All eyes in the Netherlands were on Der Klassieker this weekend, leaving no hiding room for Raheem Sterling and Feyenoord.
Feyenoord held off PSV’s eventual Eredivisie title clinch with a 1-1 draw before the impending champions did themselves no favours with a 3-1 defeat to Telstar.
So a good weekend for Robin van Persie’s side? Not quite.
Der Klassieker was again of terrible quality with two of the Dutch big three stinking the place out.
Such a scenario may have been prime for winter signing Sterling to step up, but that wasn’t the case.
Giving a damning verdict, leading Dutch journalist Valentijn Driessen of De Telegraaf said: “There was also one man who was brought in with a lot of fanfare, but who keeps disappointing time and again: Raheem Sterling.
“He only played 55 minutes this time, but it was an outright poor performance.
“It all happened right in front of our eyes—we were sitting on that side.
“Offensively, he did absolutely nothing, and defensively he simply didn’t do his job.
“Because of him, Ajax could build up play very comfortably, as he wasn’t applying any pressure at all.
“It almost seemed like he was enjoying the sun more than focusing on the match.”
Stressing what a missed chance it was for the 31-year-old, Driessen ended with a brutal summation.
He finished: “If you look at the tempo—and this was really a poor-level game—so it can’t be that he can’t keep up with the pace, or that everything is too fast for him, or that he isn’t good enough.
“But if you still can’t make an impact or do anything right in a match like this, then you’d be better off playing for a veterans’ team.”
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