02/11/2016 The Premier League Show

To the Premier League Show. Join me tonight, Sam Wallace from the

Telegraph and Jonathan North Croft from the Sunday times. On the next

half hour we will be discussing all the big stories. Kevin Kilbane takes

a look at Sunderland, and we talk football in fashion. Raheem Sterling

enjoyed a dismal summer, rounding off a difficult season following his

move from Liverpool to Manchester City. This campaign, he has been

rejuvenated under the guiding hand of PIP Guardiola. Gary Lineker went

to meet the only British Sterling on the rise.

I have come to Manchester to meet the most talked about young English

footballer in the game today. Willy chinamen? Will he play an immense

humanity doesn't, Eagles for goal and he gets it. Despite his

considerable talent, he seems to take the blame for pretty much

everything. He needed to bury that one. Let's find out what Raheem

Sterling is really like. Nice to see you. Are you OK? Nice to see you up

there in the north. You must feel like a northerner now. I have been

here a couple of years now and I'm used to the weather. It is a great

day. Always, every day. Let's go inside and have a chat. Raheem, you

are probably the most experienced 21-year-old footballer on the

planet. You seem to have been around for years. Are you enjoying this

season a little bit more? I am enjoying it. I have more freedom. I

think I can express myself by taking touches and taking players on. I am

really enjoying it. Has that come from Guardiola? Has he encouraged

that? He is just really fluent with his style of play. He wants

everybody getting involved. He once the wingers to be direct and get

crosses in and try to score goals. That is a massive bonus for me

because I probably was not getting as much involved as I was last year.

On the previous question, not to say anything negative, but in training

sometimes it was always two touches, and you get into that way of

playing. You forget your identity, how to play, really. Now I am

learning to mix it up, not just go down a blind alley every single

time. I just to PIP Guardiola and had a tour of this incredible

facility and he said to me, he's doing brilliantly, and I said some

things to him about his football, and I also said to him, try and stay

off Twitter, do not provoke people in that way. Is that the case? Have

you been taking the device on-board? It is really good to have a football

coach talk to you about football but when he shows that he wants you to

go well -- do well and he gives you details, tells you about incidents

he has had before, it is a real eye-opener. For me, I am really

trying to take over my football. Pulls back, and scored by Sterling!

I saw somewhere that you said in an interview that there are moments now

when you just want to slow down a little bit more, you do not rush it

so much. Yes. Before I was probably moving at 150,000 miles an hour in

the box. In front of goal, I was just Speedy Gonzales. It is just

getting that composure, really. I am starting to relax in the box a bit

more. Sterling. He has beaten Adrian. And somehow he has managed

to slide it in! The facilities here are something

else. Top-notch. Especially the youth team, playing here, it's not

bad. Have you ever seen any of the old footage? The mud heap, black and

white. It was horrendous and you are very lucky. You have had to contend

with issues that ordinary teenagers, young people in their early 20s,

very difficult things to cope with. A lot of criticism at times, whether

it be your personal life or things on the football field. What was the

most difficult time for you? Just before the Euros, actually. Just

like even the prewar muggins, you hear negative stuff before the

tournament starts. -- pre-warm-up games. It is not, it is just not

something that you need. It is not my say. I have not been in the

England setup for a long time, but from my experience, it is negative

at times and you really want that support from the people watching at

home. And some of the pundits as well, you just wants to feel like

you have the full support of the nation. You want to know that

everyone is cheering you on, instead of having negative energy around.

Then if you do that, of course you have to get the negative side of it

but I feel like it is a bit negative, before, during and after.

Can you try to explain what it feels like to be on the receiving end of

criticism or abuse? If it is something that you don't agree with,

then I blocked it out. But at times, when something is going well in

football, or if you are not on top form, stuff like that, then you

probably do think about stuff little bit more. I have made it clear to

myself that win, lose or draw, I will not read any newspapers. The

only thing that matters is doing the business on the pitch. You have had

an interesting upbringing, coming here at an early age, something

terrible happened to her father, he was killed. How important was your

mother to you? I know you bought her house and this sort of stuff, so you

have had all sorts of different issues. At five years of age, she

really made sure that every thing got looked after in that sense. It

was her on her own at that time. It is a massive credit to her to see

where she has brought us from and what she has made of herself now. It

is great to see. Every single thing that I do each day in football and

everything I want to achieve is to make her smile and make a happy and

she has been a massive ray of light for me. And you have got children.

There is always a debate about how many you have got. I have got eight

at the moment. I thought it was just seven! I have a daughter at this

moment in time. She is four. A big moment for the young man! 1-0 to

Liverpool. A lovely moment for him, his first senior goal. Raheem

Sterling will ask for a transfer when he meets with Brendan Rodgers

later this week. Raheem Sterling wins Liverpool's Young Player Of The

Year but is booed by some fans. Do you have a clearer idea of where you

want to be next season? I just want to put it to the side and

concentrate on my football. This has been a long-running saga and he has

been cleared -- it has been clear for some time that there has been an

issue between Raheem Sterling and Liverpool. Manchester City at the

front of the queue. The club has agreed a deal for Raheem to be

transferred and subject to medical, that will go through. You had a

tough time reading Liverpool. Why did you feel at that stage of your

career it was the right time to move, because you were still

relatively young? I have never mentioned this to anyone but I will

never forget me and my agent, when I was on my way to Liverpool,

actually, on the train, at that time I was 15 years of age and we were

having a conversation. We were already talking about what we would

like to do after Liverpool, if things do not turn out how it was

going to go, and I said, this is a massive club and a massive

opportunity. I remember saying to him, by the time I am 22, if I

haven't won anything, at that time if I am not playing in the biggest

competitions I really need to assess my options. And you want to make

sure that you are playing at the highest level, with a team at the

highest level. I thought it was a great opportunity to come here and

work with some of the best players in the world. Saying that, there are

also great players at Liverpool, but at that moment of time, for my

development and where I wanted to be, playing in the Champions League,

playing against some of the biggest teams in the world, playing against

Barcelona, for me that was massive, a massive game to be involved in for

myself. A wonderful night for City. I have always loved Liverpool. I

think it is a massive team and a great team that helped my

development. There are no big issues there with the fans or anything like

that. It was not really the way I would have liked to have went but it

happened and you have got to move on. In terms of what you want to

achieve in football, have driven are you? Very driven. Sometimes I do not

say it's too much because it can come back to bite you, because that

is the world we live in now. But I have dreams that I want to fulfil,

and with the phase I have got I am looking to achieve those dreams.

What are those dreams? Winning the Champions League, the Premier

League, and hopefully playing for my country as well. I always think that

you are like my mate, the one on TV. No problem.

I have to ask you first, as he mentioned the negativity that he

received over the summer, he feels, from the press, and what that did to

them, whether you guys in the press had any case to answer? Didn't think

he was unfairly treated? It is interesting that you mentioned

social media because there is often our relationship between newspaper

websites which picked up stories on social media, and recycle them, and

that seems to drive the agenda. As with all young players that play for

England, a lot is expected of him and England have picked a lot of

teenagers compared to other countries over recent years. And we

are looking, as a nation, as an English nation, looking for the next

big thing. As a player who plays for one of the leading Premier League

clubs, that pressure comes with it, I am afraid. Is it right to heap

blame and give somebody the kind of sticky was getting, admittedly

perhaps more in the tabloid press but it is still generated, and it

becomes almost a movement, and it seems to gain traction, especially

around a tournament like that. It is not a new thing. David Beckham had

it, Wayne Rooney has had it. Social media magnifies it for younger

players. But you forget how young sterling is. It is only two years

ago, before the 2014 rock up, he had to have Steven Gerrard as in mind

when he did press conferences. You can see that he has matured but he

is only 21 and I think he is still coming to terms with what goes with

his position. Young players to get praise as well

as pressure because there is this messianic bora and they are going to

be the next great thing and they often fall by the wayside then get a

second chance, this feels not like second chance but a great chance

under Pep Guardiola to really get towards that potential People's

Party initially had? Everybody accepts with the young player there

will be peaks and troughs, even with Ryan Giggs, highs and lows over a

career, and I think what is really changing the views of Sterling in

some quarters is just how quickly he was endorsed by Pep Guardiola, right

from the start he was a player central to what he wanted. I think

that changed perceptions of Raheem Sterling, he is talented but there

are a lot of talented players in that squad and it would have been

easy for Leroy Sane to go in as the German equivalent and that did not

happen. Why haven't? He called him during the Euros? He reassured him

that he was central to his plans. What does he see? He is a Pep

Guardiola signing, there is a feeling that the previous manager

did not want him, what he likes about him is he likes players who

take on the opposition in the final third and from what I have

understand he has told him, you have to do that and if not you are not in

the team, that is the opposite to what Sterling heard before, two

touches in that interview. And freedom is the keyword, he freedom.

And he mentions playing against the great teams with that victory over

Barcelona, and that feeling, almost the Holy Grail? That confidence is

not just for the team but for the player can be a real springboard?

You are right, this is a second spell of his career, he had the

great season with Liverpool, close to winning the title, and basically

he has, again. I think that he has a great chance but he is not 22 until

December, there is a lot ahead of him. There is a great deal of

pressure and scrutiny, nowhere to hide for these young boys and no

amount of media training can prepare them for the lives they have. Let's

have a look at what else has been going on in the Premier League. That

is what you call an introduction! Another tough day for David Moyes in

Sunderland! You keep doing what you think is right and you hope you get

the rewards in the end. Aguero, he shoots, that is absolutely

magnificent! What a save! Lovely ball forward. Firmino. Liverpool

have sliced Crystal Palace open again! Berkeley! It is what you

expect of those quality players. What is the key? Working hard every

day, and listen. Brilliant goal from Diego Costa! Chelsea are hard on the

tails of the top three. Joe Allen is there! Sigurdsson scoops that end,

into the back of the net from Routledge! Once, twice! Own goal!

Joe Allen is in! Bodies there to make it three! Jose Mourinho, it

just seems like from the outset he is not enjoying any honeymoon

period, straight to the difficult third season he generally has all

the difficult second album. He is not enjoying himself at the moment?

He has left after he was at Chelsea, he has gone to implosion stage

straightaway and I think the fun has gone. From covering him at press

conferences, they used to be good fun. They are sullen, unhappy. Man

United, the dream job, huge salary, the most expensive player in the

world, he should she rubbed! This is the job you feel he always wanted,

in this iconic football City and I know a lot was made of his comments

about not living here and being miserable in his hotel room like a

John Lennon figure. But he does seem to bring this on himself, he could

easily live in the City, Ibrahimovic does so! It is strange not to live

in the City, for the Man United manager, that is an odd one for me.

I think he has to find himself back winning, winning the Uefa cup at the

age of 40, he did a lot very young as a manager and I think in his

second decade he has to switch and he needs a longer term philosophy

for want of a better word to sustain him through difficult periods

because modern managers, it is impossible for one of them to

dominate, there are too many good ones so what do you do when you

don't win, in those seasons? That is a challenge. Not every club that

thinks it can win the league can do so every season. You need something

that shows you are progressing. When you don't have the destruction of

Champions League football, it seems the perfect time to get the team

going in the Premier League and it is like you get the pass in the

first season not to have that pressure? He has effected so little

on the pitch, he has had the opportunity to get the new Man

United, when you look at some players, if you look at Conte,

Jurgen Klopp did that with Liverpool, Pep Guardiola without

patronage and at Man City and Jose Mourinho does not seem to have

imposed anything on Man United. Sunderland have joined the Man City

side of 1995 by having the lowest ever points total at the stage of

the Premier League season. They have a poor goal difference, a far cry

from the team that finished last season under Sam Allardyce. We asked

Kevin Kilbane where it has all gone wrong. Comparing the Sunderland side

that finished last season to the season is like watching two

completely different teams- David Moyes will take a share of

responsible at it for this but I think there have been serious lapses

in leadership on the pitch and this is not helped by the loss personnel

in key areas. The central midfield trio awarded opposition attacks and

were able with ability and experience to provide the

counterattacks. Of course, this season, catchable and Kirchoff are

injured. Watching Sunderland at the Stadium of Light this weekend,

against Arsenal, in the midfield area they were much too passive, Rob

well and Pienaar were unable to get into the Arsenal players' faces but

the first goal has come from a real position of strength for Sunderland,

enough bodies behind the ball and eventual goal Sanchez, is 50 yards

from the goal. As he runs off the shoulder, he does not relayed the

message that Sanchez is coming on, Kone has the wrong body shape and

does not see that run and Sanchez finishes that. If there's any chance

of survival things have to the back as well. They are to keep a clean

sheet. Under Allardyce, Sunderland had four clean sheets in the last

ten games of the last season and I think Campbell is one of the biggest

misses. He provided real leadership, aerial ability and also

organisational skills and Sunderland have lacked in that area this

season. In the last minute of the game against Crystal Palace.

Sunderland conceded a free kick right now the corner flag and I

think they defend this wrong. They should defend this as a corner

because if they did that they would beat man Fermanagh, they have got

most of the players on the edge or inside the six yard box, they rely

too much room for Christian Benteke, the best header of the ball in

Crystal Palace is not the Premier League, too much space, this is

highlighting the serious lack of leadership and organisation in the

ranks of Sunderland. Another last-minute goal that they

considered. Another set piece, what is infuriating here is three

Sunderland players with their backs to the ball. Dimitri Payet

recognises this, he can see there is a 21 situation and the reaction is

far too late from the Sunderland players. When they close Dimitri

Payet time, he knows this is a two on one situation and was so much

space then at the edge of the penalty area for him to just laid

the ball back to Winston Reid and again it is a reaction of the

Sunderland players, only one of them goes out to close him down, John

O'Shea. He cannot get out quick enough and they finish that. I think

the Sunderland players need to show more responsibility on the pitch,

especially in the next two games against Bournemouth and at home.

Bournemouth away, Hull at home. He has a touchline ban at Bournemouth.

If things don't go well, is a toast for him? He has backing from the

Chief Executive and the owners waited for David Moyes to arrive and

he is not minded to even look at changing the manager. He has lost

some interest in the club. Those things are in his favour. I think he

will turn things around but he still enjoying it despite the results but

it has been a lot harder... In a masochistic way? They cannot be

enjoyable with two points? He enjoys coaching in the challenge and he is

a fighter but he has to fight harder than he might have envisaged. How

will he turn this around? Kevin looked at the personnel, rather than

systems or anything different in terms of the energy. He has to

survive, if he survives by one point or the goal difference and suddenly

he has something he can build on. This club has won six league titles

in its history, admittedly the last one was prewar but this is a big

club, sixth on the all-time list, great potential, massive crowds

every week, I can see why managers take that job because everyone

believes they will be the one to fix it and when they do they will have a

very good club but Sunderland, as you can see with Gus Poyet, there is

something fundamentally wrong that they cannot get right. Eight

managers in less than eight years, that tells the story. Not through

want of trying to stick with managers, it seems the board have

been willing and they always give managers money to spend, there has

been along the way some willing? You get into this spiral as a club and

every year, for five or six years, fighting relegation, starting

seasons badly, started worse this time but don't forget they survived

at the very end of last season and Sam Allardyce got the England job of

the back of that, seen such a great achievement, and that is what we

think of Sunderland. David Moyes will not want that job if things go

well! Do you like your boots yellow, purple or black? Can you tell a

snood from Gillette? Funmbi Omotayo has the answers. There was once a

time when men were men and footballers were no different. They

trained hard in the mornings... Five minutes! And then go and get drunk.

Or place to go, sometimes both. They play the match on Saturday, get

hacked to bits and covered in so much mud you could not tell what

colour is the boots were. The pitch is getting close to unplayable! And

win, lose or draw, they would go for a pint with the fans in the local

pub. Footballers were the alpha males of society but they were part

of society. Now it is amazing what a difference a couple of hundred

thousand quid every week makes. Today's footballers are always on

show, some of them are so alpha male they can take on any look they like.

This isn't oceans 11! This is a football match! Nowadays it's not

enough to stand out on the pitch, you must stand out off the pitch. If

my dad some are going to work dressed like that he would say, you

look like Klein! At very badly dressed Klein! When I was a kid if

anybody was wearing coloured boots, they have to be amazing because if

not, you got bullied, which is very wrong by the way! But now we have

Scottsdale wearing coloured boots and nobody bats an eyelid. Fashion

is one thing but the haircut can be something different, it is a

personal thing and I know some guys who are more faithful to their

barbarous and their other half. When you find one that works you stick

with it. Her styles have always been a thing in football, with Chris

Waddle rocking the mullet, Chris Kamara with the Jerry Kroll, the

dreadlocks, there are no shortages of hairdos in football today. The

Mohawk massive, the parting. And the sons of Cisco. Can you do that? Are

not doing that! It is hard to see what is next for the her styles in

modern football never mind the fashion. Whatever the case, this is

the age when men don't have to be so manly and the alpha male footballer

has been taken further than I ever could imagine. The truth is, if you

want the biggest names in the game, medals galore, money to burn, you

can get away with anything. Anything. Right?

Let's look at the fixtures, four games at three o'clock, Chelsea

entertain Everton in the evening kick-off and five games on Sunday

with the maid came North London derby that pick of the bunch. Good

to see that while footballers might get crazy with fashion, the press

box is staying resolutely conservative. Jumper, shirt

combination reigns supreme and it would be lovely to have you back

some time! Thank you both so much. You can always catch up with the

Premier League show on iPlayer, the next football is on Friday, the

start of the FA Cup. We're back at ten o'clock in two weeks after the

international break so please join us then. Thank you for watching.

Good night!