Steven Gerrard has offered a frank assessment of England’s World Cup chances, saying that the national team will not travel to Brazil as anything more than outsiders. The captain searched for positives after the Wembley defeats to Germany and Chile but he admitted that they had brought “realism and perspective”.

“We’re not one of the favourites, we know that,” Gerrard said. “At the same time, you’ve got to go into the tournament with a bit of belief and confidence, and give it your best shot. But, of course, there are better teams out there than us. You only need to look at the rankings and where we are.

“I think these results will bring people a little bit down from where they were after Poland and Montenegro [when England won to qualify for the finals]. There will be a bit of realism and perspective out there.”

Gerrard felt that the performance in the 1-0 loss to Germany on Tuesday night had been better than the one in the 2-0 defeat to Chile last Friday, saying the team "kept the ball better" and "at times, matched Germany".

Flickers of excitement
If the winger Andros Townsend provided flickers of excitement, then the positive return of the goalkeeper Joe Hart was Tuesday's principal tonic.

Gerrard also pointed out that Roy Hodgson had attacking players to come back from injury, notably Danny Welbeck, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Theo Walcott.

Above all, Gerrard suggested that England would benefit from the lower levels of expectation. He remembers the hype that surrounded the nation’s buildup to the 2002 and 2006 World Cups, even though injury denied him his place at the former, and it was not at all helpful.

“You go into a World Cup where people judge you fairly, and they’re not blowing you up to what you’re not going to be,” Gerrard said. “There’s not too much expectation and pressure on the players. I’m sure that will help us.”

The Germany and Chile results represented the first back-to-back defeats at Wembley since 1977 and it was difficult to locate any optimism among England supporters on Tuesday night.

Hodgson’s team were too predictable in the final third and there was weakness in central defence.

There would have been a time when a home loss to Germany, in which England failed to muster a shot on target, would have sparked anger and bitter recrimination.

Here, there was mostly resignation, despite more boos at full-time.
Guardian Service