England stars must live with boo-boys, says Gerrard

Steven Gerrard admits England stars like Ashley Cole have to be strong enough to cope if the fans turn on them.

Cole was jeered by sections of the 90,000 Wembley crowd on Saturday after his mistake gifted Kazakhstan their goal in England's 5-1 victory.

England coach Fabio Capello and stand-in captain Rio Ferdinand led an angry response to the abuse, but Gerrard admits there is no reason why supporters shouldn't express their opinions.

Instead he believes it is down to the players to accept the criticism and work to win over the fans.

“Any supporter, when you pay money, you deserve to voice your opinion,” Gerrard said.

“You've got to get on with it. We are all men. Booing has happened to a number of players in the past and I'm sure it will happen again. Ashley is a good character and he will get on with it.”

“He's disappointed and the players are disappointed because nobody likes to see players getting booed.

“It's not going to help Ashley and it's not going to help the team but the support we got was fantastic. They stayed with us throughout the game.

“We need their support. If we're going to be successful in the future, we need them with us.”

Gerrard's subdued display on Saturday was only the latest in a long line of uninspiring efforts when he plays for England.

Capello's decision to play Gerrard on the right of a three-man midfield did nothing to remove the impression that the Liverpool captain finds it impossible to gel with Frank Lampard.

“Me and Frank have been on record many times saying we haven't always clicked,” Gerrard said. “We admit that but we are two lads who are working hard on the training ground to improve that.

“But it is just a small part of the team being successful. We have a got a good manager and we are going places so I would prefer to concentrate on that.

“Different formations work at different times but whatever formation we choose is down to the manager.

“Personel-wise and tactics-wise I'm sure it will change in the future, like it has in the past.”

Despite the negative talk following Saturday's match, England go into Wednesday's clash against Belarus on the back of three successive victories.

Another win in Minsk would make it England's best start to a World Cup qualifying campaign and put them firmly on course to reach the 2010 finals in South Africa.

But Gerrard has no intention of getting ahead of himself despite England's growing momentum.

“We've got off to a fantastic start with three wins. We're not getting carried away though. We realise there are a lot of hurdles to get over,” he said.

“We've got a difficult test on Wednesday in Belarus but we're confident we can go there and make it four out of four and go into the new year top of the group.

“I know through watching highlights that they have had some big results. I remember them beating Holland and they were unlucky to lose over in Ukraine.

“We realise it is a tough test. They are in their stadium with the support behind them but we are ready.”