Roy Hodgson has revealed that Liverpool winger Raheem Sterling was ‘too tired’ to feature for England against Estonia.
Following their 5-0 win over San Marino last week, England continued their Euro 2016 qualifying run with a 1-0 win over Estonia on Sunday evening, thanks to a Wayne Rooney strike.
Sterling was expected to start for the Three Lions but was instead left on the bench and it has since emerged that the youngster was too tired to start the game.
“We were training, doing a light session,” Hodgson told reporters. “Raheem had done the warm up and said, ‘I really am feeling a bit tired. I am not in my best form at the moment because I’m a bit tired’.
“So I said, ‘Best thing is Adam Lallana starts the game and you rest and I bring you on from the bench,’ simple as that. When he came on there was nothing wrong with him.
“Perhaps it’s quite simply the season hasn’t started quite as well for Liverpool as they wanted. He’s a player who’s always in the focus and spotlight for England and Liverpool, maybe that’s had some effect.”