The Manchester City winger has seen the national stadium at its worst – booed for below-par performances in the past – and was even the subject of a bid by a number of fans to fund a private aeroplane to fly him home from the European Championships after disappointing performances in France.
After a brilliant season for his club, Sterling says he has been able to turn the negativity into a positive, but added ahead of the sell-out clash with Italy that it would be much easier if the fans were simply nice in the first place.
“Yeah you can use a negative to be a positive but why not just be positive?,” he told BBC Radio 5 Live.
“If you want your country to do well as everyone says, bring a positive light into it. Make the boys go off to the World Cup with a clear head knowing everyone’s behind them, everyone’s with them.
“I feel sometimes a bit too much negativity. I would love to hear some positive notes going in, just to make the boys know that everyone’s behind them. Trust me, you’ll definitely see a better England.
“Fans are not doing it in a malicious way, they’re doing it in a way to make you know you need to step up.
“But we know what we can do, I believe what we can do, it’s just having that support and that backing…you know, feel loved.”
Jack Butland will start in goal with Gareth Southgate ringing the changes from Friday’s 1-0 win over Holland in Amsterdam.
The England manager is mainly focusing on adding more goals to the mix and Jamie Vardy will lead the line in the absence of Harry Kane.
Eric Dier is likely to start in midfield to spare Jordan Henderson after he played 90 minutes in Amsterdam, with Kyle Walker given more time to shine in his surprise role as one of the three centre-backs as Southgate looks to get the ball moving through the ranks more freely than in recent games.
“We want to look at a couple of different players and a couple of different options, as we did on Friday,” Southgate said.
“But the most difficult thing is to score and put the fluidity in the top end of the pitch.
“On Friday, we started to get more numbers higher up the field – four, five, six, in and around the penalty area. We then need to be a little bit more patient in that area of the pitch, wait for that right moment to make the pass, rather than try and force things.
“Then we will create more chances. And if we create chances, we’ve got guys who will finish them.”
