In what was a very busy media suite at Molineux on Saturday afternoon, there were a variety of questions thrown at Frank Lampard.
The interim Chelsea head coach had just seen his side lose 1-0 to Wolves in what was his first match back at the club after being appointed on a short-term contract to temporarily replace Graham Potter. There were the obvious questions; the ones about his job, the challenge on his hands, what was lacking in the Chelsea team.
But there was one player whose performance was somewhat singled out from the rest of the Blues side – Raheem Sterling. The 28-year-old started his first game for Chelsea since returning from a hamstring injury he's been struggling with throughout 2023.
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Despite a few positive dribbles in the opening exchanges of the match at Molineux, Sterling failed to make any sort of impact on what was a miserable afternoon for Chelsea. It's kind of summed up his time at Stamford Bridge thus far. Sterling has just seven goals to his name in all competitions in his debut season for the Blues despite playing 29 matches.
The England international is a shadow of the goal-scoring winger that left Manchester City last summer. He looks absolutely void of confidence in what has been a really tricky start to his Chelsea career.
"I think he's a fantastic player," Lampard said on Sterling after the defeat to Wolves at the weekend. "He's been one of the best wingers in the world for a long time, at times, maybe in some people's opinion, the best.
"I can't remember how many times I've referenced to young wingers when I was here previously at Chelsea, at Derby and Everton actually – watch Raheem Sterling and see why he scores 20 goals a season plus. So I have the highest feeling for him in that sense.
"I've spoken to him a little bit in the last couple of days [and] we also have to get the right team structure to make it best for the players and then drive them, and of course I've only been here a couple of days, to get the best out of them so I will speak to Raheem more. I think he's a top player. Those things are always kind of like 50/50 for me – getting the right structure for the player and then the player themselves but Raheem has shown what a player he is."
There was a crucial moment on Saturday where Sterling's lack of confidence was evident to see. It was a moment where the Sterling of Man City would've found his teammate.
It was a rare counter-attack for Chelsea who struggled to break on Wolves even when the hosts were applying pressure. Conor Gallagher picked up the ball in the middle of the pitch, then released Sterling whose speed allowed him to make up plenty of ground and find himself in a really dangerous position. Joao Felix was the pass he should have made, with the Portuguese open for a possible tap-in, but Sterling dwelled on the ball for too long and ended up passing it to Gallagher whose view of goal was blocked by a number of Wolves defenders and his shot was stopped as a result.
Felix is even pointing (in the second image) at one point exactly where he wants the ball to be played. However, Sterling summed up his and Chelsea's season, really, with an indecisive and ultimately poor piece of attacking play.
Thomas Tuchel earmarked Sterling as the man to help solve Chelsea's attacking woes. The German was a huge admirer of the England winger who produced world-class numbers during seven really successful years with Manchester City.
Signed for around £50million, the gamble has not yet paid off. It has been difficult for Sterling. He's played under four different managers during his short time in west London and injuries have made any sort of progress or momentum virtually impossible.
He still has a big end to the season on the horizon and he has shown throughout his career that he is a man for the big occasion. As far as big occasions go, they don't come much bigger than Chelsea's Champions League quarter-final first-leg against Real Madrid later this week. Sterling will need to be so much better if he is to have any success against a brilliant Los Blancos side.
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