Raheem Sterling Tweet Appears to Slam Critics After Roy Hodgson Revelation

Raheem Sterling looks to have taken aim at his critics after he was rested for England’s European Championship qualifier in Estonia.

The Liverpool forward was left out of the starting XI for the clash after it was revealed by Roy Hodgson that the 19-year-old said he wanted to “sit this one out” due to tiredness, per BBC Sport. And after coming in for a barrage of criticism on social media, the youngster tweeted the following after England's 1-0 win:

Given the criticism he received and retweeted in the wake of Hodgson's revelation, the Liverpool man clearly feels he’s been treated a little harshly. This was one of the posts he shared with his followers:

"

Oi @sterling31 sod off and choose to play for Jamaica if you're going to continue all this tired nonsense

— Jowan Annear (@JowanAnnear) October 13, 2014"

Sterling has also come in for some heavy criticism from an England great, as Alan Shearer weighed in on the debate. The former Newcastle striker slammed the Liverpool man's decision, insisting it's not an attitude he would stand for if he was still skipper, reported by The Sun (subscription required) and via Charlie Skillen of the Mail Online:

"

I genuinely have never heard something like that in my career. Certainly not in a squad I was involved in.

If I had, as either captain of Newcastle or England, I'd have gone straight up to the player and said 'are you sure?' and that's putting it mildly.

The working man who is up at 6am and home at 8pm does not want to hear about how tired a 19-year-old professional footballer is. And no, that is not just some cliche, it is what many people are thinking this morning.

"

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The notion that Sterling is a player who doesn’t care about England is misguided. All in all, he has been in fine form for both club and country this campaign, and Hodgson has actually altered the Three Lions’ system to get the best out him, deploying the youngster at the tip of a diamond midfield. He is industrious, energetic and leaves in all out on the field.

And while claims of tiredness will no doubt be greeted with bewilderment akin to that showed by Shearer, it’s well worth considering just how much football Sterling has played of late.

Shaun Botterill/Getty Images

Last season was the first time the former Queens Park Rangers youth has played a full season at the top level, a campaign in which he played a critical role in Liverpool’s thrilling but, ultimately, ill-fated title tilt. Factor in a World Cup at the end of all that physical and mental pressure, and it’s understandable that Sterling might be feeling a little jaded, something his flat recent displays point toward.

Sky Sports provides us with an illustration of how much more football Sterling is currently playing compared to a year ago:

Given the amount of football we see in the modern game, you can imagine this is a conversation that regularly goes on between player and manager at all levels. So for a man of Hodgson’s experience, it could be perceived as naive to have revealed the details of this conversation, especially when it could have easily been kept behind closed doors. 

It’s a notion that former England and Liverpool midfielder Jamie Redknapp agrees with, and he thinks Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers may have been putting a little pressure on his prodigious youngster to angle for a break, per Adam Shergold of the Mail Online:

"

I would never have dreamed of saying that [I'm too tired] to an England manager, but then I picked up a lot of injuries.

I'm sure Brendan Rodgers would have been leaning on him, [saying] you need a break and this is an opportunity to get one.

Why on earth did Hodgson say it though? Honesty is not the best policy. Why has Roy got into this? He could have said 'I want to freshen this up.' This wouldn't even be a conversation.

"

Dave J Hogan/Getty Images

Jamie Carragher—Redknapp’s former teammate for club and country—explained that the England boss is foolish for letting this enter the public domain, but he doesn’t think Rodgers played a part, per Adam Shergold of the Mail Online:

"

Me as a player, I would never give a manager a chance to leave me out.

But keep it between yourselves, just come out and say Lallana played well last game and say Raheem needs a rest. But now we are having a debate on it. Hodgson could have been more careful, but I don't think Rodgers would have been involved.

"

Julian Finney/Getty Images

Sterling's admission that he wasn't feeling at his best has been perceived to be brattish by plenty, but if he wasn't feeling up to it, surely it's for the good of the team that he was rested? For Shearer, it's something that's apparently irrelevant, but former England international striker Gary Lineker was much more measured in his take on the situation:

Rio Ferdinand also defended Sterling's decision, insisting that English players often have too much pride to admit that they're feeling weary:

When it comes to young players—especially those as talented as Sterling—you can never be too careful. So often we’ve seen teenagers burst onto the scene, play huge amounts of matches and subsequently burn out before their potential is realised. It’d be a massive shame if that was to happen to a player as thrilling as the Liverpool man.

Michael Regan/Getty Images

While Carragher and Redknapp rightly pointed out this wouldn’t have been a topic for debate if Hodgson hadn’t of made the details public, perhaps there’s a wider issue here. Hopefully it’ll be a catalyst for managers at both international and club level to better protect their young players and afford them the requisite recuperation periods.