Daniel Sturridge has refused to blame England manager Roy Hodgson for the injury that wrecked his season.
Sturridge missed almost six months of the campaign after suffering an injury on international duty in September.
The incident caused controversy at the time, with Brendan Rodgers effectively blaming Hodgson and his fitness programme with the three lions.
Sturridge went on to suffer two further injuries during his attempted recovery, but the Liverpool striker has refused to blame the England boss.
“Regardless of what happened in the past, I love playing for England,” Sturridge said.
“That situation occurred and it’s in the past. I don’t want to dwell on it. People pick injuries up and they are unfortunate. It just so happened I got injured that day. It’s life. People get injured sometimes. It is what it is.
“My relationship with the England manager is top class. No worries at all. We speak via text. We speak to each other. We keep in touch. Throughout my injury, he kept in touch.
“I would never blame him for this. Never. Or any of the staff – it was just an unfortunate incident. I have got so much respect and admiration for him and his set-up. The relationship is very, very good.
“For me, yes, two days’ recovery works best but I am not every player. Every player’s different. Some like to train on the second day. Some don’t. I am used to having second-day recoveries now and when you get used to doing something, you do it. I have had periods with other clubs when I have not had second-day recovery times. So it doesn’t make a huge difference.
“Whatever environment you are in, you go with it. I don’t point fingers at anybody. Whatever the boss wants me to do with England, I’ll do it because he’s the boss. Football is about being a team player and whatever the boys are doing, you have got to go with that. I don’t blame anybody.”
