Raheem Sterling: Shaken, Not Sterred

[Batman]

If anything we should have just kept Hein. Neto has only played once this season and even if he wasn't cup tied, he'd only have played about three more times in useless games so it doesn't really matter

We certainly shouldn't have made 2 domestic loans which blocked us from getting any help via loan in the January window.

People can think whatever they want about Arteta, Edu or both. The fact is that the mismanagement of the squad was grossly unfair to the players who were giving it their all, battling to get fit, playing half fit etc.

I hope it's now a thing of the past with Berta in charge but we'll see.

 

[Batman]

To essentially sit on another club's bench.

He is completely pointless in this season's context. Butler would probably have more impact than him given his minutes.

I have never seen someone fall off such a cliff before

He was this bad at Chelsea last season. People just assumed it was in part due to their dysfunction and inconsistent game time since they have about 50 wingers.

 

[Yousif Arsenal]

After this and Willian i just hope the club stop doing these kind of deals. never seen Arteta lose faith of player that quick even Willian when he was s**t took Arteta longer to give up.

 

[Rex Stone]

I don’t understand how people are so angry over this deal tbh.

It was an absolute nothing when you consider the outlay and the fact that for £4.5M he’s probably met expectations.

He was always an emergency solution and at that stage of the window it was him or nobody.

 

[Gooner Zig]

He was this bad at Chelsea last season. People just assumed it was in part due to their dysfunction and inconsistent game time since they have about 50 wingers.

Nah he wasn't anywhere near this bad at Chelsea last season, he bagged 8 goals and 4 assists and played a decent amount of minutes. If he repeated that with us we would have called his loan spell a success.

 

[Gooner Zig]

I don’t understand how people are so angry over this deal tbh.

It was an absolute nothing when you consider the outlay and the fact that for £4.5M he’s probably met expectations.

He was always an emergency solution and at that stage of the window it was him or nobody.

This is the part of your post I disagree with - I don't think he met expectations at all. At the very least, I think we thought we were getting a competent player who could chew minutes across the front line and he couldn't even do that.

 

[Jasard]

I don’t understand how people are so angry over this deal tbh.

It was an absolute nothing when you consider the outlay and the fact that for £4.5M he’s probably met expectations.

He was always an emergency solution and at that stage of the window it was him or nobody.

Just taking out on him their anger over not getting someone proper. The stories I've heard is Edu quite literally went "**** it might as well" at that point.

 

[Rex Stone]

This is the part of your post I disagree with - I don't think he met expectations at all. At the very least, I think we thought we were getting a competent player who could chew minutes across the front line and he couldn't even do that.

1000 plus minutes in all competitions is pretty much what 4.5M should get you when you consider how little that really is these days.

You have to forget the name in deals like these. He was cover and that’s all he was ever going to be.

 

[squallman]

I don’t understand how people are so angry over this deal tbh.

It was an absolute nothing when you consider the outlay and the fact that for £4.5M he’s probably met expectations.

He was always an emergency solution and at that stage of the window it was him or nobody.

Whose expectations?

I'm not angry, just felt it was a waste of time.

The fact that it was him or nobody was my issue, spoke to poor planning on our mat. My issue was why were we helping Chelsea to balance their books again?

Did we gain anything on the pitch from playing Sterling? Whenever people talk about "being good in the locker room", but can't talk to anything on the pitch, I know a player is a waste.

Elneny and Flamini were both deemed to be great in the locker room as well for all the good it did us. It never seems to do any tangible good.

Where was assistant coach Raheem when the team was falling to pieces the past few months?

 

[Batman]

Nah he wasn't anywhere near this bad at Chelsea last season, he bagged 8 goals and 4 assists and played a decent amount of minutes. If he repeated that with us we would have called his loan spell a success.

When you actually watched him play it was the same thing, the legs looked heavy and his execution was comically poor at times. He looked finished last season. We all were just hoping it was more environment and not being happy than a true physical decline. It's clearly that latter.

 

[Rex Stone]

Whose expectations?

I'm not angry, just felt it was a waste of time.

The fact that it was him or nobody was my issue, spoke to poor planning on our mat. My issue was why were we helping Chelsea to balance their books again?

Did we gain anything on the pitch from playing Sterling? Whenever people talk about "being good in the locker room", but can't talk to anything on the pitch, I know a player is a waste.

Elneny and Flamini were both deemed to be great in the locker room as well for all the good it did us. It never seems to do any tangible good.

Where was assistant coach Raheem when the team was falling to pieces the past few months?

Letting Chelsea pay 200k+ a week for someone to play against them is still a good deal for us.

It was done at 11:59 after all other options were exhausted and we bent them over for someone we knew probably wasn’t what he was.

He’s here on loan with no strings attached so in the scheme of things it’s small fry. If you want to question the Calafiori, Merino or even the Havertz deals then that’s a better conversation.

 

[squallman]

Letting Chelsea pay 200k+ a week for someone to play against them is still a good deal for us.

It was done at 11:59 after all other options were exhausted and we bent them over for someone we knew probably wasn’t what he was.

He’s here on loan with no strings attached so in the scheme of things it’s small fry. If you want to question the Calafiori, Merino or even the Havertz deals then that’s a better conversation.

Chelsea could have been paying his full wage while we gave Sterling's minutes to Nwaneri or another youth.

I can question Calafiori and Havertz all day. The former for being a misplaced priority (how many defenders do we need) and the latter for being way too overpriced and us again helping Chelsea out of a financial hole.

Merino was just midfield squad depth at an average price. If he doesn't perform well and isn't moved on, that will be an issue.

 

[Batman]

Letting Chelsea pay 200k+ a week for someone to play against them is still a good deal for us.

It was done at 11:59 after all other options were exhausted and we bent them over for someone we knew probably wasn’t what he was.

He’s here on loan with no strings attached so in the scheme of things it’s small fry. If you want to question the Calafiori, Merino or even the Havertz deals then that’s a better conversation.

It was not a good deal in the sense that having 2 domestic loanees prevented us from getting in a competent player on loan in January.

We essentially forfeited the ability to make a deal like the one we made for Raya. Had we been able to loan someone in with an obligation to buy, be that a striker or someone to cover the wings (and I mean someone with a pulse who could change a game, not Sterling) maybe our fortunes would have been different in these narrowly decided games where we just couldn't score enough.

It's not about Sterling in a vacuum. It's about what loaning 2 players who were totally useless inhibited us from doing in January when the squad desperately needed reinforcements. Calafiori has actually contributed this season. So has Merino. Sterling and Neto have not.

 

[OSBK]

Has to be one of the worst transfers in our history. Really was a great chance for him, if he had Really gone for it and shown his best form then who knows where he would be playing next season. But this form he has shown, it's likely to be leeds.

 

[Entropics]

The best is yet to come indeed

 

[KrissKringle]

What's annoying about this loan deal is the fact that he's an experienced PL player that won a lot of trophies, but is so out of form that you can't even use him in an important CL game when you're chasing a goal, so he's pretty much as useful as sticking a youngster from the reserves team in order to meet the requirements for subs in a match.

 

[Zaza]

Apart from him being obviously washed up, lets not forget he didn't have a preseason and essentially got injured before he could build any sort of rhythm. With his confidence shot and totally on the floor, we just could not afford to "play him into form".
I feel for him. I am sad we only got an incredibly washed up version of him.

 

[Zaza]

Apart from him being obviously washed up, lets not forget he didn't have a preseason and essentially got injured before he could build any sort of rhythm. With his confidence shot and totally on the floor, we just could not afford to "play him into form".
I feel for him. I am sad we only got an incredibly washed up version of him.

 

[Mrs Bergkamp]

Overall, with the fee and wages, its a waste of just over £8m. He hasn't been useful at all tbh. Seems a nice guy and God bless him but he's the worst loan for us, ever.

 

[Aevi]

Definitely hoped for more impact, he was a flop.