Raheem Sterling has pinpointed his last-gasp winner against Southampton four years ago as the moment he became “obsessed” with scoring goals. The Manchester City star needs just one more to rack up 100 Premier League goals, as the Blues prepare to face Wolves tomorrow.
Raheem Sterling said: “I think the Southampton goal was around this time [of year]. This is when I started to become obsessed with scoring goals. I wasn’t really interested in scoring goals [before that]. I wanted to meg someone, do a stepover, make someone drop. I wanted to do fun stuff and have some nice YouTube clips. That is what I was like growing up! Of course, it is always nice to score but that wasn’t my main objective from the game. It was about beating your man, getting assists and looking nice. But around this point was a real turning point for me. I wanted to score winning goals and have people talking about the winning goals. It was a nice feeling as you were helping your team. In the past, when I was 17, 18 or 19, people would say ‘He can’t finish and he can’t score goals’. Sometimes I was a bit sloppy and it was something I wanted to get better at and I feel like I have.”
That is true – that season he racked up 23 goals in all competitions, doubling his tally from his other two seasons in a City short, and he went on to grab 25 the following seasons and a career-best 31 the year after. Sterling has learned to love goalscoring, even though last season his total dipped to 14, and he has five so far in the current campaign.
Raheem Sterling said: “It is a great feeling. When you just know it is in, it is beautiful. For the season, I give myself targets for where I want to finish. Since I came to City, every year I have scored more goals each season. Last season I didn’t score as many goals for various reasons.”
But he still has his sights on upping his rate again, and after finding some form after a flat six months, he has his eyes on adding to his tally – and becoming only the 32nd player to rack up a century in the Premier League.
Raheem Sterling added: “I just need to keep chipping away – I have still got a long career ahead so hopefully I can get many more.”
The coaching of Pep Guardiola, Mikel Arteta and the other City staff helped Sterling to increase his strike rate, but he also credits the things he picked up from watching Luis Suarez when he was at Liverpool, and from Sergio Aguero at City.
Raheem Sterling said: “They all took shots when there were other passes on. Sometimes they get lucky and you get lucky if you shoot. I have not studied them, but on the training field I watched them and I also see if I can add it to my game.”
