Sancho could be like Liverpool duo if Man Utd fans ‘suffocate’ him
Unsure about Sancho? Anything to add on England or Sterling? Get your views in to theeditor@football365.com…
Sancho and Bundesliga skepticism
Sancho seems like a decent player.
The Bundesliga seems like a decent league.
But I have reservations about both. I find it very hard to judge players coming from the Bundesliga because every time I watch it I find the defending to be awful in general. So when a player like Sancho gets the numbers he gets and I watch him during a game it’s like the numbers aren’t reflecting what I’m seeing.
He’s a good player and I’m sure he’ll be a good buy for united with time but they need to give him plenty of time because this is going to be a very hard transition for him. In the bundesliga he’ll be used to players rarely putting in a challenge and being less physical. The marking is also very loose, I think this is why attacking players from Germany have been struggling when coming to Premier League. Suddenly they’re being followed more closely, it’s more physical and defenders aren’t afraid of using step or slide challenges liberally here.
As a Liverpool fan I’ve seen some players come to Liverpool from Germany and they’ve hit and miss in their adaption to Premier League. Keita, Minamino have struggled badly with the physical nature of the game and its speed. Perhaps tellingly the two which didn’t struggle are two which aren’t too bothered about a jostle or two (Firmino and Mane).
I guess what I’m saying to United fans is give the lad time, he may need two or three seasons to adapt to the Premier League, but he’ll never adapt if y’all suffocate him immediately.
Lee
Sterling defence…
Ok Shappo, I’ll bite. First, I will agree with you that just because Sterling has scored 75% of England’s goals during this tournament, it doesn’t mean that someone else couldn’t fulfill his role better. But let’s dig a little deeper.
Your general argument is quote: “all the good stuff he does is also offered by others, while none of them do all the bad stuff”
This is where I have to seriously disagree with you and I have actual stats to prove it rather than imaginary hypotheticals. First, the ultimate good stuff in football is scoring goals. Here is a list of England attackers by the number of goals and minutes played during this tournament: Sterling (3 goals, 337 minutes), Kane (1 goal, 336 minutes), Saka (0 goals, 153 minutes), Grealish (0 goals, 116 minutes), Foden (0 goals, 134 minutes), Mount (0 goals, 180 minutes), Rashford (0 goals, 58 minutes), and Sancho (0 goals, 6 minutes). Your argument seems to neatly ignore that the other 7 forwards have spent a whole 983 minutes of the pitch returning a solitary goal. It is not like they’ve not had an opportunity.
In case you are wondering, he is ranked 2nd amongst these players for shots per 90 minutes (only Mount is higher), 2nd for dribbles per 90 minutes (only Saka is higher), and 2nd for key-chances-created per 90 minutes (only Grealish is higher).
However, I will admit that he does lose the ball often. He has averaged 1 offside per 90mins (1st), 2.5 miscontrolled touches per 90mins (1st=), and he has been dispossessed 2.3 per 90mins (2nd). However, Saka has been worse: 2.5 miscontrolled touches per 90 and 2.5 dispossessions per 90.
So to go back to your argument, he’s actually doing all the best stuff better than anyone else. And yes, he is frustrating sometimes because he loses the ball, but that is because he’s actually trying stuff instead of just taking the safe option.
Honestly you should work as a studio host with Andy Gray and Richard Keys at BeIN – because that is how smelly your hot take is.
Oliver, London
The only point I need to make in regards to Shappo explaining how all the other players could do what Sterling can, but with none of the supposed drawbacks…
None of them have scored 75% of our goals though have they?
James, Kent
I see Shappo is working on the anti-Sterling on the basis of hypothetical situations that haven’t happened vs actual situations that have.
On the counter to his whataboutery, and looking at the reality of this tournament, he has worried defences with his dribbling, he has been in the right positions to score (three times with three *vital* goals) and he’s been a nuisance. You simply cannot choose “whatabouts” over “reality”. He deserves his spot in the team and yes, he might miss some chances but if we’re playing the hypothetical game, how on earth does Shappo know how any other player coming in won’t actually be worse. Foden has had chances in matches and has failed to take them (2 shots in total). And Saka has also played so that’s hardly a point (0 shots by the way). Both have a worst passing accuracy. The discussion for those two is which one plays on the right.
As a Liverpool supporter I’m certainly not Sterling’s biggest supporter and it frustrates me when he doesn’t pass or goes down a blind alley. However, simple fact is that he *has* scored and he is a constant threat.
Shappo also talks about “he’ll get you so far against limited teams”. Well, Ukraine (24th) are not better than Germany (12th), Denmark are on a par (10th) but the Czech Republic (40th) aren’t (Sterling has scored against them 4 times in two years/three matches against by the way) – and Muller won’t be playing for either of them.
So his entire argument about dropping Sterling for tomorrow’s match seems to rest on the final being against Belgium who are the best team left in the tournament, or Spain/Italy.
Frankly speaking, Sterling has earned the right to play and to drop him would be bonkers.
Rob, Brighton
I was going to write a well formulated argument for Shappo to enjoy, maybe suggesting that, yes, while England do have other players that might do what Sterling has done, those players have had time on the pitch and they haven’t actually done it, have they?
My next “counterpoint” might revolve around the absurdity of claiming that Sterling couldn’t recreate the skill that Grealish showed in setting up the TEAM goal that he “luckily” finished. A claim staked to contrive this spurious point around “luck” while completely disregarding the fact that Grealish wouldn’t have been there if Sterling hadn’t grabbed the initiative and started the move, driving the team into the final third of the pitch. Another player could have done that, couldn’t they, Shappo, but no other did, did they?
I was going to build to a crescendo, pointing out the weirdness of using the word “apologist” for advocates of England’s stand out player in the tournament so far (what are we apologising for?), a player that has been in the mix for MOTM in all four games, and not just because he scored 3 of the paucity of chances the team have created to get us thus far.
Maybe I’d repeat AGAIN that arguing another player could have done better in Sterling’s place is a special type of idiocy given he only gets 1 of the 11 opportunities to shine, 16 if you count subs.
I’d finish by pointing out again that the editor always ALWAYS chooses the most moronic and controversial letters to print first and then I remembered that you won’t publish this because you don’t want people to realise this glaringly obvious fact.
So I didn’t bother writing the email.
Thanks
Derek
Most of Greaves’ and Lineker’s goals were “tap ins”. Their genius was being in the right place at the right time. Good as they are, I can’t see Saka, Foden or Grealish getting many.
John G
It’s a knockout
Ahhh the English. I can’t believe how much guff there is about England’s style. It’s not like we’ve always been a swashbuckling national team that’s been showered in glory.
Yes, there may have been moments of great football through the years, but there’s been plenty more moments of things just not clicking, and many more times when it’s been full blown sh*t.
And guess what about football… it’s really, really hard to balance attacking excitement with real defensive stability.
How many elite club teams around the world play this style of football and comfortably beat teams at their level (which is seemingly what all the moaners are asking for). Now ask for that team to do it with barely any playing time together.
The one thing that this England team has is a plan, and they are actually delivering on that plan in the games. This can’t be said for many England teams in the past.
England aren’t the best team on paper. We’re contenders sure, but we have no God given right to beat anyone. But what we can do is be strong in defence, work hard in midfield and take advantage of our well worked opportunities when they come.
This isn’t a 38 game league season where you demand entertainment. This is a 7 game knockout tournament where we dream of winning.
The risk of failure is everywhere. Gareth is carefully and thoughtfully navigating us through the minefield.
But yeah, cartwheeling while blindfolded through the same field would be much more exciting to watch wouldn’t it.
David, Battersea (In Gareth We Trust)
Brazil 2002..really??
Even allowing for the front line Brazil had,Gab YNWA comparing the 2002 Brazil team to this English team is utterly ludicrous.
England have scored 4 goals in 4 games.
At the same stage Brazil had scored 13 goals in 2002.
England have not scored one goal in the first half of any game in this tournament.
Brazil played swashbuckling,front foot football.
They went down to 10 men against England in the quarters and were by far the better team.
They opened up England at will,should have scored more and spent way more time in Englands half.
Silva did not spend all his games passing sideways and backwards like Rice and Philips.
It’s a joke of a comparison.
England have been pedestrian,dour and awful to watch.
Pickford has hoofed it aimlessly long more then the rest of the keepers at the tournament COMBINED.
Had England lost to Germany that performance would have been seen in a different light.
Many teams have won tournaments-at international level and club level- playing this style so just admit that is the way you are playing & go with it.
Houllier,Rafa and Jose made careers out of it.
It’s dull.
It’s dour.
It’s atrocious to watch.
But England can win playing this way.
Gussy,Ireland