What was said?
[coach 4592176] said, “I am a great admirer of Raheem, I think he is a fine player,” Hodgson said. “It is a wonderful position to be in if you’re Pep Guardiola that you believe you have other players you prefer to use to Raheem.
“But I am pretty certain in terms of England, he will still be an important player and an important cog in the wheel because he has so much ability.
“The skill set he has and ability he has to beat people, get into goal-scoring positions and score and set up chances, they are hard skillsets to find.
“And a great quality Raheem has got, and one I have always admired in him is he is not a player who stays up there and waits for the ball to come to him.
“He makes certain he goes in search of it and when he loses it, he gets it back and plays an important role in the team’s defensive work.
“These are things we as coaches expect of our players these days, but it’s not always easy to get it.”
Will Sterling be in the starting eleven for the Euros?
[player 802]’s form in the first half of the season was decent. However, his form for the last couple of months has been poor. Sterling’s scoring numbers have also seen a major drop this season. In the [league 8], he has 9 goals and 6 assists in 28 appearances. Overall, the numbers are not awful, but by his standards, they are not good enough. Also, due to the high level of competition at every position at [team 9], slight inconsistency can lead to decreased game time. In the [league 2], he has 2 assists and 1 goal in 9 appearances.
With the [league 1326] coming up shortly, the level of competition for attacking positions is high. Sterling can play from either wing. At the moment, there are other Englishmen who are in great form and could be Southgate’s choice over Sterling. This includes [team 68]’s [player 538034], City’s [player 336133], [player 1116] from [team 15], and [team 14]’s [player 1878]. [team 1]’s [player 820] is another likely name on the list, given his relations with Southgate.
Sterling will surely be included in the 26-man-squad, but his starting place looks covered by other players. With the season almost over, Sterling won’t get many chances to convince [coach 474589] as [coach 455361] is unlikely to pick him for the decisive Champions League games. However, with a few games left in Premier League, Sterling might get a few opportunities there. However, his starting birth for [team 18645] is not as secured as it was a couple of months ago.
