Gerrard targets 'big' performance

Steven Gerrard is targeting a 'big' performance as England bid to book their place in the Euro 2008 finals with victory in Russia.Steve McClaren's men's penultimate Group E qualifier takes place on a plastic pitch at the Luzhniki Stadium and Gerrard is looking for England to summon the spirit of their previous qualification-determining matches.The Liverpool skipper said: "I don't know if you can say this is the type of game that can define your career, but it is certainly one of those games that if we get the result that we want we can look back on in years to come with a bit of pride."I look back on the (5-1) win over Germany (in 2001), the draw in Turkey, games like that and they are big nights, for big players and leaders to step forward and that is what we are going to need again."There are parallels with this game and Istanbul. We gave everything we had and came through that night and the feeling now is similar."Rio Ferdinand believes he and his team-mates should forget about the artificial surface and shift their focus on extending their run of five successive 3-0 Group E wins which has taken them to within two points of next summer's European Championship finals in Switzerland and Austria.The Manchester United centre-back, who is confident the quality in McClaren's squad will shine through, said: "If you sit and think about the pitch too much, we are going to be feeling negative before the first whistle goes."We have trained on an artificial pitch at times already during the past few days, so we know what it is about."Russia might be more experienced at playing on the pitch in Moscow. But at the end of the day, I think quality will come through, and we hope we can apply ourselves and make sure we win the game in the right manner."We've not played on the pitch before but it is not something we will be taking into big consideration. We will be going out there just to play our own game."The Russia camp have hit out at England's 'excuse-making' ahead of the qualifier which will take place on a pitch that has been rubber-stamped by Uefa.Striker Alexander Kerzhakov said: "The controversy over the surface is just an excuse invented by the English."In the modern age, players need to be prepared to play on any kind of surface. The English should stop protesting and just be prepared to come here and play football."Russian Football Union president Vitaly Mutko added: "Why do they make such a fuss about it in England?"It's a good pitch. Bayern, Inter and Celtic played good football on it. The English should just play on it and stop whimpering."© Independent Television News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.

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ITN | October 16, 2007

Tags:. .targeting. .modern. .european. .career. .camp