Mendy & Sterling!

I hope they make me look stupid, but I never thought I’d see both Sterling & Mendy in the same starting line up.
Not overly confident at this moment, but I’d happily be proved wrong with a clean sheet and a Sterling hat trick

Painful to watcvh.  B team last week - C team this week.

Utterly boring game.

I won’t say what I think of Sterling (or Mendy) because if I did Wensdi would be disgusted with me.
Pep totally at fault with that line up.

I don’t care what anyone thinks of my opinion, I stand by my previous comments on Sterling and Mendy.
How Sterling stayed on that pitch for 95 minutes completely baffles me! Bernardo Silva and Mahrez would have been much better yet that useless clown Sterling stayed on for the entire game???

Pep is guilty of not putting him out of his misery and hooking him. There’s something I’m just not getting.

If Pep made 7 changes and ultimately lost the game to Leeds - why would he repeat his mistake by making 8 changes from the Dortmund game and lose again?  Isn't there a moral to this story?  Why do the same thing again and expect a different outcome.  Thoroughly stupid if you ask me and an utter disappointment for the fans.

I would forgive you TBW if you resorted to expletives - as I threw out a couple to my son on the phone just now!!

I’m too much of a gentleman to repeat the language I was using during the game

At this stage of 4 competitions I appreciate its hard to juggle team selections but surely Pep has realised that Sterling just isn’t good enough? Even a blind man could see that Sterling’s first touch, lack of ball control, and decision making in the final third are just woefully inadequate? If anyone disagrees, please feel free to explain what Sterling contributed to that game? I admit it’s a team game and the whole team that Pep fielded today was not up to scratch. However, one player stands out every single time as being just not good enough. Why does he merit merit a starting place over 2 or 3 others unless it’s simply to save those players for the Champions League? One player does not lose matches but he contributes nothing positive and there are better players out there and better players in the squad!

As soon as I saw the team sheets, I knew we’d struggle. Chelsea basically picked a back 8 and we opted for two DCMs and only Kev as a creative outlet. Plus having Sterling, Torres and Jesus in attack, three players who’ve basically been phoning it in this season, and Mendy who can’t hold position for toffee, I just knew we’d struggle. Once Chelsea got their noses in front it was clear they’d just shut up shop, mark Kev out of the game and watch us flounder. This was a game crying out for two creative midfielders and at least one person who could find the net against decent opponents and we didn’t have that at any point.

Still, I suppose it shuts off the quadruple talk, so that’s one thing...

Sterling, Jesus, Mendy and Rodri can all go for me. Torres is on shaky ground. I’d have subbed any three of those today for Bernardo, Riyad and Aleks, at least we’d have been able to open them up a bit, rather than channeling everything through Kev or Phil.

I'm at a loss to understand why Pep rotated his aquad to that extent, especially when it failed so badly only 1week earlier. 

He should know any team that has a front 3 of Sterling Jesus and Torres couldn't score on a brothel especially with Mendy behind them

I can count on one hand the great games Mendy has had since joining us. I can count on 1 finger Sterling’s good games since Xmas. Get shot of them both and bring in Haaland & a LB.
Our season could turn very very sour if Pep keeps making so many changes. Foden should be starting every match now. He’s young & fit & doesn’t need constant breaks.

That’s weird, because I could swear Sterling hasn’t even had as many as 1 good games since Christmas... I’m not sure what’s happened to the lad, it can’t be because Foden is forcing him out, surely? On their day, Sterling is a better striker than Jesus, so shouldn’t he be aiming for that, rather than sulking?

i feel jesus is a better striker than sterling. His work rate and bringing others into the game far outweighs sterlings contributions of late. Had jesus got some service on saturday instead of going deep to try and get on the ball may have had some different results. We all agree that we need creative players behind the strikers to get the assists so why use sterling. 

What has happened to the Torres we bought ? from the clips i saw prior to purchasing him he was quick and direct on the ball skinning full backs with his pace and trickery of running directly at them. He is looking like a poor mans Navas another player i was looking forward to seeing in the premier league.

Yes, Jesus is better than Sterling now, but I'm thinking of them both at their best, where Sterling is, for me, the more capable player. That said, on recent performances, Sterling isn't anywhere near Jesus and picking him really doesn't bode well. The number of poor touches, wayward passes and having the ball picked off him with ease, I'd rather we didn't bother.

I'm with you on Torres, but I don't think he's had enough of a chance to show what he can do for us, so I'm willing to cut him a little slack.

Absolutely agree, Torres, Mahrez or Jesus i would have any of them in my starting line up ahead of Sterling at the moment. He is so bad it beggars belief that Pep keeps picking him although to be fair he has been benched a bit lately too. I would not even give him a place on the bench though with the options available.

I think Sterling will be gone in the summer.
I think the only reason he gets any game time at the moment is so that he’s valued as a first team player in the transfer market.