Roy Hodgson questions Liverpool’s recovery programme amid tension with manager Brendan Rodgers over Raheem Sterling fitness

Despite Sterling’s fitness issue, England coach says ‘two-day plan’ will not be used

England’s manager, Roy Hodgson, could be storing up problems by bowing to Liverpool over squad selection (PA)

The tense relationship between Roy Hodgson and Brendan Rodgers looks set to continue in the wake of the controversy over Raheem Sterling’s fitness with the England manager saying the two-day post-match recovery programme operated at Liverpool will not be standard with the national team.

Hodgson was speaking after Sunday’s 1-0 win in Estonia for which he said Sterling was left out of the starting line-up having admitted he was tired. At no point did Hodgson say in Tallinn on Sunday, either before or after the game, that the Liverpool teenager had asked to be left out and it is understood to be the case that the player never requested he be dropped.

In the wake of the injury to Sterling’s Liverpool team-mate Daniel Sturridge, which was sustained in a training session 36 hours after England’s friendly against Norway last month, Hodgson said that he was still not convinced of the “two-day recovery” principle – no heavy training for two days after a match – which is key to Rodgers’ Liverpool regime.

Asked of the merits of the programme, Hodgson said: “Raheem might say it is something that is becoming ingrained in him and that he felt the need to talk about being tired more than he would normally do. But we have never had any problems with that. I don’t think there is a lot of medical evidence to support the two-day recovery so if you want to, you might want to research that one.

“Certainly, the Germans, who you admire so much, don’t do it. That is for certain. But obviously we always did and we did it from the start. We had people like John Terry, Ashley Cole, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard who I felt would be better off having an extra day or whatever.

The suggestion that Sterling was too “tired” to play provoked a strong reaction in some quarters, with Alan Shearer critical of the Liverpool teenager. Sterling responded to critical messages on Twitter with a plaintive “excuse me for being human”.

The winger is back at training today with his club, where his fitness will be assessed. Rodgers is not due to speak to the press until Friday. His relationship with Hodgson did become strained over the course of the Sturridge episode, culminating in Rodgers declaring that the striker might be available for the West Bromwich Albion game on 4 October but not subsequently for England.

Hodgson is by no means alone in believing that a two-day recovery is unnecessary for many players and that, in the short time available in an international week, it wastes precious preparation time out on the training pitch.

On Sterling’s situation he said: “I think I should speak to Brendan, but it is very simple and I am sure he understands. He [Sterling] looked a bit tired when he came up and I will just tell [Rodgers] that; that [Sterling] was feeling a bit tired and I made the decision from that to play [Adam] Lallana.”