STEVEN GERRARD says he understands why the supporters are angry with England’s faltering World Cup campaign and that failure to reach the knockout stage will be “a disaster”.

Draws against the USA and Algeria have left Fabio Capello’s team third in Group C and two points behind leaders Slovenia, who England face in Port Elizabeth this afternoon.

Anything less than three points could send England home early and Gerrard says it is a “do or die” situation if they are to make the last 16.

The Liverpool and England captain concedes the team have lacked aggression in their opening fixtures but insists after some soul searching they now have the hunger and desire to start to fulfil the expectation of being labelled as one of the pre-tournament favourites.

“I can certainly understand why the fans are angry,” said Gerrard.

“We came here with big expectations.

“We have got a lot of support here. People have paid big money and expect us to win games. We as players take responsibility for under-performing in the last game (against Algeria).

“The last thing we want to do is to go home after the group stages.

“That would be an absolute disaster for this group of players.

“The idea now is to put in a good performance against Slovenia, win the game and change the perception of how we have done so far.

“It is a do-or-die situation. We need to perform, we need to improve on the last performance.

“We want to make the nation proud and happy and a good win against Slovenia can give the players more confidence.”

Gerrard’s opening goal had put England in the driving seat against the USA until a horrendous error by goalkeeper Robert Green saw Clint Dempsey equalise.

Against Algeria, though, England played well below the level they displayed in qualifying.

Now, Gerrard has urged his team-mates to rediscover the form that helped them get to South Africa.

“We have stopped doing the things we are good at,” said the 30-year-old.

“In the last performance, we didn’t do what we did in the qualifying games.

“In those, we were confident, played aggressive football, pressed really well and were also very compact and difficult to beat.

“We watched the Algeria game in the team meeting the other day, without anyone talking, and it was clear we didn’t play to our strengths.

“We weren’t aggressive enough. We didn’t press high enough. We didn’t win the ball back when we lost possession. We didn’t run enough. We didn’t have the cutting edge to break them down.

“There were things missing from the Algerian performance and now we want to get those back.

“We want to start the game really well, play compact and be difficult to beat, but also have the cutting edge in the final third to score goals.”

England were met with a chorus of boos as they left the pitch following the goalless draw against Algeria.

Gerrard says the players let the country down and the only way to placate the supporters is to get the right result this afternoon to ensure progression.

“You can see the players hurt from the Algerian performance. We let the country down by under-performing and I can see the hunger in the guys.

“The training was very sharp yesterday and hopefully everyone can do the business.

“We can’t wait for the game to start to put it right.

“We haven’t enjoyed the criticism, the last couple of days, and that feeling you get when you haven’t done yourself justice.”