We'll get it right, claims Gerrard

England captain David Beckham is just one player who believes England can not only qualify for the 2006 World Cup but win it.

Gerrard sees things differently, especially after the way he, Bridge and the rest of the England team tossed away a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 in Vienna.

"Quarter-finals in the last two tournaments is realistically where we are at the moment," said Gerrard. "If we are to progress we have to improve, to learn to tie down matches.

"I definitely think we can still qualify for the World Cup but there needs to be a lot of improvement if we are to go on to the next level.

"At the moment we're not there and that has been proved in the last two tournaments because we've lost to Brazil and Portugal.

"We still have a lot of learning to do but we have the players and we're not too worried because we know we can put it right."

Gerrard knows there is no better time to start making that progress than tomorrow night in Katowice when England will be attempting to make up ground against a Poland side who sit at the top of the group following their 3-0 victory over Northern Ireland.

"You saw two different England sides against Austria and I can't put my finger on why," he said.

"For 70 minutes we had the game well under control but then we were a completely different side, all over the place defensively. I just don't know why that was but it is worrying because, against a better side than Austria, we could have lost that game."

Gerrard dropped out of yesterday's training session as a precaution but is confident of being fit for the match.

"The groin felt a bit tight a few days before the Austria game because I overdid things in one session," said Gerrard.

"The manager was a bit worried and wasn't going to risk me but I told him on the lunchtime of the match that I was okay.

"Things went well in the first half, and at half-time we thought we just needed another goal to kill off the game.

"I managed to score that, but maybe then we took our foot off the pedal, they scored and then it was backs to the wall for us.

"Saturday's result makes tomorrow's match even bigger for us. If we had won then things would have eased off but because we let it slip, the Poland game is now massive.

Hopefully, we can bounce back and put on a good performance."

The Liverpool star also believes that they can use the criticism of Eriksson as a positive tomorrow.

"I don't think you can blame the manager," he said. "If there was someone else, they would pick the same players to do the same jobs.

"Managers can only do so much and then it's down to the players to take responsibility.

"If anything, this will give us an extra incentive to support the manager and do even better."