Sterling

[curious yellow 184]

Sterling is performing better than previously for England - when every attack used to break down when it reached him. He is not a natural finisher and you get the impression that he waits to receive the ball before deciding what to do with it.

Tries hard but you wonder what people would think of his performances if others had not excelled.

[Aggy 748]

Tricky one with Sterling. His pace means that defences play slightly deeper or defenders are always caught slightly in two minds; this allows more space for the other players in midfield and playing off the front men.

However, there is a side of me that thinks - so what if he means we create more, if he can’t score/pick a good final pass, then does it matter?

His impact on the opposition tactically due to his pacemaker is probably his biggest impact in this tournament.

I don’t rate Vardy all that much, but it’d be a close call between Sterling and Rashford.

[AJ 1,218]

Sterling offers far more to the side than Rashford or Vardy do, goalscoring aside. Part of the formation we play is that the players are very fluid and fill the gaps so that defensively as a unit we are very tight. Sterling is a big part of that, often dropping deep to either help defend or play it out, similar to how Wes used to operate for us.

Rashford can probably do this, but he''s more attacking minded so probably less dynamic than Sterling in that sense.

Yes, I entirely agree his goalscoring would certainly help, but he has had a pretty solid season for Man City. As others have said, he doesn''t appear so naturally gifted in front of goal as others and the pressure on him is causing him to be more hesitant. I really wish he had scored one of those two chances against Sweden as they were both good moves and he did everything right up until the finish. The second one was unlucky though as the keeper did really well to push it away from goal. He absolutely should have passed it across the box though.