Other Games 2014-15

[Matt Collins]

Carragher and Gary Neville absolutely bang on about Sterling just now on Sky.

What are they saying?

Basically that he's a kid, is taking the piss, is being led by his agent, hasn't actually achieved anything or proved himself with any consistency.

Gary Neville particularly good on needing an agent who will look after you in more than the £££ sense at that age.

And if better clubs than Liverpool are seemingly falling over themselves to try and sign him, why wouldn't he be better off trying to prove himself somewhere where he is more likely to win things?

And if he's such an unproven non-entity, why are Liverpool so desperate to make him their highest paid player and get him to commit to a five-year contract?

For £50m id bite a buyers hands off. Great talent but he can't even kick the ball properly half the time

[edgysatsuma89]

The West Ham OS got hacked, or this is just a piss take photoshop. Either way, it amused me.

That made me laugh. It was probably Sullivan.

[Jon Crofts]

Surely the only discussion today should be about whether Liverpool retire the no 8 shirt what with old Slippy G's passing.

Should we have a poll?

[edgysatsuma89]

Carragher and Gary Neville absolutely bang on about Sterling just now on Sky.

What are they saying?

Basically that he's a kid, is taking the piss, is being led by his agent, hasn't actually achieved anything or proved himself with any consistency.

Gary Neville particularly good on needing an agent who will look after you in more than the £££ sense at that age.

And if better clubs than Liverpool are seemingly falling over themselves to try and sign him, why wouldn't he be better off trying to prove himself somewhere where he is more likely to win things?

And if he's such an unproven non-entity, why are Liverpool so desperate to make him their highest paid player and get him to commit to a five-year contract?

For £50m id bite a buyers hands off. Great talent but he can't even kick the ball properly half the time

I agree for 50m I'd take that all day. He isn't as good as he thinks he is.

The reason why he wouldn't be better off going to clubs better than liverpool who can win things is for his own development. If he moves now to a chelsea for instance, he will seriously slow down his growth. Depends what he wants. He probably thinks that isn't a problem and that he'll walk into any team. I suspect he'll find out quickly he is wrong. It all depends on how good you think he is really.

Similar would apply to Grealish, no one would advise him leaving even if Manchester came knocking. Not for a few years anyway.

[Chris Jameson]

He seemed to be the main topic of conversation on the train to and from the FA Cup semi final amongst Liverpool supporters and every one of them wouldn't have been upset to see him go and Liverpool get the cash to spend on promising players who they will then sell at a loss after loaning them out to various clubs.

[Toronto Villa]

Sterling's stats this season are very average indeed. If Liverpool can get that kind of money for him they'd be nuts not to take it. Now Sterling's stats might be because he has been pissed of all year with how he perceives Liverpool have "treated him" which is a bit rich for a player that has just come on the scene.

Now if does leave he might become the player he has the potential to be at Chelsea or Man City, be a bit part player on a lot of money still picking up trophies and medals, or simply fade away and be sold again in 3 years time infinitely more wealthy than he is today. In the end he'll need to decide if any of those options are better than being where he is, and given Liverpool are hardly pulling up trees the answer is probably yes.

[Dave]

The reason why he wouldn't be better off going to clubs better than liverpool who can win things is for his own development. If he moves now to a chelsea for instance, he will seriously slow down his growth.

So far this season he has been played at wingback, winger, central striker and central attacking midfield. Maybe he'd rather that his development wasn't happening all over the pitch?

Navas has played the majority of Man City's games this season, I'm pretty sure that Sterling would be in that team ahead of him.

[fbriai]

The reaction of some of my Liverpool-supporting mates to the news was generally 'good riddance'. Followed swiftly by 'I wonder who we will buy from Southampton with the money'.

[Villa in Denmark]

Carragher and Gary Neville absolutely bang on about Sterling just now on Sky.

What are they saying?

Basically that he's a kid, is taking the piss, is being led by his agent, hasn't actually achieved anything or proved himself with any consistency.

Gary Neville particularly good on needing an agent who will look after you in more than the £££ sense at that age.

And if better clubs than Liverpool are seemingly falling over themselves to try and sign him, why wouldn't he be better off trying to prove himself somewhere where he is more likely to win things?

And if he's such an unproven non-entity, why are Liverpool so desperate to make him their highest paid player and get him to commit to a five-year contract?

For £50m id bite a buyers hands off. Great talent but he can't even kick the ball properly half the time

Don't the two halves of that sentence contradict each other?

Anyway, he apparently feels that he's being bullied into signing his £100,000 per week contract, bless him.

It might just be me, but I don't see it with him.  Tony Daley with less on field intelligence. (and absolutely none off the field)

[Malandro]

Mourinho saying its their rivals fault for the defeat last night, they let them win the title too easily. What a tit.

[ktvillan]

I think Sterling is a touch over rated and over hyped. He's very talented if talent amounts to to running at high speed up blind alleys with one arm crooked in an effeminate manner, as if a handbag were perched precariously upon it.

[peter w]

I think Sterling looks like he's put on a few pounds.

[Mister E]

Sterling's stats this season are very average indeed. If Liverpool can get that kind of money for him they'd be nuts not to take it. Now Sterling's stats might be because he has been pissed of all year with how he perceives Liverpool have "treated him" which is a bit rich for a player that has just come on the scene.

Now if does leave he might become the player he has the potential to be at Chelsea or Man City, be a bit part player on a lot of money still picking up trophies and medals, or simply fade away and be sold again in 3 years time infinitely more wealthy than he is today. In the end he'll need to decide if any of those options are better than being where he is, and given Liverpool are hardly pulling up trees the answer is probably yes.

For this season's stats, look no further than Matt Phillips. We should be making moves for him, IMHO.

[Dave]

Carragher and Gary Neville absolutely bang on about Sterling just now on Sky.

As usual, this puts it better than I did:

Mediawatch was shocked to hear Liverpool fan Jamie Carragher opining on Sky Sports that he feels Raheem Sterling should stay at Liverpool.
 
"He doesn't need to move clubs in my opinion," Carragher said. "For his football development, he needs to stay at Liverpool. He plays every week."
 
He would also presumably have "played every week" at Queens Park Rangers, where Liverpool chose to pluck him from for an initial fee for £600,000. But that spectacularly (and deliberately) ignores the nature of ambition, doesn't it?
 
"Raheem is a very exciting young English player whose progress was being closely monitored by many other leading clubs and I'm delighted he's joining us," said then-managing director Christian Purslow upon signing Sterling.

Having beaten Manchester United, Manchester City and Arsenal to sign Sterling, that seemed to work out well enough for the ambitious young English player. It seems a bit rich to then decry that ambition further down the line.
 
As for "footballing development", does that include being played out of position for a team that have dropped three places in the Premier League and sold their best player last summer?
 
"It may not be about money. It could be about trophies or playing in the Champions League," Carragher continued. "If it's about trophies, last season Liverpool were that close to winning the league and he was fantastic. Now they're not close this year and they're not going to be close next year, if I'm totally honest."
 
At last the admission from Carragher. Sterling was labelled by Brendan Rodgers the "best young player in Europe" in April 2014, and yet didn't offer him a new deal at that time. Why wouldn't the "best player in Europe" want to be playing at the highest level? Or does "footballing development" translate as "not going close"?
 
And so to Carragher's pay-off line: "If you want to win trophies and you want big money - which is what he wants - they don't get given to you. You've got to earn them and you've got to play well in big games. Liverpool had a chance of a trophy this year in the semi-final of the FA Cup against Aston Villa. Where was Raheem Sterling?"
 
'Up front,' is the pithy answer to that question. Sterling was played as a central striker, forced into an unfamiliar and imperfect role through the inadequacies of his club in the transfer market.

[aev]

It s all very well publicly castigating a young kid about being money grabbing, but the whole bloody industry is based upon greed.

He might turn out to be England's best player over the next few years, or turn into the next great hype, but that is the risk Liverpool and his suitors face.

Also, lets not forget, Liverpool were quite happy getting Sterling from QPR at a young age. Maybe some of this media anger is that Liverpool are no longer at the top of the food chain.

edit - I agree with the mediawatch bit!