Gerrard: Fabio is better than any English manager

Steven Gerrard last night insisted Fabio Capello is a better Three Lions manager than any potential replacement and insisted no Englishman can compare with the man in possession.

While Capello's men must demonstrate at Wembley this evening they are still behind the £6million-a-year Italian, stand-in skipper Gerrard maintained his faith has not been shaken by the World Cup debacle.

FA chiefs have made it clear they envisage Capello's successor with be as English as roast beef and Yorkshire pudding and dropping points in the opening Euro 2012 qualifier against Bulgaria could bring the need for a hurried appointment much closer.

But Gerrard, still hurt by his role in events in South Africa, gave an impassioned and fervent defence of the under-fire Italian.

"It's important that Fabio is still given a chance," said the Liverpool captain, who has the chance to become only the 21st player in England history to score 20 international goals tonight.

"For me, he's a fantastic manager. Who out there, who is an English manager, has the CV that Fabio Capello has got?

"There are still good managers out there, English mangers, but it'd be a knee-jerk reaction to sack a manager after one bad tournament, then think everything will be rosy when you start with a new guy and we'll go on and win the Euros.

"That's crazy. It's crazy to think it's as easy as that. I understand people talking about us needing an English manager but not just yet."

Gerrard's vigorous backing for Capello comes amid growing behind the scenes gripes and the Scouser, always as honest as the day is long, conceded: "Of course I don't know if everyone is totally 100 per cent behind him, because I can't control what's going through every player's mind.

"But I've not seen anything that makes me think they're not. I've not spoken to any player or seen anything that's made me think they're not behind him. Everyone's desperate to put things right together.

"It seems as if there's a lot of blame going towards the manager but it was the players who under-performed out there.

"People talk about tactics and stuff, but there's only so much that a manager can do. The players have to deliver, and the players never delivered in Africa. Of course, everyone knows in football that the manager eventually gets the blame if things don't go well, but for me, we should get behind him now.

"I wanted him to stay. I have a lot belief in him. I know that in the past futures have been decided by two games like Bulgaria and Switzerland but hopefully that won't be the case again.

"It's up to the players to ease the pressure and take the focus off him, and make us a better team, more successful. Hopefully we can get two good results and start slowly building for the future."

The reality, as Gerrard knows, is that this campaign will be as much about redemption for the players as the man at their helm.

And although Capello may prove beyond salvation, the epitaph for the men under his command remains one they can write themselves, starting this evening and continuing through Group G and all the way to Poland and Ukraine.

Wayne Rooney, without an England goal in 12 months and 10 appearances is just one of the men under scrutiny, with Capello fielding eight of the 11 men who started on that horror afternoon against Germany in Bloemfontein.

Gerrard added: "I don't know why things didn't go for him, you'd have to ask Wayne. He did have an injury going into the tournament but only he can answer that.

"But it's not only Wayne who wants to put the World Cup behind him. It's the same for a lot of players, for all of us.

"We all want to improve from the World Cup and we all want to put it right. Wayne's our main man and he didn't get what he wanted out of the World Cup. But every time Wayne puts an England shirt on, he'll give his all."

As, unquestionably, does Gerrard, proven once again with the double-strike that turned things around against Hungary last month.

"There's pressure every time you put the shirt on," he added. "The expectation is that we win every time. We're expected to win the majority of our games.

"I'm looking forward to the game. If there's a little bit more pressure than usual, that's fine.

"I still love it, I do. I enjoy coming down here. I've had a lot of lows with England, of course, but there's no way in the world I was going to go out after that Germany game.

"I'm 30 years of age and there's still an opportunity for me to go out on a high with England. That's the challenge moving forward."