"I have got skin thicker than 99.9 per cent of the population. I get used to it - people write you off but when I scored a goal in the World Cup at 18, people were writing me off six months later. Then I was scoring a hat-trick in Germany and winning trophies with Liverpool and then they write you off again.
"Somebody will always criticise you no matter what, so if you let that affect you, I wouldn't be where I am today.
"Yes I prefer people to say nice things about me as it is not as if I have murdered someone, but you get more criticism as a footballer and you have to be thick skinned."