Raheem Sterling Can Score More Goals – Pep

Raheem Sterling will improve as a goal-scorer, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has said.

Sterling, 22, has been criticised by some pundits for not scoring enough goals, despite finishing with 11 in each of his last two seasons.

The England international has six so far this season and scored the winner against Arsenal last weekend when he cut inside to fire home a low strike.

Guardiola praised his performance and said scoring should give him additional confidence.

“In the last game, he came back to the level he started the season,” the City boss told a news conference ahead of the Boxing Day clash at Hull.

“The last month and a half, he was a little bit down. But you can forget how young he is, and he needs to live a lot of experience to become more stable. But in general, his performance was high.

“Of course, he is not our top scorer — but he has to feel how beautiful it is to score goals, how important it is for the team, but for him as well.

“He scored a beautiful goal in the last game.”

Guardiola said it could be difficult for Sterling to get into the area because he often wants his wingers to play extremely wide.

“Sometimes I say to him: ‘You need to play wide, wide, wide and stay there and make one-against-ones’. When he does that, it’s difficult for him to get into the box,” he added.

“He can play more narrow, he can do that. But I think against Sunderland he played wide like a winger, but he arrived on the penalty spot.

“I think the strikers and the wingers they have to move how they feel, especially in the last metres.”