England international Raheem Sterling has already played more minutes of football this season than he did up to Christmas a year ago, an ESPN FC analysis has revealed.
Sterling, 19, was criticised by angry fans on Twitter for being too "tired" to start England's Euro 2016 qualifier against Estonia in Tallinn on Sunday.
The Liverpool winger was left out of the starting line-up after complaining of fatigue during training on Saturday, manager Roy Hodgson revealed.
Sterling appeared to respond to his critics with a tweet on Monday that included the phrase "excuse me for being human."
And an ESPN FC analysis has shown that only two of the England side on duty in Estonia -- Chelsea defender Gary Cahill and Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere -- have played more minutes this season.
Sterling has played a total of 1,105 minutes during this campaign; 854 of those in 10 games for his club, and another 251 in four appearances for his country.
Cahill, 28, has played 1,254 minutes for club and country this season, while 22-year-old Wilshere has clocked up 1,154 minutes.
Both players are older, and have had more time to develop physically, than Sterling -- who is currently facing up to the most demanding season of his career. The winger played only 1,037 minutes between August and Christmas last season, 68 minutes fewer than he has faced already this term.
His total time on the pitch during the first two months of the campaign is also more than at this stage two seasons ago, when he was used regularly by Liverpool early on -- before his form dropped as he began to show signs of fatigue.
In 2014, Sterling has played 3,014 minutes for both club and country, surpassed only by Cahill, Joe Hart, Leighton Baines and Jordan Henderson in the England national side.
By Oct. 13 in the 2012-13 season, Sterling had played a total of 855 minutes -- 724 for Liverpool, 65 for England's Under-19s and 66 for the national Under-21 side.
That was the teenager's first full campaign in the Liverpool team, having made his senior debut in March 2012.
That season, he started 21 of Liverpool's first 37 games in all competitions, but lost his place in late January 2013 as manager Brendan Rodgers shook up his side in the wake of an embarrassing 3-2 FA Cup fourth-round defeat at League One Oldham.
Sterling started only one of the Reds' final 17 matches that season, missing the final seven weeks of the campaign altogether with a thigh injury, which also forced him to pull out of England's squad for the 2013 European Under-21 Championship finals in Israel.
Last season, the winger was used only sparingly early on, starting just one of Liverpool's opening 12 league games as he battled back to fitness.
At that time, he was told to "stabilise his life" by manager Brendan Rodgers after facing a number of off-field issues.
Now listening too.. Excuse me for being human�� omw home
- Raheem Sterling (@sterling31) October 12, 2014
The youngster then fought back to become a regular -- regaining his place in early December and going on to start 23 of Liverpool's final 26 Premier League games as they finished runners-up to Manchester City.
He also became a key part of the England squad from March 2014 -- when he won his second full cap against Denmark, 17 months after his first -- and played in all three of his country's games at the summer's World Cup in Brazil.
With Sterling now having started all but four of Liverpool's last 33 league matches, Rodgers has been aware of the need to avoid burn-out.
But the manager expressed his belief in September that the youngster can cope with the demands being placed on him.
Rodgers said: "He's a super-fit boy. He trains, he works away every day. I think you can see his fitness is at a high level."