How Liverpool Can Get the Best out of Raheem Sterling

This time last year, Raheem Sterling wasn’t a Liverpool regular.

In fact, even as the January transfer window rolled around, he was still being linked with a loan move to Swansea City, according to Darren Lewis in the Mirror. Eight months later, Sterling is now one of the focal points of the Liverpool attack and is regarded as England’s most important player, as Jason Burt reports in The Telegraph.

What a remarkable turnaround—and he’s still only 19 years old with a whole career ahead of him.

Although Sterling has cemented his place in Brendan Rodgers’ side and will play a key part in the Reds’ quest for silverware this season, his development is far from over, especially judging by the meteoric rise he’s exhibited on almost all facets of his game over the past eight months.

While he still has lots of room to improve and mature in all areas, Rodgers will know that maintaining a bigger-picture approach to Sterling’s development will be key to Liverpool getting the best out of one of Anfield’s most exciting young talents in recent years.

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Work on His All-Round Game

It’s a testament to Sterling’s versatility and complete game that he’s played as a striker, right winger, left winger, No. 10 and right-wing-back in various occasions since he broke into the first team.

And it’s a reflection of his technical and tactical maturation that he’s arguably both Liverpool’s best winger (on either flank) and their best No. 10.

So impressive has his development been that Roy Hodgson has again chosen to take a leaf out of Brendan Rodgers’ book, deploying a 4-4-2 diamond formation and handing the reins to Sterling.

While Sterling’s Jamaican heritage, speed, trickery and improving finishing draws most comparisons to Liverpool legend John Barnes, perhaps his versatility and all-round game makes Steven Gerrard a better model for his development.

That’s not to say that Sterling will find himself moving gradually backwards and finish his career at Anfield in a deep-lying playmaker role; rather, it’s to suggest that Rodgers can still up his overall game by giving him the opportunity to excel in different positions as his team needs.

In Daniel Sturridge’s absence, Sterling can be used as a makeshift striker and work on his finishing to allow him to shine in that position, while Philippe Coutinho’s technical and instinctive approach to the No. 10 role will be a useful guide to Sterling’s development there.

On the wing, he can dovetail with Liverpool’s new young marauding full-backs while attacking the opposition flanks at will.

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Grant Him Freedom

There will come a time where Sterling will be granted—or even demand—freedom in his attacking role, and Rodgers is already giving him a certain degree of freedom to create by playing him at the tip of his midfield diamond.

Sterling got his break at Anfield by combining with Luis Suarez last season who, in his freer role as a deep-lying, roaming forward, had the space and time to create chances for both himself and his colleagues.

Only until later in the season did Sterling score his first goal in a Liverpool shirt that didn’t come from a Suarez assist—an indication of how well Suarez’s free role and awareness helped Sterling’s development and boosted his confidence.

In Rodgers’ current team, on the evidence of a single game against Tottenham Hotspur before the international break, new striker Mario Balotelli is the forward who is allowed that freedom to drop back, demand the ball and try to make things happen for his team-mates around him.

It’s only inevitable, given the number of games that Liverpool anticipate to play over the course of the season, that Sterling will get a similar chance and break free of his tactical and positional demands as the No. 10.

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Give Him Responsibility

Whether it’s in a free role, in the hole or on the wing, Sterling’s development will be aided even further when Rodgers feels it is time for the young winger to take on more responsibility, both in the Liverpool attack and in the squad in general.

To be sure, responsibility doesn’t mean leadership on the pitch in its most traditional way, per se—not everyone is cut out to be a leader, as Mino Raiola said in the lead-up to Balotelli’s move to Liverpool this summer when speaking to Corriere della Sera (via the Alex Richards in Mirror).

But away from the vocal and on-field mentoring responsibilities that come with being a captain, having Sterling shoulder a sizeable responsibility in terms of chances created, assists, runs for team-mates and goals scored will signal that he’s ready to be counted upon as a key man in a young Reds team.

At age 19, Sterling is in the unique situation of being the youngest starter in Rodgers’ team every week, but one of its most important players.

Indeed, Sterling himself said on the Premier League Podcast (via the Liverpool Echo's Joe Rimmer), that he found his first-team breakthrough “nerve-wracking” at first, which might explain his almost-one-year-long exile from the senior squad since coming into the side at the beginning of the 2012/13 season as a 17-year-old.

With more responsibility and a bigger presence on the pitch—not just via keeping his performance levels but also by taking control of proceedings and making things happen when the going gets tough—Sterling can unlock his massive potential.

It’s been an exciting year for Sterling—now let’s see where he’ll be in another year’s time.

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