In almost every top international team that experiences failure in a major tournament, there is often one member of the squad that faces the most criticism and blame as a reason for the team’s poor performance. Usually that player is often of a high stature, one who is revered and expected to lead the team to success and when he fails to live up to that expectation is often made out to be a traitor.

In this case however, the English football team, fresh off one of the most embarrassing results in their entire history which saw them eliminated from Euro 2016, have been facing the backlash from that disappointing 2-1 defeat to Iceland. However, it is Jamaican-born winger and former Liverpool sensation Raheem Sterling that has been facing the major force of the criticism. His poor display in the tournament, which followed a disappointing debut season with Manchester City, has singled out the 21-year-old as one of the players who contributed to the demise of England’s tournament.  

Let’s not forget that football is a team sport that consists of 11 players and though Sterling’s performances were indeed unacceptable there were a few other candidates that would vie for the position of being England’s worst player in the tournament. His passing, dribbling and ball retention were a bit off par and his influence in the game was close to nothing. Certainly, it was a long way off to the Raheem Sterling we were captivated by in Liverpool’s almost title winning season back in 2014 where he partnered Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge in that deadly attack.

However, since his move to Manchester city, though showing seldom glimpses of his technical ability, he has not developed into the player many would want to see – bearing in mind he is still young and this was just one season – Sterling’s demise perhaps seems set to continue as new boss Pep Guardiola has just signed Spain international Nolito, which poses a major concern to Sterling’s position at MCFC.

The English team is made up of a number of underachieving stars and chief among them is captain Wayne Rooney. Harry Kane also looked a shadow of himself after recently capping off a 25 goal season, the most by any player during the 2015/2016 campaign. It’s a case in which England’s best player would probably be full back Kyle Walker, which says a lot about the performance on the team on a whole.

While it’s not unusual for English fans to blame one of their players for their team’s under-performance, the English may want to go easier on Sterling than they did in the particularly terrible onslaught on David Beckham after World Cup ’98. Sterling just had a bad run of games which every player does. Fortunately for him he has age on his side and a willing mentality to prove the doubters wrong. It’ll be no surprise if he bounces back from this backlash in quick succession.