Pep may have just unearthed his new Raheem Sterling at Man City
da brdice： This season could have been catastrophic for Manchester City, but they’re now very much on course to salvage the campaign.
da winzada777： On Wednesday night, even without the sidelined Erling Haaland, the Sky Blues swatted aside Leicester at the Etihad, thanks to first-half goals from Jack Grealish and then Omar Marmoush.
This victory propelled Pep Guardiola’s team up to fourth, ahead of a fascinating Manchester derby at Old Trafford on Sunday.
The Citizens could also bookend a generally miserable season with silverware, through to the FA Cup semi-finals for a seventh successive season, set to face high-fliers Nottingham Forest at Wembley in three and a half week’s time.
As Man City rebuild, and Guardiola continues to rejig his team, has he found his new Raheem Sterling?
Raheem Sterling's Manchester City career
As outlined by David Mercer of Sky News, Sterling has spent his entire career ‘in the spotlight’ with ‘newspaper controversies’ often overshadowing his sporting talent.
This was certainly the case when he made the £49m move from Liverpool to Manchester City in 2015, with former Manchester United defender Paul Parker labeling him ‘overpriced’, claiming Man City paid ‘a lot of money’ for a player who hadn’t ‘really done anything that’s worthy of that price’.
Well, fair to say, Sterling did justify his price tag in sky blue, scoring 131 goals and providing 73 assists in 339 appearances for the club, winning four Premier League titles, an FA Cup and five EFL Cups.
Guardiola labeled him ‘so important’ to their success, while Vincent Kompany believed, at his peak, Sterling was ‘one of the best wingers in the world’. His form at Chelsea and now Arsenal subsequently show Man City were vindicated to sell him for £47.5m when they did.
Now, can Man City’s current mercurial talent, who exists under a similar level of media scrutiny, rediscover his best form and become a key figure for Guardiola once again?
Man City's new Raheem Sterling
By opening the scoring against Leicester on Wednesday, Jack Grealish ended his 473-day wait for a Premier League goal, dedicating it to his younger brother Keelan, who tragically died exactly 25 years ago to the day.
On Wednesday, Guardiola chose to deploy Grealish as the central playmaker, handing him his first Premier League start since Christmas, a decision that was certainly vindicated.
The England international certainly made a strong case to start as the number ten in Sunday’s Manchester derby too, considering both Phil Foden and Kevin De Bruyne continue to misfire, notably reduced to a role among the subs.
Grealish vs Leicester
Minutes played
90
Goals
1
Assists
0
Touches
68
Accurate passes
51/55 (93%)
Shots
2
Key passes
2
Duels won
1/9
Fouls won
1
Stats via Sofascore.
By his own admission, Grealish has not been at his best this season, but he still has plenty to offer between now and the end of the campaign.
Similar to Sterling, Grealish exists under intense media scrutiny, which John Nicholson of Football365 describes as ‘grotesque’ and hyperbolic stupidity in pursuit of content’.
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The most recent example of this came just last month when the Daily Mail ran a story about Grealish spending an evening in a pub in Newcastle, supposedly ‘stumbling’ out in the early hours of the morning.
Back on the pitch, Gareth Southgate described Grealish as “fantastic”, so let’s compare his campaign to those of the aforementioned Foden and De Bruyne, attempting to decipher who Guardiola should start going forward.
Grealish vs De Bruyne & Foden 24/25 comparison
Statistics
Grealish
De Bruyne
Foden
Appearances
28
31
39
Minutes
1,430
1,698
2,674
Goals
3
4
10
Assists
5
7
6
Chances created
51
54
70
Take-on success %
41.2%
37.5%
40%
Shot-creating actions per 90
5.56
6
4.66
Pass completion %
87.8%
75.9%
84.8%
Touches per 90
37
60
51
Stats via Transfermarkt, FBref, Squawka
As the table outlines, Grealish comes out on top when it comes to dribbling and pass completion, with Foden registering the best statistics overall, albeit he’s played 1,200 more minutes than his compatriot and 1,000 more than De Bruyne.
So, while none of the trio have been at their best, Grealish might just be the man in form, suggesting their ‘new Sterling’ should start at Old Trafford this weekend.
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