Toughen up, Roy Hodgson tells Raheem Sterling after England’s goalless draw with Ireland
England manager Roy Hodgson warned Raheem Sterling he will need to develop “thicker skin” after the under-fire forward was roundly jeered during a goalless friendly against the Republic of Ireland.
Sterling, 20, has become the target of opprobrium since revealing he rejected a contract offer worth 100,000 pounds (HK1.2 million) a week from Liverpool, and his every touch met with a volley of boos at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium on Sunday.
With each week yielding a link to a different club, Hodgson warned that life could get harder for Sterling before it gets better.
“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, not least from the local press in Liverpool. That becomes national pretty quickly.
He needed this game to realise that if he is going to get it out of his system, he’s going to have to work harder still and get a thicker skin than he has at the moment
“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 to work harder still and get a thicker skin than he has at the moment.”