STEVEN GERRARD has admitted England’s fortunes are as “low as it gets” and it will take years to win back the trust of a disaffected nation of supporters.
Gerrard leads Fabio Capello’s side out at Wembley tonight as England play Hungary in their first game since the dismal failure at the World Cup.
He believes the team’s stock has slipped as far as when they failed to qualify for Euro 2008 under Steve McClaren and warned his team-mates the paying public will remain sceptical unless they can make a mark at Euro 2012.
“The position we are in at the moment is quite similar to when we didn’t qualify under Steve McClaren,” said Gerrard.
“Turning this situation around is not going to happen overnight. It is not going to happen in weeks and months. It is going to take years.
“Going out to Germany the way we did – this is as low as it gets. Even if we win games in qualifying
for Euro 2012, the fans are still going to be saying, ‘Can they go and
do it in a tournament’?
“To make the fans
totally happy and to be a successful team, we’re going to have to wait
until a tournament to prove ourselves because we qualified really well
for the World Cup.
“But the good thing about football is you do get chances to turn it around.”
Capello
will start with many of the players who flopped in South Africa in
order to expose them to the boos of an anticipated crowd of more than
60,00 at Wembley.
Gerrard said that, if he was a supporter who had paid to go to the World Cup, he would join in the abuse.
“I
probably would boo, yes,” he said. “If people have paid good money and
gone there expecting the team to do well and we haven’t, well, they’ve
got the right.”
Darren Bent and Ben Foster both
withdrew yesterday with back injuries and Joe Hart is now in line to
play 90 minutes as the only recognised goalkeeper left in the squad.
Capello,
who saw Paul Robinson retire after initially being named in his squad,
last night called up two goalkeeping replacements in Watford’s England
Under-21 star Scott Loach and Blackburn’s Frankie Fielding.
In
the second half, Capello wants to introduce players such as Jack
Wilshere, 18, and 20-year-old Arsenal team-mate Kieran Gibbs, who he
hopes will steer England to the Euro 2012 title despite having never
played at such a high international level.
“It
is always important to freshen things up and change a bit when you
underperform and it doesn’t go your way in a tournament,” said Gerrard.
“But it would be very unfair on these young lads
if they were all thrown in at the deep end together. You need the right
mix of experience and youth.”
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