Raheem Sterling has two archetypal goals that will dominate any montage of his decorated Manchester City career.
The first is the goal is witheringly and simplistically referred to by detractors as the work of a “tap-in merchant”.
Of course, if it was all that easy, everyone would be doing it - including Sterling himself right now.
Wednesday night’s 0-0 draw at West Ham before City’s Carabao Cup domination ended in a penalty shoot-out defeat took Sterling’s season return to one goal in 13 appearances. He has two in 29 for City since heading the winner at Arsenal in February.
This lands the 26-year-old very much in the territory of just needing one to go in off his backside.
The tireless, intelligent movement that remains a feature of Sterling’s game means scuffing one in from close range or a cross hitting his knee to take a goalkeeper out of the picture remains a possibility.
A slice of luck is probably overdue for the England star in club colours, but his other trademark goal is one that takes his destiny into his own hands.
Peak Raheem
“My favourite goal is two or three seasons back against Southampton, purely for the timing - winning the game in the last minute,” Sterling told City’s official website this week, reflecting on his strike deep into stoppage time in November 2017 that sent the Etihad Stadium into raptures and kept the Blues’ title march on track.
Slightly to the left of the goal, Sterling took a touch to get the ball out of his feet and curled into the far corner.
They might come from different angles, inside or outside the box and sometimes with more than one touch for the setup, but there are a lot of Sterling goals like this where he moves from a position on the left of the attack onto his stronger foot to finish crisply
At Arsenal on the opening day of the 2018-19 season, against Newcastle a couple of weeks later, versus Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League that November, in the same campaign to open the scoring in that crazy quarter-final second leg against Tottenham.
Around that time, those finishes came to feel automatic and gave resounding notice of a player on top of his game.
He had such an opening during the second half at London Stadium, when he was picked out by Cole Palmer in the inside left position after 68 minutes.
Passing the buck
Sterling sized up opposition defender Ben Johnson as he shuffled into the penalty area, taking three, four, five touches. He then saw Palmer had intelligently dragged his own run back. The teenager received a return pass and, in a rare blot on an accomplished performance, blazed over.
In isolation, there’s nothing wrong with what Sterling did during that passage of play. On the contrary, he created a clear opening for a team-mate - bread and butter stuff for any winger.
But it was hard to escape the feeling that Palmer would not have seen the ball again if we were dealing with peak Raheem. The 2018-2020 version would have taken one or maybe two touches and arrowed a shot beyond Alphonse Areola before the opposition defence had a chance to crowd the opportunity.
Right now, depending on which way inclined you are, you can take what you please from Sterling’s displays. In all competitions this season, he has completed six dribbles leading to a shot - double the next best return in City’s squad - and his xG is the third highest behind Riyad Mahrez and Phil Foden, according to FBref.
Such numbers suggest he is contributing and getting into the right positions, but they only count for so much when his goals slump is so deep and prolonged.
What is beyond doubt is Sterling’s form and confidence is not where he or anyone at City needs it to be and, as such, debates over his performances, worth and future at the club will remain.
There would be no better way to inject clarity into those discussions than Raheem taking a touch out of his feet and lashing one across the goalkeeper and into the corner.
Whether it comes this weekend against Crystal Palace or we have to wait a while longer, Sterling scoring one of his classic goals - the goal he passed up the chance to even attempt in midweek - would emphatically indicate things are finally heading in the right direction.
