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METERMichael Jordan liked to talk about the shots he missed in his career: nine thousand of them in all, and over time a constant source of ignition, fathers of all his other triumphs. You failed. Does not matter. Fail better. Or in this case, trample everyone else on the boards in the spaces in between.
Which is all well and good, but it seems safe to say that none of those misses were heads-free against Anfield Kop at 4:39 p.m. on a humid Sunday afternoon in November, already 1-0 down, and forced to get up. court. grass and trot to the middle while pretending not to listen to 20,000 people offering gleefully unfavorable remarks about their historic life choices.
Welcome to a day, a fixture, a year in the life of Raheem Sterling, for whom Manchester City versus Liverpool remains a peculiar kind of trauma. One of the strange joys of indoor soccer is the constant surprise, in reruns or YouTube clips, at the power of a sports crowd.
When Manchester City and Liverpool retire at Etihad Stadium on Sunday, it will be almost exactly a year after last season’s reverse match, a 3-1 victory for Liverpool that would indeed clarify the trajectory of the Premier League title race. League; and an occasion notable mainly for the feverish mood of the stadium crowd.
This was soccer as a ripper public theater. Half an hour into Pep Guardiola could be seen prancing wildly on the touchline, arms spread like an insane border preacher, consumed by the strange shared energy of a stadium he had already begun to refer to as “that place.” Also, of course, there was Sterling, for whom these encounters remain an unhealed wound, though he continues to face it head-on.
A few moments after that missed header, the game was almost decided by Liverpool’s wonderful second goal, a three-point architectural zig-zag from right back to left back to right back, and then back with a zing to the top corner the net. It was a moment that seemed to set up the rest of the afternoon as a kind of autonomous Sterling mini-drama.
There were frustrated occasions and challenging dribbles, performed to a soundtrack of boos and boos. Finally, there was a fight with Joe Gomez that would overflow into a canteen in the England service a few days later, a meeting that both men, despite all the conciliatory words, will re-engage this weekend.
Sterling kept going that day, leading even in loss. As he will do on Sunday afternoon, installed in a time of cuts as the undisputed leader of Guardiola’s attack.
It is a role that City need me to play. There is a popular assumption that Guardiola is primarily an attacking coach, fueled by the headlines of the goals scored and the wonderful trained attacking talents. The tactical counterpoint to this is that Guardiola’s first thought is essentially defensive, his main obsession with controlling the ball and restraining the opponent.
Guardiola’s true fetish is for hypermobile midfielders and full-backs. At times, he can even seem a little cold on the other things: poachers, haglers, helping traders. This week, the City manager suggested the club simply couldn’t afford to buy a center forward last summer. Still, £ 100 million was spent on Nathan Aké and João Cancelo in the last year, surpassing the key role of defender-midfielder.
At that time, Chelsea bought Timo Werner and Liverpool Diogo Jota for roughly the same amount as the worthy, but currently they benched Aké. Hence the feeling of mild entropy in attack. City are good enough to have taken more shots than anyone from outside the box in the Premier League this season. But they are also currently 10th in shooting within the six-yard box, a table that City routinely leads.
The injuries of his two specialist center forwards, of course, have been key. But dig into who’s doing what right now and Sterling stands out for keeping his levels – just two goals so far, but still most shots, most dribbles, most tackles, most tackles. interceptions. Take it out and the threat seems greatly diminished.
Sterling-dependency: this is overstating the case. But it’s still a significant change from Pep’s early days, when the new City manager was brought in at one point to paint a chalk stain on training ground and literally instruct Sterling to stay there during stints. out of possession.
The ability to absorb this, to swallow mistakes, to keep coming back, has been key to Sterling’s altered state. The initial goal of City’s coaching staff was for Sterling to “miss two great chances” in every game. “We wanted him much closer to the penalty area. It was as if he was afraid of the goal, “said Mikel Arteta. More misses, more chances, more goals: Jordan’s dynamics in miniature.
Sterling is vital in other ways as well. His cumulative influence over those five years, the shift from straight winger to a half-turn and deep-spin dynamo may disguise the fact that City’s attacking recruitment has been relatively poor.
Since the summer of Sterling’s arrival, City have spent around £ 200 million in transfer fees on seven other attackers. Only one, Riyad Mahrez, has become a first-choice starter. Three have left the club. None have come close to improving the players already at the club in Sterling’s first season.
On the contrary, his old club has successfully recruited in attack. Roberto Firmino arrived the same summer that Sterling left, Sadio Mané the following year, Mo Salah the following year. It’s an intriguing thought, and not one that sits alongside a gleefully scathing Anfield in November, but in isolation, Sterling’s transfer from Liverpool seems like a good move for everyone involved: good source replacements on one side; Sterling’s progress at City on the other.
This accessory remains an unbreakable frontier, a constant proof of that will to recover, to swallow cuts and failures. Sterling has lost seven, drawn four and won twice against Liverpool since he left. In March 2016, he was booed at halftime in a 3-0 win that almost wiped out any hope of progress with Manuel Pellegrini. Anfield trauma, April 2018 ended his best chance to win the Champions League to date.
Even in a good season, personally, the trauma of last November left its mark. Going into that game, Sterling was flying. The four-month span from Anfield to the lockout was his worst scoring streak in two years. Sunday might not be the day to reverse that trend, although City do have Gabriel Jesus back, not to mention a five-clean sheet streak in eight games. What does seem certain is that Sterling will keep running, keep losing, keep bouncing again.
