"Don't ever call me a bottler on radio with all those thousands of people listening," said the Liverpool vice-captain.
"It would be interesting to see if you have any bottle and come down to Melwood or Anfield and say it to me.
"I've had the stomach to fight for my place for the last eight years. All I can do is play as well as I can for Liverpool.
"I've never really played centre-half for England and to be honest, I've never really played that well for England because I've played a lot of the time at full-back. But at centre-half, I don't think I've really played as much as maybe I deserved.
"But that's opinions, that's the managers choice and if he's chosen people ahead of me then I don't think anyone can really complain if I would rather concentrate and save myself for Liverpool games.
"I'm 29, I've been doing it for eight years and obviously I haven't proved it enough so it's not going to change now is it? It's not like I've just got in the squad and I've jumped out.
"I played in the Champions League final. There's not much more you can do at club football, but win it which we did a couple of years ago.
"He England head coach Steve McClaren] played Ledley King, who is a top player. But he's been injured all season so how would you feel in my situation, what would you do? When John Terry was out [Jonathan] Woodgate played.
"There's that many people he's played ahead of me. It's a game of opinions. But when you're at my age they are all younger than me, they are all going to improve and maybe I won't at my age.
"If I'm not getting a game at 29 there's no chance of me getting a game at 32. Every centre-back the manager has picked is younger than me."