3 reasons why Sterling has replaced Kane as England's talisman

Ever since he made his debut for the England senior team in 2015, Harry Kane was crowned as the heir to Rooney as the talisman of English football by media and fans alike. But Raheem Sterling's explosive form in recent times for club and country is putting that title to the test. The Manchester City winger has improved by leaps and bound under Pep Guardiola's tutelage and fans are finally getting to see him play at his true potential this season.

Sterling has been in terrific form in the English Premier League for the Cityzens, scoring an incredible 15 goals and providing 9 assists in the EPL, sitting at 3rd position both in the top scorer's list as well as the top assist providers rankings!. He is currently the favorite to finish the season as the EPL Player of the Year, ahead of Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk.

He was in sensational form during last week's opening European qualifiers in Group B for England, scoring a sensational hat-trick in the Three Lions' 5-0 home demolition of Czech Republic. It was his sensational run into the box, nutmegging a defender and then being bundled down by two Czech centre-backs, that won the penalty scored by Kane. Sterling was the main man again in the next game, scoring a goal and assisting twice in England's 1-5 win over Montenegro in Podgorica.

With these two man-of-the-match performances, Sterling has well and truly announced itself as England's new talisman, ahead of poster boy Harry Kane. He also set a great example for youngsters when he refused to be fazed by the constant monkey calling and racial abuse from the Montenegro fans in Podgorica. Instead, the mercurial winger struck a superb goal and celebrated by cupping his ears to the shellshocked crowd of onlooking fans. In this article, we look at 3 reasons why this came to be.

#3-Sterling is a more complete player

Sterling celebrated with Jadon Sancho after scoring against the Czech Republic

Harry Kane is a perfect No.9, the complete point man in attack. Pacy and strong in the air, if it a finish in the box that you want, he is your man. Sterling, however, is a mazy dribbler and can break down teams that park the bus all by himself. This was on show against the Czech Republic. England had taken an early lead through Sterling thanks to some splendid wing play from Dortmund's mercurial winger Jadon Sancho.

But England was struggling to secure the all-important second goal as the Czech's parked the bus in front of England. Wave after wave of crosses was dealt with by the physical Czech's. Cometh the hour, cometh the man as Sterling, with a mazy run and some incisive dribbling won a penalty on the stroke of half time, which enabled Harry Kane to make the game safe at 2-0.

Only considered a speedy winger till the beginning of this season, Sterling has immensely improved his goalscoring prowess under Pep Guardiola, perhaps the best attack-minded manager club football has ever seen.

Sterling currently ranks at No.10 in the UEFA Euro Player rankings, with 901 points, compiled based on performances for England. He is the highest ranked Englishman, ahead of Jordan Pickford (16th, 801 Points), Harry Kane (29th, 684 Points) and Marcus Rashford (33rd, 671 points)

UEFA Euro Player Rankings (Top 10)

Antoine Griezmann (France)-1293 Points
Memphis Depay (Netherlands)-1225 Points
Sergio Ramos (Spain)-1174 Points
Matthijs de Ligt (Netherlands)-1039 Points
Jasper Cillessen (Netherlands)-1007 Points
Virgil van Dijk (Netherlands)-975 Points
Andriy Pyatov (Ukraine)-944 Points
Haris Seferovic (Switzerland)-934 Points
Kylian Mbappe (France)-924 Points
Raheem Sterling (England)-901 Points

#2 Sterling has been the better big game player this season

Harry Kane has put in 6 Man of the Match performances in the PL, as compared to 8 by Raheem Sterling

When we look at the kind of impact both players have had in big games this season, the Manchester City winger emerges the clear winner. Sterling has had a major role in Manchester City's all-conquering 2018-19 campaign, which is well on course for a historic quadruple. He was the Man of the Match during Manchester City's crucial 2-3 first leg away win over German side Schalke 04 in the UCL Round of 16, scoring the all-important, 90th-minute winner.

True to his big game form, Sterling was imperious against Chelsea in the 6-0 drubbing the Cityzens inflicted on them in February, scoring a classy brace. His man of the match performances against Arsenal and Liverpool for Man City and in both the Euro Qualifier this month show how pivotal he is to both teams when it comes to crunch matches and how he seems to step up his game when the opposition gets tougher.

Harry Kane, on the other hand, has not been able to inspire Tottenham as per his own lofty standards this season as some poor recent form sees the Spurs trailing league leaders Liverpool by 15 points. Tottenham scraped through their UCL group, losing to Inter Milan and Barcelona, but managed to display a good account of themselves, overcoming German giants Borussia Dortmund to reach the UCL Quarters. Interestingly enough, they are set to face Sterling's Manchester City over two legs in the Quarters!

A glance through Kane's Man of the Match performances reveals that he has not been his usual imperious self against the top team in the EPL and has been struggling to reach peak goalscoring form since returning from an ankle injury.

Sterling's Man of the Match Performances this season

EPL-Arsenal 0-2 Manchester City
EPL-Manchester City 2-1 Newcastle United
EPL-Manchester City 3-0 Brighton
EPL-Manchester City 6-1 Southampton
EPL-Manchester City 2-1 Liverpool
EPL-Manchester City 3-0 Wolverhampton Wanderers
EPL-Manchester City 6-0 Chelsea
UCL-Schalke 04 2-3 Manchester City
EPL-Manchester City 3-1 Watford
Euro Qualifier: England 5-0 Czech Republic
Euro Qualifier: Montenegro 1-5 Montenegro

Kane's Man of the Match Performances this season

EPL-Tottenham Hotspur 3-1 Fulham
EPL-Brighton 1-2 Tottenham Hotspur
EPL-Huddersfield 0-2 Tottenham Hotspur
UEFA Nations League-Spain 2-3 England
UCL-Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 PSV Eindhoven
UEFA Nations League: England 2-1 Croatia
EPL-Tottenham Hotspur 3-1 Chelsea
EPL-Tottenham Hotspur 3-1 Southampton
EPL-Cardiff City 0-3 Tottenham Hotspur

#1 Sterling is in better form and is improving every day under Guardiola

Guardiola's impact on Sterling's game has been immense

Sterling is perhaps the one player who has benefitted the most from the tutelage of Pep Guardiola. The Spanish tactical genius, who won an unprecedented sextuple with Barcelona, has created a new footballing ethos based on attacking flair and obsessive possession-based football, at the Etihad. A comparative look at Sterling's EPL stats before Guardiola's arrival and after reveals the true story.

Guardiola has unleashed Sterling's hidden talents and has successfully converted him for a skillful winger to a potent, consistent goalscorer. Not only has his goal and assist count gone up under the Tiki-taka proponent, but he has also become a better dribbler (An astonishing 2.5 dribbles per game this season) and has managed a goal involvement per 90 minutes on average for the last two seasons!

The English winger has clearly also benefitted from playing with top-draw internationals like Kevin de Bruyne, Vincent Kompany, Sergio Aguero, and Riyad Mahrez.

Sterling stats comparison-Before and after Guardiola

Harry Kane of the other hand, has clearly learned all he can under Mauricio Pochettino and must, in this author's opinion move to greener pastures like Zinedine Zidane's Real Madrid to improve himself as a player. His stats reflect a downward trajectory as his Minutes per goal and minutes per goal involvement this season are nowhere near the lofty numbers he set a couple of seasons back. All in all, the verdict is clear. Form-wise and talent wise, Sterling has well and truly eclipsed Kane to become the talismanic figure that can potentially lead England to a first ever European Championship title at the 2020 Euros.

Harry Kane-EPL Stats Comparison of last 4 seasons

Edited by Zaid Khan