Gerrard doubts add to England’s injury woes

England flew to Minsk for a potentially treacherous World Cup qualifier against Belarus on Tuesday without half their first-choice defence and with midfielder Steven Gerrard apparently beset by doubts over his international future.

With back and hamstring injuries respectively having ruled out John Terry and Ashley Cole, head coach Fabio Capello must reshape his back four as well as a midfield from which the Liverpool captain fears he may soon be excluded.

Gerrard and Frank Lampard’s apparent inability to form an effective partnership in central midfield was again in evidence during Saturday’s 5-1 win over the group nine minnows Kazakhstan, and Gerrard looks certain to be shunted out to the left in Minsk on Wednesday evening.

In the longer term, there is a growing body of opinion that says Capello must choose between his top two attacking midfielders and, on current form, Lampard would be most people’s choice.

Gerrard admits he has not reproduced his Liverpool form on a regular basis for his country, but has appealed to Capello to keep faith with him.

“He (Capello) has spoken to me before each game and told me what he wants me to do. He’s said he wants me to emulate my form for Liverpool for England and he is prepared to help me.

“That’s what I want. I don’t want a manager to give up on me for club or country. I want them to keep trying to make me better.

“I’ve got every confidence in this manager and the set-up he’s got behind him to improve my form.

“I’ll be honest, I haven’t always hit my Liverpool form for England, but it’s not through a lack of trying.

“I’m desperate to play well for England. I believe we are getting to where we want to be.”

Gerrard accepts that he has been guilty of storming all over the pitch attempting to single-handedly change the course of matches.

“I have tried to improve that,” he said. “That was a criticism from (Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez) Rafa. He’s helped me to become slightly more disciplined and I feel I can play either role – either attacking or if we’re up against a good side when you need your two midfield players to be disciplined, I can do that now.

“You can’t afford to be Roy of the Rovers all the time against top sides. If I’m wandering off all over the place my team-mates will come unstuck.”

Gerrard added: “Sometimes I think I am thinking about it too much, trying too hard.

“Before the game you say you want to take the game by the scruff of the neck, be the main man, make it happen. And sometimes if it doesn’t happen for you, you try to force passes and you get frustrated, that’s normal.

“I think that’s where I am at the moment. I am putting too much pressure on myself and trying too hard. Maybe I do have to relax.

“I’m more relaxed at Liverpool because maybe I can afford to have a one-off bad game for Liverpool because there’ll be another game around the corner, whereas if you play badly for England it may be a long time before you can correct it.”

England’s 4-1 win in Croatia last month, by far their best performance of recent years, came with Lampard playing in midfield alongside Gareth Barry when Gerrard was out injured.

Capello would have been tempted to stick with that combination against Kazakhstan but an injury to Joe Cole gave him the chance to bring Gerrard back in.

After another below-par display against the Kazakhs, Gerrard could be playing for his place in Minsk, and he admits he is prepared for the possibility of being dropped to the bench.

“If the manager decides to go with Frank and not me I’ll get on with it. I’ll work hard to get back in the team,” he said.

“Vice-versa, I’m sure he’d do the same. What we all want is for this team to get to the World Cup. You talk about me and Lampard, but the big picture is this team is improving slowly.”