Football News: What is Raheem Sterling's best position?

Image from: smh.com.au

On a cold Wednesday night in Bournemouth, Liverpool disposed of their Championship opposition with what appeared to be a comfortable 1-3 League Cup victory. However it was far from comfortable with Bournemouth hitting the post and squandering 2 or 3 golden opportunities to pull the game back. Liverpool weathered the storm though and came away with a semi final against Chelsea FC to show for it. All you can ask of your team in a cup game is for them to win, as the level you play your league football at counts for nothing when the ref blows the whistle to signal kick off. You can only beat the team in front of you. Whilst this result may not be anything to shout about for Liverpool FC and their fans, it could certainly act as a confidence boost and hopefully springboard the club into life, starting this weekend against a resurgent Arsenal. One of the major positives Liverpool will take from this game is the performance of 20 year old dynamo, Raheem Sterling.

In Rodgers' post match press conference he spoke highly of the young attacker. When asked whether the 'false 9' position he played against Bournemouth could be Sterling's position for the future Rodgers replied:
"He can play across the front line. I think his best position is on the side, from the left dipping inside, making runs in behind, creating in the 1v1. But as I said, I played him in the position because I think he can play it and he's played there as a young player. He played in the youth team at Liverpool as a striker and he's certainly one that has got the qualities to do it."

Rodgers clearly suggests here that he believes Raheem Sterling's best position is as a left forward/winger in a front 3. When I heard him say this I immediately questioned this suggestion. I had always personally thought he does far more damage in an attacking midfield role with strikers and forwards in front of him pulling defenders out of position and giving him time to turn and run at people. Last season he played at the tip of the midfield diamond that Rodgers deployed for the best part of the season and he thrived there. He was arguably the best Under 21 player in the Premier league. Whereas in his first season where he was largely utilised as a wide player he looked like he had talent but didn't really seem to affect the scoreline that much (although this could be partially attributed to the fact he was completely new to senior football). He seems to be far more comfortable in a more central role as he has neither the crossing ability to regularly whip in a deadly ball or the shooting technique to consistently 'dip inside' and curl a shot into the far corner.

He does however have excellent composure on the ball, blistering pace, an admirable work rate and great vision on the ball. When he runs with the ball, at times it appears as though it is glued to his feet. His link up play with other skilful players such as Suarez, Sturridge and Coutinho is also impressive. Surely all of this points towards him being better off as an attacking midfielder? I took it upon myself to do some stat crunching to find out where Sterling really is the most effective. These stats are taken from Transfermarkt and include all competitive games this season (both club and International).

Left forward/wing:
According to Transfermarkt, Raheem Sterling has played 8 games on the left. This is not strictly true as in the second half against Southampton (in the first game of the season), Rickie Lambert was brought on to try and grab a winner and Liverpool reverted to a 4-4-2 diamond with Sterling at the tip. For simplicity I will just say that he played the first half on the left and the second half in attacking midfield. Therefore in 7.5 games on the left Sterling has just 1 goal (in the first half vs Southampton) and 1 assist (vs Chelsea in the league). To be quite honest that is not an overwhelming record. It is even less impressive when you consider the circumstances of the assist against Chelsea. He didn't create a particularly good goal scoring chance. He merely played a ball into Emre Can's feet in the midfield and Can scored with a hopeful shot from long range courtesy of a deflection. So this assist was more luck than excellent play. Sterling has played on the left against Ludogorets (H), Basel (H), Southampton (H), Manchester City (A), Everton (H), Chelsea (H), Stoke City (H) and Sunderland (H). Considering the amount of home games there and the lack of quality of a few of these teams (with all due respect to Ludogorets, Stoke and Sunderland), you'd be looking for more than 1 goal and 1 assist from your left forward/winger. This doesn't exactly do a lot for Rodgers idea that he is best here!

Right forward/wing:
According to Transfermarkt, Raheem Sterling has played 7 games on the right. He has an even poorer record here though with just 1 assist and no goals. The lack of goals is unsurprising as Sterling is not known for being a two footed player so coming inside onto his left foot was never really going to benefit him. However you would think with him being on his more natural right foot in terms of crossing the ball, he would have managed more than just 1 assist. This assist came against West Brom in a 2-1 home win. Some of you may remember Sterling's excellent pull back for Jordan Henderson who guided the ball into the far bottom corner with a composed finish. This was actually good wing play from Sterling. Getting to the by-line and cutting the ball back into the danger area is a wingers bread and butter. However it is not what Sterling naturally looks to do which is why he only has 1 assist from the right hand side. The teams Sterling has faced on the right side of a front 3 are Basel (A), Real Madrid (A), West Brom (H), QPR (A), Hull City (H), Newcastle United (A) and Crystal Palace (A). Although a lot of these games are away from home, if you discount Real Madrid there are not any teams there you would consider unassailable. It is worth noting though that Sterling nearly had another assist against QPR only for Steven Caulker to toe poke the ball into his own net. Had his final pass across the 6 yard box been better though you could argue that he would have an assist. Again though, these stats don't do a lot for Sterling's credentials as a wide player!

Centre forward/striker:
According to Transfermarkt, Raheem Sterling has played 4 games as a centre forward. As we already know he is not an orthodox striker and a far more accurate description would be a 'false 9'. He drops deep to collect the ball and run at people or looks for a ball in behind rather than holding up the ball for others or waiting in the box for a delivery. This suits Liverpool though as they are not the sort of team to just fire balls into the penalty area all game. In these 4 games Sterling has managed 2 goals and 2 assists which on the face of it looks like a very good record for a 20 year old playing as a striker. However when you then take into account both of the goals came in a single cup game against lower league opposition and the assists came individually against Leicester City and Ludogorets respectively, it doesn't seem as impressive as it was initially. The assists were as a result of great play from him though. The assist against Leicester was a clever backheel into the path of Henderson after Sterling had seemingly taken the ball too wide. The assist against Ludogorets was a perfectly weighted pass across the front of goal that Henderson powered onto, to stab home at the back post. Take nothing away from Sterling. He is not a natural goal scorer and is doing a better job there than players who were bought to be just that. The only other game he has played as a centre forward in was the 3-0 loss at old Trafford last weekend. It was in this game that it was made very apparent that Sterling is not clinical enough to be relied on as the teams primary goal scorer (at least not yet) as he squandered enough chances to score a hattrick on another day. He seems to struggle with his shooting technique often hitting the ball into the ground or making a poor connection. Not that this makes him a bad player. He is still very young and very obviously a more natural creator of chances than he is a taker of chances. I would argue that if required, Sterling can do a job in this role. He still looks fairly comfortable here as it is a more central position and not too dissimilar to the attacking midfield role he played last season (the main difference being there is nobody ahead of him so he's relying on the wide forwards coming narrow to give him options). However he shouldn't be relied on as the primary goal threat because his shooting is inconsistent, as he showed even at Bournemouth when he dragged his shot wide from just over 6 yards out following Adam Lallana's delightful backheel.

Attacking midfield:
According to Transfermarkt, Raheem Sterling has played 7 games as an attacking midfielder. As I mentioned previously he played this position for part of the Southampton game, but also only played half of the game against San Marino for England. Therefore, for simplicity I will just call it 7 games. The assist he claimed against Southampton in the second half will be included in his stats for attacking midfield as that's where he was playing at the time. Sterling therefore has 2 goals and 3 assists in this position. This is a noticeable improvement on his measurable goal return as a wide player and even exceeds his return as a striker (admittedly in more game time). His goals include his tidy back post finish against Tottenham Hotspur in the 3-0 victory (that now seems a lifetime ago) and against West Ham United in the 3-1 loss. His goal against West Ham was a powerful volley from the centre of the box after Balotelli's deflected shot ricocheted into his path. Only one of these assists came in a Liverpool shirt and that was against Southampton when he attacked a loose high ball in the penalty area and directed it successfully to Daniel Sturridge who guided it into the corner. The other two assists in this role came for England against Switzerland and Slovenia. The most memorable of the two was his excellent one-two with Danny Welbeck inside the penalty area with Welbeck sliding the ball under the keeper from a fairly difficult angle. In fact, both of his assists in an England shirt this season have been for Danny Welbeck which demonstrates just how much Sterling likes to play behind somebody with pace and mobility who will look to break beyond the oppositions back line. For all Welbeck's criticism, you cannot question his intelligence to get himself into the right positions. With the lack of pace and movement Balotelli and Lambert have shown this season it is no surprise Sterling has not set up a club goal from this position since Sturridge got injured (it's worth noting that he's only played 3 club games in attacking midfield since Sturridge got injured though). He needs movement ahead of him to take advantage of his great vision and link up play. The teams Sterling has played against in this role are Real Madrid (H), Switzerland (A), San Marino (H), Slovenia (H), Southampton (H), Tottenham Hotspur (H), West Ham (H) and Middlesbrough (H). There are a fair amount of home games here but also some very good teams and some defensively strong teams so the 2 goals and 3 assists are relatively impressive compared to his statistical returns in other positions.

(Note: there were two games that Transfermarkt did not state the position Sterling played for the match and in order to maintain consistency, I have excluded them from these stats. The games were against Estonia (A) and Aston Villa (H).)

Looking at this analysis now makes it very clear that Sterling has far more of an effect on the scoreline from a central position; be that as an attacking midfielder or a 'false 9'. In what is essentially 11 games in a central role he has a total of 4 goals and 5 assists, whereas in roughly 14.5 games as a wide player he has just 1 goal and 2 assists.

Perhaps Brendan likes the energy Sterling offers on the flanks as he is a very hard worker who protects his full back very well. Based on the skillset he visually demonstrates on the pitch though I believe he is far more suited to a central position. His goal/assist return would appear to back up that theory as well.

I have no doubt that Raheem Sterling will become a good player in whatever position he eventually settles into but for me, he should be in the centre behind the frontline both creating chances and making late bursts into the box to try and get himself onto the score sheet. Whilst he has the potential to be a good wide player, he could be a brilliant player in the centre. Who knows, maybe even world class? That is another debate entirely!

Thank you for reading.

Written by Adam Jones December 19 2014 19:03:34