England are not one of the favourites for World Cup, says Steven Gerrard • Captain calls for realism and perspective after two defeats • You only need to look at the rankings, says Gerrard Steven Gerrard has offered a frank assessment of Englands World Cup chances, saying that the national team will not travel to Brazil as anything more than outsiders. The captain groped for positives after the Wembley defeats to Germany and Chile but he admitted that they had brought realism and perspective. Were not one of the favourites, we know that, Gerrard said. At the same time, youve got to go into the tournament with a bit of belief and confidence, and give it your best shot. But, of course, there are better teams out there than us. You only need to look at the rankings and where we are. I think these results will bring people a little bit down from where they were after Poland and Montenegro [when England won to qualify for the finals]. There will be a bit of realism and perspective out there. Gerrard felt that the performance in the 1-0 loss to Germany on Tuesday night had been better than the one in the 2-0 defeat to Chile last Friday, saying the team kept the ball better and at times, matched Germany. If the winger Andros Townsend provided flickers of excitement, then the positive return of the goalkeeper Joe Hart was Tuesdays principal tonic. Gerrard also pointed out that Roy Hodgson had attacking players to come back from injury, notably Danny Welbeck, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Theo Walcott. Above all, Gerrard suggested that England would benefit from the lower levels of expectation. He remembers the hype that surrounded the nations buildup to the 2002 and 2006 World Cups, even though injury denied him his place at the former, and it was not at all helpful. You go into a World Cup where people judge you fairly, and theyre not blowing you up to what youre not going to be, Gerrard said. Theres not too much expectation and pressure on the players. Im sure that will help us. The Germany and Chile results represented the first back-to-back defeats at Wembley since 1977 and it was difficult to locate any optimism among England supporters on Tuesday night. Hodgsons team were too predictable in the final third and there was weakness in central defence. There would have been a time when a home loss to Germany, in which England failed to muster a shot on target, would have sparked anger and bitter recrimination. Here, there was mostly resignation, despite more boos at full-time. It felt as though there was the acceptance that Hodgsons squad simply did not have the required quality. Gerrard, though, drew the line at ruling England out of contention. Its important people are not too harsh on us, he said. These games are all about experimenting and, when we get our full strength back, with the likes of Welbeck, Oxlade-Chamberlain and Walcott, well have a good team and a team that can go to the World Cup and compete. Its difficult to judge us after two defeats. Everyone is going to be down and give us no chance and no hope. But when you look at the big picture, at our performances in the qualifiers, you can be upbeat. Of course, were disappointed after the two results, but its important were not too hard on ourselves and dont write our chances off. The manager has experimented and tried different things over the last two games. Im sure hes got a better idea of the 23 he wants to take. The fight for squad places will intensify over the coming months and Jack Wilshere made it clear that nobody could take anything for granted. You have seen over the last couple of months that the talent is there, even in the Under-21s, with Ravel Morrison and all these players coming through, the Arsenal midfielder said. You are never guaranteed and cannot rest on your laurels. You are only as good as your last game, they say, so when the time comes, I have to be on top form and there will be a lot of players looking to be, as well. Wilshere continued: I think expectations have reduced but that happens automatically [after defeats]. People will say both the teams we have lost to are going to the World Cup. But we had two good results last month so we cannot be too hard on ourselves now. I think we will be stronger by the time the next game comes around [at home to Denmark in March]. We wont want to lose again at Wembley, that is for sure.
Posted on: Thu, 21 Nov 2013 09:57:04 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015