Liverpool’s Raheem Sterling Is Not Nearly As Tired As Alan Shearer, Robbie Savage And All Cloth-Eared Pundits
LIVERPOOL FC’s Raheem Sterling is a bright talent. He’s a great prospect for England. So. Time for the media pundits to get on his back and apply the pressure. He’s 19. He can handle it. Right?
The story goes that Sterling was “too tired” to start for England in Estonia. (He appeared as 64th minute substitute. Sterling it was who drew the foul that led to Wayne Rooney’s goal in a hard-fought 1-0 victory.)
“He said, ‘I’m feeling tired, I’d rather sit this one out’,” England manager Roy Hodgson told BBC Radio 5 live.
That’s honest, isn’t it. A young man revealing that he’s not feeling at his best. Sure, someon else might take his place and perfome so well that Sterling has to fight his way back into the side, but it’s a team game and he knows what’s right.
Hodgson understaood, adding:
“He broke into the Liverpool team, had a fantastic season and then went to the World Cup. He is only a 19-year-old. It is not as simple as the training you are having may be taking a bit of juice from your legs. There is an awful lot going on in your head as well, so perhaps it is quite simply that the season has not started as well for Liverpool, and he is in the spotlight for England and Liverpool. Maybe that has had some effect. I don’t know. It’s a theory.”
Cue the pundist.
Rio Ferdinand managed to support Sterling and take a swip at Those Funny and Dishonest Foreigners:
“Fair play to him. English players are normally too proud to do that unlike our foreign friends.”
Bit UKIP there, Rio.
Danny Mills chimed in:
“If I was Raheem Sterling, I’d want to play every international game I could at this stage.”
Typical bloody foreinger, Mills, eh, Rio.
The BBC’s Phil McNulthy wrote:
Raheem Sterling’s absence from the starting line-up – after Hodgson revealed the Liverpool teenager told him he was feeling tired – generated a lot of heat in freezing Tallinn. How can a 19-year-old be tired in the early weeks of October? How can he be jaded after only playing 45 minutes of the 5-0 win against San Marino? Is this the spectre of club v country rearing its head again?
Robbie Savage went on the attack:
Sure. There is down time on internatioanl duty.
But the biggest pillock is…Alan Shearer, naturally. He has a Sun column to fill with his bon mots. So. Here goes:
WHEN I heard Raheem Sterling was too tired to start for England it was about the only thing that made me raise my eyebrows all afternoon. Too tired! He is 19 — and it’s October.
Eh?
I genuinely have never heard something like that in my career. Certainly not in a squad I was involved in.
Too many foreigners, says Rio. And dishonesty.
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.
Numebr of cups won by Shearer with Newcastle and England: nil. Maybe there’s a third way, Alan?
…I’m not sure Roy has done him any favours by revealing the real reason why he didn’t start the game. Perhaps he could have claimed Sterling had received a knock in training or the like.
Because lying is good? You want an England manager in his 60s to become a liar?
Or maybe Hodgson was so irritated at the player’s attitude he thought he would come straight out with it and let the public decide.
No. Roy said: “On Saturday he told me ‘I’m feeling really tired and I don’t think I’m in my best form at the moment’. It would be wrong of players to fool me into thinking they are ready when they are not because they are robbing another player of an opportunity.”
Do you see, Alan? Hodgson was supporting his player not hanging him out to dry. Stick to the facts, Alan. And Roy isn ‘t a liar. You can trust what he says.
…have you ever heard a player claim tiredness as a problem? Too tired to play for your country?
Yes. Raheem Sterling.
You should want to play every game This will stick with Sterling for some time to come, believe me.
It will with idiots who don’t listen, Alan.
Perhaps all the attention over the last 18 months has simply gone to his head and he feels able to pick and choose his games depending on how good a night’s sleep he has had.
Ever wonder why Shearer flopped as a manager?
I’m not sure who is advising him if that is the case. You should want to play every game, no matter what.
He played, Alan. He actually played.
I think it is time for Raheem Sterling to wake up.
So says tired Alan Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzearer…
Posted: 13th, October 2014 | In: Liverpool, Sports Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
