Carragher backs underfire Capello

Former England defender Jamie Carragher gave his backing to national coach Fabio Capello on Monday ahead of the friendly international against Hungary on Wednesday.

The Italian has come under constant criticism since England’s mediocre performance at the World Cup in South Africa ended in the last 16 with a 4-1 defeat at the hands of Germany.

Carragher, however, who came out of international retirement to play for England in South Africa, insisted the players had not been up to standard.

“Obviously the World Cup didn’t go well but the players have to look at themselves and say we didn’t perform as we can,” said the Liverpool defender.

“We all realise what comes with playing for England. It’s massive. And when something goes wrong everyone jumps on it.

“I would never criticise Fabio because he has done too much in the game and if he stopped being a manager tomorrow he would go down in history as one of the great managers.

“I always find it hard when players criticise managers because we’ve never been managers ourselves.”

Carragher also said that some of the more experienced members of the England side such as Steve Gerrard, John Terry and Frank Lampard should not be discarded just yet.

“There are still five or six top players we have got,” he said. “They get a lot of criticism but they are some of the top players in the world and that is why they are still there.”