at City made him look world class on paper but he's a shitter, always was always will be.
Midwit take. he clearly has the ability, he just doesn't give a shit anymore. at City he'd have Pep autistically seething at him whenever he didn't put in 100% effort but now he's happy doing nothing and claiming his weekly paycheck, it's all about motivation for an athlete
I am somewhat disagree with that take. He never look good in England NT and the one notable thing he ever did in international cup was when he dived against Denmark in Euro. It's debatble on whether he was just a Pep system baby or Southgate don't know how to use him.
The same point applies, Southgate is too shit to get the best out of anyone. also no one's a system baby, that's meaningless. Sterling probably doesn't care about England because he's Jamaican and international football is a meme, it's just a luxury to these mercenaries
the liberal media moved on to cole palmer
it would have been bellingham but he plays overseas, so that's too far for the media to cover.
lack of N.O
Mario Götze
You have to achieve something in order to decline. 1 goal in extra time when you were brought on as a sub is not a serious achievement.
very american post
Sterling was a pep babby, Alli had injuries and depression/substance abuse issues
>What happened?
you were pozzed in the head and you're slowly starting to deconstruct the conditioning
He's a mediocre player. He was a hard worker tho.
>hard worker
Sterlings best quality. He was hardly ever injured at City too. Definitely a more exciting player at Liverpool but Pep made him a winner
Sterling was always a slightly better Theo Walcott. Fast and tricky, but no football brains, no temperament in the box, no end product.
Never had the nous to make up for his weaknesses like your Mullers, your Inzaghis
>Inzaghi
generally reckoned to be one of the least technically-able players ever to have worn an Italian shirt. Which kind of is your point I suppose
Sterling is a pace babby but still probably would be a useful player for Chelsea, but there isn't any point in playing him over the others: they aren't in competition for trophies and him being older there's no point in taking game time away from one of the young players they are trying to develop.
>Alli
Game has passed him by. He's an attacking midfielder/shadow striker who can't press, can't carry the ball past a fullback, can't link up play intelligently, can't make the cutting final pass and isn't particularly press resistant. There just isn't any room in the modern high pressing system for a one dimensional Ramdeuter/poacher.
Personally I was surprised at the rapid decline of Wijnaldum, Mane away from Liverpool and how quick they were to allow Henderson to move on to Saudi Arabia. I had a feeling as soon as they let Wijnaldum (and Milner) walk they would lose their shape and their SOVL.
>Gini, Mane and Hendo
All had reached the end of their shelf life playing the high intensity press as Klopp demanded. Mane’s position had to be tactically adjusted to make up for his shortcomings (which meant Salah was temporarily sidelined in his main position)
There was no such hiding for Hendo or Gini. Fabinho also suffered during that final season at Liverpool. Firmino has lost it too
Damn good player, just got too used to playing in a strong team and diving like a b***h.
I think the decline was leaving Man City to get playing time elsewhere, because not being at a a big club cost him his automatic place in the England starting XI (same as Kalvin Phillips, and also why Harry Maguire refused to leave Man U).
Now it's just a dip in confidence but I think he'll bounce back.
Moises Caicedo
Allan Saint-Maximin and Joelinton
James Rodriguez
Tammy Abraham
Alexis Mac Allister
Eriksen
>Mac Alister
Nope he looks as good as he did at Brighton, he’s just been hindered by Klopp forcing him to play a role more suited to a DM
The rest of your list is agreeable. Erikssen the most understandable
Luka Jovic
>one good season at Frankfurt
Was he ever that good to begin with?
I’d be tempted to say Paulo Dybala or was he always overrated? The decline of Alexis Sanchez was rapid. Fair enough he was injury prone but after moving to Man U he turned into a conference player overnight
Dybalinha is good but made of glass
Emile smith Rowe - went from being a 50m target for Barcelona and higher rated than Foden and Palmer to permanently benched.
Hazard
frionel pepsi (or something like that)
once promised to bring champions league back to camp nou, but now he plays in the burger league for apple shares