Gerrard: I cracked up over England penalty in 2006.. I won't blow it again

Steven Gerrard revealed he cracked under the pressure of penalties at the last World Cup - but that he won’t let England down again.

Liverpool skipper Gerrard stepped up in Gelsenkirchen for the pivotal third spot-kick in the quarter-final shoot-out against Portugal only to shoot straight at Ricardo.

It was a crucial moment in the end of Sven Goran Eriksson’s reign, the tame exit summing up all the failings of the Swede.

And Gerrard, who was on the point of tears when Frank Lampard missed England’s first penalty, revealed he now accepts he was simply not in the right frame of mind to take the responsibility.

Gerrard said: “I think, having missed the penalty, I’ll probably be a bit more composed next time and take my time a bit more.

“It all happened really fast in 2006 and I felt after the penalties that I should have taken my time more.

“When you take a penalty, it is massive pressure, but that’s what we’ve got to do, we’ve got to try to handle that pressure.

“I didn’t handle it in 2006, so if I’m put in that situation again I will try to deal with the pressure a lot better.

“But it’s difficult, it’s not like taking a normal penalty in practice - you’ve got so much responsibility.

“You know all the fans back home are watching and when you’re tired, when you’re under so much pressure, that’s when mistakes happen and that’s what happened to me in 2006.”

Gelsenkirchen joined the legend of England shoot-out horror stories, coming on the back of the Germany semi-finals in Italia 90 and Euro 96, Argentina in St Etienne in France 98 and the defeat by Portugal in Lisbon in Euro 2004.

Gerrard added: “Part of it was that it comes after extra-time, because you’re very tired. You’ve run out of energy, you’re desperate for the game to stop, but you need to try to remain focused and concentrate right to the end.

“It’s very difficult, because at this level a game is very quick, so after 90 minutes you’ve run out of energy.

“Extra-time is when lot of mistakes come. When the body and the mind are really tired you see teams make mistakes, the game becomes a lot slower. Obviously, the two teams are desperate not to lose the game, so everyone becomes a bit edgy.

“It all happened really fast in 2006 and I felt after the penalties that I should have taken my time more. I’ll work that little bit harder in training to make sure I know what I’m going to be doing.”

Gerrard is, however, convinced that it will be a different story in South Africa next summer, pointing to the change in mentality Fabio Capello has already brought to the squad and himself as an individual.

“The manager will bring many qualities to the team,” added the Liverpool ace. “He’s a winner, he’s got an unbelievable amount of experience and has enjoyed a remarkable amount of success.

“He’s transmitting a winning mentality to the team and that will stand us in good stead for the tournament.

“The manager wants me to play with freedom, to express myself. It’s starting from the left, but he doesn’t want me to stay in the one position. He wants me to move around and cause the opposition problems by getting into areas where they don’t want me to be.”

And with the countdown to the World Cup closing in, with England due to arrive in South Africa in 100 days, Gerrard admitted: “As players, we have to deal with the expectations and the pressure of playing for England.

“The supporters and media are very passionate about the country and a lot is expected of us. It’s important that we, as players, cope with that in the best way we can. “We are pleased with the draw and we’re very confident that we can qualify from the group, but at the same time we have to show the teams respect. We know they’re going to play the game of their lives, so we need to make sure we perform well to win.”