Capello says pressure getting to us

England’s star players are struggling to cope with the pressure of a World Cup according to coach Fabio Capello who is hoping they can pull themselves together for the crunch match against Slovenia.

The team was woeful in its 0-0 draw with Algeria on Friday, which leaves them with just two points from two games and facing a must-win clash in Port Elizabeth on Wednesday.

They were booed off the field in Cape Town and woke up to scathing headlines in Britain on Saturday, with The Sun newspaper summing it up: “There can be no excuses, this was as bad as it gets.”

Capello, who has not escaped the criticism, admitted it wasn’t good and said the huge pressure of expectation to deliver their first title since 1966 was taking its toll.

“Yes, I think the pressure of the World Cup exists,” he said.

“These players are training very well. But these two games were not the same team I know. I hope to see on Wednesday the real England team.

“I remember when I first started to be England manager, I saw the same thing when we played at Wembley — we forgot to play without fear and with confidence.

“It was incredible the mistakes we made. It was incredible for the level of the England players.”

The team struggled to find any rhythm and gave the ball away far too easily, with none of the players, who looked tired and devoid of creativity, standing out.

“We didn’t play a good game,” added the frustrated Italian.

“We missed a lot of balls when we should have controlled them. We missed a lot of passes. We missed everything.”

Asked if England could still win the World Cup, Capello hesitated, then said: “I think, no I hope, that after a big performance the minds of the players will break free and then we can play like the England that I know.

“This is very important.”

The team returns to its training base in Rustenburg to try and work out what to do.

Unfortunately, they may well find there are an awful lot of things to put right when they study the DVD of the game, and Manchester City’s Gareth Barry spotted a few of them pretty quickly.

“The disappointing thing is the lack of chances we created, we didn’t attack with enough purpose and not enough belief going forward,” he said.

“We know we have to score to win the next game so that’s what we’ll be working on.”

Capello chose to play Barry in central midfield even though he has been out for six weeks with an ankle injury and had not played a single minute since the end of the season.

His performance was mixed but there were a string of players who performed below par, including striker Wayne Rooney who found it impossible to impose himself on the match.

Capello said he had no idea why the Manchester United striker, who plundered 33 goals for his club last season, has failed to shine at the World Cup.

“I don’t know where his form has gone, but I don’t want to speak about one player. I prefer to speak about the performance of the team,” he said.

“Rooney didn’t play like Rooney, but this was not the only problem.”

Captain Steven Gerrard called on the team to step up and do what was needed against Slovenia.

“We know the job we’ve got to do, we’ve got to go and win the last game and that adds more pressure, but to play at this level you’ve got to handle it, you’ve got to play under pressure,” he said.