As Steven Gerrard prepares to win his landmark 100th cap, the Liverpool FC and England skipper has admitted his international career rates no better than six or seven out of 10.
Gerrard will become only the sixth Three Lion to reach the century, following in the footsteps of Peter Shilton, David Beckham, Bobby Moore, Bobby Charlton and Billy Wright.
The third and fourth names on that list stand out immediately as true icons of the English game, the man who captained their only World Cup-winning team and its best player.
So often lauded as one of the best of his own generation, it is that standard Gerrard judges himself by.
And, in comparison, the 32-year-old does not believe his own achievements stand up to much scrutiny.
“If they are a 10 I would rate myself as a six or seven,” said Gerrard.
“(Moore and Charlton) will always be heroes of mine and heroes of English football.
“In football, hero and legend status get given out far too easily. As far as playing for England goes, there are maybe 14 or 15 heroes. The rest haven’t really delivered.”
There have been some momentous days with England for Gerrard.
Scoring in that astonishing 5-1 win over Germany in 2001, leading his country into two major tournaments, racing away in triumph following that opening goal of the 2010 World Cup against the United States.
Yet it is hard to escape the view that his time has coincided with one of international unfulfillment.
The assessment is not one he disagrees with, particularly when he looks back to the period between his debut in 2000 and Euro 2004.
At the time, Sven-Goran Eriksson seemed to have presided over a decent period, reaching three quarter-finals in a row for the first time.
Gerrard knows it should have been better.
“I don’t really like talking about the ’golden generation’ but, front to back, that was a really strong team,” he said.
“I totally agree that group of players underachieved at big tournaments. It should certainly have got to a semi-final.
“I know we were unlucky at times in the penalty shoot-outs but that is certainly a regret now.”
The strength of the respective teams may have been vastly different.
But when Gerrard stood in Kiev’s Olympic Stadium less than five months ago, internal questions about whether it was all worthwhile were forgivable.
