Chelsea beat Leicester City at the weekend to reach an FA Cup semi-final, but it was an action-packed tie filled with drama.
For Chelsea attacker Raheem Sterling, he somehow came out of Sunday’s 4-2 win as the villain in many people’s eyes.
The £50 million attacker (BBC) missed a great 1v1 chance, saw a penalty kick saved, plus ballooned a comical free-kick into the crowd before being substituted off late on to some loud boos from home supporters at Stamford Bridge.
Speaking viaThe Monday Night Club a couple of days ago, Leicester centre-back Conor Coady admitted he didn’t like hearing Sterling receive boos from Chelsea’s fans at the weekend.
TalkSPORT pundit and Chelsea fan Andy Jacobs admits he’s in the camp that was left really frustrated by Sterling in the club’s final game before the international break. In particular, he’s furious that he took the penalty off usual taker Cole Palmer and missed.
“Taking that penalty [against Leicester] was just ludicrous. It was so annoying. It was so predictable. When he grabbed the ball, I was going, Oh no, don’t do that,” Jacobs told talkSPORT (1:07pm, 18 March).
“He tried to do it about three weeks ago to take the ball off Palmer. It’s a lack of self-awareness.
“I suppose to be a great player you’ve got to be selfish, I understand that. But his record from penalties is not great. The other boy has got a great record from penalties. The team comes before you.”
Raheem Sterling has some making up to do
Hopefully, Sterling can use this two-week break to reset himself.
We don’t think the 29-year-old winger’s recent form merits a place in the Blues starting line-up, but it’s obvious he’s well liked by Mauricio Pochettino.
Speaking via BBC Radio 5 Live at the weekend, Pat Nevin said Sterling had a “stinker” against Leicester.
Let’s hope he can respond post-international break when Chelsea host Burnley in the league.
His season return of eight goals and 10 assists in 36 games across all competitions is decent, but there’s still inconsistency on a game-to-game basis and it’s been an average start to 2024.
Sterling vs Palmer penalty record
When you look at the numbers when it comes to penalties, Sterling’s got no argument moving forward to say he should take spot-kicks over Palmer.
As recorded by Transfermarkt, Sterling’s scored four and missed five of his career penalties in games.
In contrast, Palmer’s got a 100 per cent conversion rate scoring five out of five penalties since joining Chelsea last summer from Manchester City (Transfermarkt).
It’s time for Pochettino to put his foot down and select a designated penalty taker!