Chelsea forward Raheem Sterling is firmly under the spotlight following a chaotic FA Cup tie at the weekend.
Chelsea entered this month’s international break fresh off beating Leicester City on Sunday in an FA Cup quarter-final tie at Stamford Bridge. As a result, the Blues face Manchester City in April for an FA Cup semi-final clash at Wembley Stadium, where their record has been so poor recently.
Despite victory a couple of days ago, there’s still been a fair bit of negativity fired towards Mauricio Pochettino’s side. In particular, Raheem Sterling did catch the brunt of it for his poor individual display.
Speaking via The Monday Night Club this week, Leicester defender Conor Coady admitted he didn’t like hearing Sterling receive boos from Chelsea supporters inside the ground at the weekend.
Mario Melchiot, the ESPN pundit and former Chelsea player, does admit that Sterling’s form isn’t great right now.
He’s personally not a fan of boo-boys digging out individuals during matches, but he’s critical of the 29-year-old attacker’s general form.
“He’s not in a good place. He’s not performing [like] you know…” Melchiot told ESPN.
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“Does he have to play better? Does he have to score goals and perform better? Yeah. Sterling has enough experience to do that.”
Raheem Sterling numbers don’t tell the full story
If you objectively look at Sterling’s attacking output at Chelsea this season, you’d have to give him a pass mark.
The left-winger’s scored eight goals and created 10 assists in 36 Blues appearances across all competitions.
It’s not close to his dazzling best he showed once upon a time in Manchester City colours, but we think Blues head coach Mauricio Pochettino would point towards his numbers as vindication for starting him most games.
A further crunch of the numbers does highlight a dip in form during 2024, particularly in front of goal. His return of two goals in 15 appearances this calendar year is disappointing for the senior forward in Chelsea’s attack. In contrast, 21-year-old teammate Cole Palmer is ripping it up almost every week.
The Evening Standard has just reported that Sterling is still determined to remain a Chelsea player and win over the club’s frustrated supporters. That does show huge personality and desire from a top professional, but now he needs consistency to match his best levels.
We do feel for the Englishman that he’s been frozen out of Gareth Southgate’s international squad, but some of his rivals are outperforming him on a more consistent basis.
