Roy Hodgson believes Raheem Sterling is going to have to develop a thick skin to deal with continuing criticism.

The England winger was booed during Sunday's 0-0 draw with the Republic of Ireland in Dublin as a result of his current contract stand-off with Liverpool.

Sterling's name has been slightly tarnished this season after information regarding his reported contract wrangling was made public and now Three Lions boss Hodgson feels it would be important for him to deflect the negativity that is likely to keep coming his way.

"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.

"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 work harder still and get a thicker skin than he has at the moment."

Hodgson added: "I have no reservations (about Sterling). I trust him.

"But players are not robots. He's done some fantastic things for us, but today he didn't hit those heights."