Gerrard: England players are feeling the pressure

Steven Gerrard admits England are under huge pressure to get their European Championship qualifying campaign off to a winning start.

England begin their bid to reach the Euro 2012 finals against Bulgaria at Wembley on Friday night, with supporters still angry at Fabio Capello and his team for their disappointing showing in South Africa.

Gerrard will again captain the Three Lions in Rio Ferdinand’s absence, and the Liverpool midfielder says it is vital England deliver a victory as they bid to get supporters back on side.

“I think we are under pressure because we underperformed at a major tournament," he told talkSPORT.

"We’ve not yet won the fans back over from that tournament, so we go into tomorrow night’s game under pressure to deliver a result.

“We’ve got some injuries, which doesn’t help at all, but it’s a good opportunity for the new players to come in and stake a claim for a starting eleven place.

“We are looking forward to the challenge but it’s going to take time – it could take up to two years to win the supporters back and the media back and get them to believe in this team again.

"There’s been some suggestions that players don’t care and they are different players when they put the England shirt on but I can assure everyone that’s not the case.

"We’re desperate to make them happy and the only way we’re going to make them happy is to go to the next tournament and try and be successful’