England back in dark days, says Gerrard

England are preparing to face the boo-boys at Wembley tonight, with Gerrard confirming he would be among those dishing out the abuse if he had forked out hard-earned money to follow the team to South Africa.

Instead, the midfielder used his status as captain in Rio Ferdinand's absence to conduct a candid interview ahead of the friendly with Hungary in which he met each World Cup criticism head on.

Gerrard accepted that, until they prove otherwise, England's players will be condemned for not being as good as they think they are.

"This is as low as it gets," he said. "The position we are in at the moment is quite similar to when we didn't qualify for the European Championships under Steve McClaren.

"We are not up with the best. We went out in the last 16, everyone can do the maths.

"There blatantly is a difference between us and Spain for example, because they have won the World Cup. They have proved they are a lot better than us.

"It is other people, not us, who say how good we are.

"Maybe lowering expectations would help. But will that happen? I don't think so.

"We have massive support. We have got 60,000 coming tonight, which is going to be the biggest crowd of the night.

"Are the media going to lower their expectations?

"But this should be the way it is with England. We've got good players. We have to deal with it better."

Gerrard did not give the impression of a man baring his soul, merely one delivering some honest home truths.

On a day when England lost two more men to injury, including another goalkeeper in Ben Foster whose back problem triggered call-ups for Under-21 duo Scott Loach and Frankie Fielding, Gerrard just wanted to front up.

If there was a sense of unease at having to apologise for the mistakes of others given he was one of only two England players to return from South Africa with their reputations intact – Ashley Cole was the other – the Merseysider did not show it.

"Tomorrow? Are you serious?" he replied when asked whether it would be a relief to wear the England shirt in front of a Wembley crowd again.

"It is important to get back together but we are not going to turn this around in weeks or months. This is going to be a long process of getting the belief and the confidence back from the supporters. Only then will it become really enjoyable to play for England again.

"It is easy to say 'We're sorry' to the supporters.

"The supporters don't want an apology in a press conference. They want to see the team show how sorry we are by performing well, turning things around and qualifying for the next tournament.

"But that in itself is not going to be easy because the group we are in will be a lot harder than the one we got out of to reach the World Cup.

"And then we are going to have to wait until a tournament because we qualified really well for the World Cup."

As England's next game marks the start of their Euro 2012 campaign against Bulgaria at Wembley on September 3, Gerrard knows the fans must get rid of their anger tonight to ensure they are supporting the team again in pursuit of a place in the finals in Poland and the Ukraine.

It means Arsenal duo Kieran Gibbs and Jack Wilshere will be shielded from an anticipated adverse reaction, with only Bobby Zamora from Capello's starting line-up not being in some way responsible for the World Cup debacle.

"Yes," said Gerrard, when asked if he would boo as well if he was a fan.

"If they have paid good money and gone to South Africa expecting us to do well and we haven't, they have the right.

"I understand their frustrations. If they want to voice them, they can do.

"Some of these young boys have to learn quite fast.

"We have all been in that situation when you are young and get thrown in at the deep end.

"The important thing is that the supporters don't drag these young fresh faces into the booing."

PREVIOUS ENCOUNTERS

England 3 Hungary 6

1953: The 'Magical Magyars' became the first non-British team to beat England on home soil, at Wembley. A star-studded team featuring Ferenc Puskas, Zoltan Czibor and Sandor Kocsis destroyed Walter Winterbottom's side in front of 105,000 fans.

HUNGARY 2 ENGLAND 1

1962: In front of less than 8,000 fans at their opening match at the World Cup in Chile, England lost in Rancagua. Lajos Tichy put Lajos Baroti's side ahead after 17 minutes before Ron Flowers's 60th-minute penalty equaliser. Just a minute later, Florian Albert struck and Hungary went on to top the group.

ENGLAND 3 HUNGARY 1

2006: England faced Hungary at home before heading to Germany for the World Cup finals. Steven Gerrard and John Terry headed home free-kicks from David Beckham in the space of four minutes early in the second half. Pal Dardai pulled one back before Peter Crouch's late strike.