Soccer Globe

England captain Rio Ferdinand has told Steven Gerrard that he cannot be “Superman” in every game for his country during an exclusive interview with Setanta Sports.

The Manchester United defender feels the Liverpool midfielder was too critical of himself in the build-up to the 3-1 win in Belarus.

After much debate about Gerrard’s international form and the difficulty in fitting himself and Frank Lampard into the team, the Reds ace scored a fine opener and set up one of Wayne Rooney’s two goals.

“It’s good but there’s still lots to improve,” insisted Ferdinand to Setanta Sports. “It doesn’t make us qualify just because we’ve won four games on the bounce.

“It’s put us in a good position and we’re happy where we are but we still want to keep moving in the right direction and keep winning games until we qualify as we won’t be satisfied.

“We wanted to make sure we were a tight unit and it wasn’t easy to get through us. We did that to a certain extent but, the one time they get the ball in behind us, they managed to score. It was disappointing in that aspect but we scored some good goals today and ‘Wazza’ scored a beautiful goal.”

Ferdinand feels that Liverpool skipper Gerrard was too self-critical before the game about his international form.

“I’m delighted,” he added. “I think Steven was over-critical of himself in some aspects. He can’t always be Superman in every game he plays.

“He does it a lot for Liverpool and he’s done it a couple of times for England but obviously he’s his own worst critic because he wants to do it more often for England.

“Tonight is a good step in the right direction, not only for himself but for everyone, and it was a great finish from 30 yards out as he’s curled it into the bottom corner.”

Fabio Capello’s half time team talk was relatively easy for the captain to digest.

“It was quite simple,” explained Ferdinand. “He just said push up from the back and get our midfielders to push up to their midfield and keep competing.

“Quite simple really. People think it’s going to be rocket science when a foreign manager is involved but he keeps it simple and that’s one of his strengths.

“It’s an ongoing process and it’s not going to happen overnight. We’ve got to keep trying to improve and do the simple things well as we do for our clubs and, hopefully, get it right for England.”

Quote Source - Setanta Sports