Steven Gerrard pleas with England boss Fabio Capello: Don't give up on me!

The Liverpool man is likely to be on the left wing of a four-man midfield when England aim to continue their 100% start to qualifying in Belarus tomorrow night.

And Gerrard is convinced Capello is the man to coax the best out of him for the national team.

"He has spoken to me before each game and told me what he wants me to do," said Gerrard. "He's said he wants me to emulate my form for Liverpool for England and he is prepared to help me.

"That's what I want. I don't want a manager to give up on me for club or country. I want them to keep trying to make me better. I've got every confidence in this manager and the set-up he's got behind him to improve my form.

"I'll be honest, I haven't always hit my Liverpool form for England, but it's not through a lack of trying.

"I'm desperate to play well for England. I believe we are getting to where we want to be."

The inability of Gerrard and Lampard to harness their undoubted talents together in the England midfield was a conundrum that Capello's predecessors Sven-Goran Eriksson and Steve McClaren failed to solve.

Gerrard, though, believes Lampard was "harsh" when he admitted recently that their failure in midfield was the reason England did not qualify for European 2008.

But he added: "We've (he and Lampard) just got to keep working hard and trying to make it happen. It's pointless giving up on it and saying it can't work. We've got a good manager there to help us. Just keep working hard and keep plugging away at it.

"It's not easy having to prepare for a different role but I'll give it everything I've got.

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"If the manager decides to go with Frank and not me I'll get on with it. I'll work hard to get back in the team.

"Vice-versa, I'm sure he'd do the same. What we all want is for this team to get to the World Cup.

"You talk about me and Lampard, but the big picture is this team is improving slowly."

Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez has in the past been critical of Gerrard, stating the player's all-action style can be counter-productive on occasions when more tactical maturity is required.

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The player himself concedes the point but said: "I have tried to improve that. That was a criticism from Rafa.

"He's helped me to become slightly more disciplined and I feel I can play either role - either attacking or if we're up against a good side when you need your two midfield players to be disciplined, I can do that now.

"You can't afford to be Roy of the Rovers all the time against top sides. If I'm wandering off all over the place my team-mates will come unstuck."

Of his inability to consistently turn in the type of performances that have made Benitez declare him recently as "the best midfielder in the world", Gerrard added: "Sometimes I think I am thinking about it too much, trying too hard.

"Before the game you say you want to take the game by the scruff of the neck, be the main man, make it happen. And sometimes if it doesn't happen for you, you try to force passes and you get frustrated, that's normal.

"I think that's where I am at the moment.

"I am putting too much pressure on myself and trying too hard. Maybe I do have to relax.

"I'm more relaxed at Liverpool because maybe I can afford to have a one-off bad game for Liverpool because there'll be another game around the corner, whereas if you play badly for England it may be a long time before you can correct it."