Mark Holmes defends Liverpool and Raheem Sterling over his request for an England rest, and welcomes the possibility of new FFP regulations.
News that Raheem Sterling asked to be left out of England's starting XI against Estonia on Sunday has certainly sparked some debate, but it is difficult to know who, if anyone, deserves criticism.
A lack of pride?
If we assume that Sterling informed Roy Hodgson of his tiredness without any pressure or advise from elsewhere, does it highlight the lack of pride some England players have in representing their country?
Hardened England fans will certainly find it hard to empathise with a player turning down the chance to start for the Three Lions, and even Jamie Carragher has said, "I'd never give the manager an opportunity to leave me out" but, while there are no doubt plenty of current and, in particular, retired footballers that would say the same, others have leapt to Sterling's defence.
Gary Lineker, for example, insists it is feasible that a 19-year-old might be feeling tired so early into the new season, while Rio Ferdinand has hinted Sterling deserves praise for putting his body before pride.
Sterling - tired, fair play to him. English players are normally too proud to do that unlike our foreign friends. #FreshWhenItMattersMost
- Rio Ferdinand (@rioferdy5) October 13, 2014
Ferdinand claims Carlos Tevez is an example of a foreign player that asked to sit out training at Manchester United due to tiredness, whereas he and many of his England team-mates would constantly push themselves to the limit to their own detriment.
"With more rest at the right times throughout seasons, Rooney would have gone into tournaments for England fresher," Ferdinand tweeted. "Same could be said of Gerrard, Lampard, JT, A.Cole myself - all too proud to sit out of training or a match with the bigger picture in mind."
There has, ironically given the furore today, been plenty of people warn of Sterling becoming the latest England young player to suffer from burnout due to over playing, so that he enjoyed a relatively quiet international break could be viewed as a positive.
Given the simple path England appear to have towards the European Championships finals, perhaps Hodgson should be affording all of his players rests where possible? The national team boss is, after all, one of those to have called for a winter break in the Premier League.
Club pressure?
Few of us know how strong a personality Sterling is, but cynics have questioned whether such a young man had the confidence to ask his national manager to leave him out of a qualifier without pressure or at least advice from his club.
Former England defender Danny Mills, for example, said: "I don't believe a player his age will have gone to the manager and told him he's tired. Has there been influence from elsewhere? The club manager, for example?"
Hodgson's comment that "it's unfair if all the expectations to give the player a little bit of a break fall on me" certainly hint at some degree of Liverpool involvement in Sterling's request, opening up a different debate altogether.
It is certainly easier to argue that Sterling deserves credit for asking a rest than it is to argue any club is right to engineer one of their players being rested for a competitive England fixture.
However, Brendan Rodgers is not a hypocrite.
Back in April 2013 after Sterling had suffered a slight thigh injury, the Liverpool boss took the decision to rest the youngster for the rest of the season.
"If it is the best thing to do to rest him for the rest of the season, then we will do that because we don't need to risk him when it could cause problems for the future," Rodgers said at the time.
Even this season, with Sterling now a key player, Rodgers has shown he is willing to afford him rests, leaving him out of his side for the 1-0 defeat to Aston Villa last month.
"We have an exciting couple of months and this was a game I felt we could do that," he said.
"If he didn't have international football then it would have been the case."
If Sterling was a player that was being pushed to the absolute limit by his club, there would be room to criticise Liverpool or, for patriots, the player himself for putting club before country.
As that isn't the case, however, surely we should be thankful that England's best young player - a fact highlighted by the team's performance before his introduction in Tallinn - is, either by his own accord or because of good advice from his club, is looking after his body and might not be the latest bright young thing that fails to live up to his potential.
Hodgson mistake
Whether it was Sterling, Rodgers or someone else that first came up with the idea of a rest against Estonia, what is difficult to argue against is Carragher's assertion that Hodgson should have kept his conversation with the player quiet.
The amount of press coverage given to the situation certainly won't do any good for a young man that needs protecting emotionally and mentally as well as physically, while there is also the unlikely but definite possibility of Sterling being jeered by some England fans at the next game. And how that might affect his confidence.
It is also quite possible that Hodgson will have soured his relationship with Liverpool having made the comments, opening the door to future drop outs from not only Sterling but also Jordan Henderson, Daniel Sturridge and the rest of the Reds' England contingent. As unpalatable as it may be to give in to clubs' demands at times, keeping them on your side is crucial for a national team manager.
FFP regulations set for change?
Away from the international scene, it was revealed this last week that UEFA are to consider making debt reduction part of any change to their Financial Fair Play regulations.
This comes following the record £49million fine given to Manchester City, whose chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak quite rightly suggested the FFP rules were flawed.
"We have zero debt," he said. "We don't pay a penny to service any debt. For me, that is a sustainable model. However, our friends at UEFA seem to believe otherwise."
It is a debate that has been had many times before, but Al Mubarak is absolutely right. The FFP rules prevent a rich owner from investing heavily into a club, yet Manchester United, for example, are not penalised for their £350million debt. Football may be a unique business, but that is quite clearly not right.
There was always a feeling that the FFP rules were put in place to protect the place of the elite, and although UEFA are unlikely to introduce any sanctions that upset said elite too heavily, any move to encourage more of a fair fight in football can only be welcomed.
Grand Final thump
The spotlight on football and its players is far greater than that on any other sport, with every bit of wrongdoing magnified to the nth degree.
Well, it may not have made many of the front pages, but the events at Super League's Grand Final on Saturday should serve a reminder that much of the violent conduct we occasionally witness in football is absolutely nothing compared to that seen in some of those sports without the same exposure.
In the biggest game on England's rugby league calendar, Wigan's Ben Flower knocked St Helens' Lance Hohaia to the floor with one punch before jumping on top of him to power in a thunderous second. And this was in the second minute.
'Football is a gentleman's game played by thugs, while rugby is a thug's game played by gentlemen'. It's a saying I would have to disagree with.
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