Arsenal legend Martin Keown has praised Raheem Sterling's progress in controlling the game with team play in his latest column on Mail. Here we present you the full article.
Arsene Wenger once took me over to watch our youth team at Arsenal. When the boss turns up, everybody tries even harder. They want to impress and Wenger knew that. As we stood there, he told me: 'Watch this kid. Watch what he does.'
He did not try to catch the eye by being flash or trying too hard. He kept it simple. 'Him, his simplicity, he doesn't change,' Wenger said. 'He's going to make it.' He was pointing out Cesc Fabregas, who was just 16 years old at the time.
Sure enough, Fabregas was not with the youth team for long. That can be an issue for youngsters nowadays. Individual brilliance is great and we've seen Lionel Messi and Co take on teams to score.
But intelligent movement is a safer bet and that is something Raheem Sterling has learned from Pep Guardiola. When Sterling is not in possession, that is when you need to be wary of him the most.
As a player you only have so much energy and running with the ball is possibly the most difficult and strenuous thing you can do. Wenger always taught us the value of two-touch football at Arsenal. Take a look before you receive the ball then let it roll across your body. Use your first touch to control it, then your second to move it on.
Sterling receives the ball in space but passes instead of dribbling
He runs behind Aston Villa's defence to meet David Silva's pass
Sterling gathers it and Manchester City are left in a promising position
Whenever a new midfielder joined us they would spend hours and hours on the training pitch practising this. Guardiola is imposing the same philosophy on his players now. Tommy Doyle made his first-team debut for Manchester City against Southampton in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday night.
Speaking afterwards, 18-year-old midfielder Doyle said: 'Guys like Bernardo (Silva), Phil (Foden) and the other players… they make it easy for you. You give them the ball and keep it simple. You don't need to overdo things.'
It is no coincidence that City and Liverpool have the highest number of passes per dribble in the league. Arsenal sit bottom of the Big Six, level with Manchester United and I have noticed before how Unai Emery's players take too many touches on the ball.
The Premier League has become a passing game and City move it simply and effectively, with Sterling a prime example of this. In 2013-14 and 2014-15 — his final two seasons at Liverpool — he was averaging 3.7 and 3.0 dribbles per game. He has never hit numbers like that for City and he is currently averaging 1.8 per game in 2019-20.
This is not to say Sterling does not deliver moments of individual magic. He is capable of that. But his movement off the ball is lethal, as Aston Villa found out last week.
Shown in our images above, in one of many City attacks down the left, Sterling decided against dribbling, despite being gifted the space to do so, and instead played it inside to David Silva before running behind to complete a one-two. He also loves drawing his marker in, receiving the ball, playing it back then running behind. His passing and movement off the ball have become such a threat for City.