Rodgers wants England camp to be smarter with his stars

Brendan Rodgers stops short of demanding that Roy Hodgson wraps Raheem Sterling in cotton wool at the next international break.

But the Liverpool manager would really appreciate a bit of commonsense from the England camp.

He lost striker Daniel Sturridge to a thigh during a St George’s Park training session earlier this month, an absence that has cost the club heavily during the opening weeks of the season.

Rodgers was furious at the time, complaining that England hadn’t followed the individually-tailored fitness and recovery guidelines provided by the club.

Now the last thing Liverpool can afford is to lose their in-form 19-year-old forward. Rodgers is already dropping hints that he expects Hodgson’s staff to be more careful with Sterling.

“I said what I needed to say at the time. We have still not got the player fully fit,” Rodgers points out.

“We sat for three-and-a-half hours with England’s sports science and medical team going through each individual player, how they recover and how they work. Our injury record over the last two seasons has been very, very good.

“We put time into trying to help the national associations. Obviously, we would hope that could be respected. When I arrived here, Steven Gerrard was 32. He was injured a lot and was struggling for games.

“But with a new methodology on the field, and sports science and medical staff co-ordinating things, he was able to play a high number of games.

“With Steven’s status within the England camp, I’m sure they must have thought it was something worth bearing in mind.

“Roy will want to ensure the games (against San Marino and Estonia) are won. But I’m sure that resting players where he can will be an objective, especially if he’s winning a game comfortably.

“We also lost Emre Can with Germany’s Under-21s on an awful pitch at a time they were 6-0 up. I’m not here to tell the England staff how to do their jobs. They get paid their salary, they make the decisions.

“I think they are clever enough to work with the clubs, and hopefully then they can get the success from having fit players.

“One of the biggest jobs as a manager is maximising the available talent. It’s about managing them on and off the field.”

Rodgers’ immediate priority is to maximise Sterling’s weaponry when Liverpool take on FC Basel in the Champions League on Wednesday.

“All I ask of Raheem is he tactically fits into the way the team is playing,” says Rodgers.

“We put him in areas of the pitch where he can hurt opponents. It’s easy just to say that, at 19, he can play every day of the week, but it doesn’t work like that.

“There will come periods when he needs a rest. And when you give the rest because you are planning ahead, you get accused of picking the wrong team!

“We saw Basel win home and away last season against Chelsea. They have good Champions League experience, so for us it’s another difficult game.”