England manager Roy Hodgson is concerned that Raheem Sterling is not currently tough enough to deal with the abuse he gets from the sidelines.
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The Liverpool fans in the home end of the Aviva Stadium in Dublin made their feelings about Sterling known on Sunday during England’s dull 0-0 draw against the Republic of Ireland.
The 20-year-old, who is in the middle of a prolonged contract dispute with Liverpool, was booed every time he touched the ball and was substituted in the 66th minute following a poor display.
Hodgson has no doubts about Sterling’s ability on the pitch, but the England boss is concerned the forward is not capable of handling the stick that comes his way from the terraces.
Sepp Blatter, John Delaney and Raheem Sterling taking bit of stick from the crowd here. Poor old Raheem. At least others probably know why.
— emmet malone (@emmetmalone) June 7, 2015
“I think he’s going through a bad time publicly,” Hodgson said. “You can’t expect people just to shrug off the criticism he has been receiving.
“He does ever so well and tries well to shrug it off, let his football do the talking. He needed this game to realise that, if he is going to get it out of his system, he’s going to have work harder still and get a thicker skin than he has at the moment.”
Sterling shot wide from inside the box in the second half and offered little to England’s attack throughout the game. It does not sound like Hodgson is considering dropping him for Sunday’s Euro 2016 qualifier in Slovenia, though.
“I have no reservations (about Sterling). I trust him,” Hodgson said. “But players are not robots. He’s done some fantastic things for us, but today he didn’t hit those heights.
Raheem Sterling becoming the new Nani. All pace, zero awareness / final product.
— Mark Ogden (@MOgdenTelegraph) June 7, 2015
“It’ll take a lot before I and the English national team sway from Raheem Sterling. We only took him off today to give others the game time, to air the squad.”
Liverpool cancelled contract talks with Sterling during the final week of the season after his representative Aidy Ward allegedly told the London Evening Standard his client would not sign a new contract with the club even if they offered him £900,000 (Dh5m) a week.
Belgium lived up to their billing as second only to world champions Germany in the FIFA rankings with a tougher than expected 4-3 victory over France, at the Stade de France in Paris on Sunday.
Manchester United’s Marouane Fellaini gave Marc Wilmot’s side a 2-0 half-time lead, with goals in the 17th and 42nd minutes, before second half strikes from Radja Nainggolan and Eden Hazard appeared to have put the result beyond doubt.
Mathieu Valbuena scored for the home side from the penalty spot on 53 minutes, just before Chelsea’s Hazard slotted home from a penalty moments later.
At 4-1 up and only minutes remaining, the visitors looked to be in complete control. But Nabil Fekir pulled France back to 4-2 down with his first international goal in the dying minutes when he fired past Thibaut Courtois and Dimitri Payet added an injury time third for the battling French.
However, it was too little too late as Belgium held on for a rare away victory over their next-door neighbours.
France have now conceded seven goals in their last three matches which is more than their previous 16 encounters combined.
Belgium can now look forward to their crucial Euro 2016 qualifier, against Wales in Cardiff on Friday, in confident mood. The two sides are level on 11 points from five matches and tied for top spot in Group B with Israel two points further back.
