England captain Steven Gerrard believes that "unfair pressure" on his side to win the 2014 World Cup could be detrimental.
The Three Lions secured their place in next summer's tournament in Brazil with wins against Montenegro and Poland.
"From my experience of going in to World Cups, people talk about golden generations and that we are one of the favourites, that this will be our year and stuff like that," Sky Sports News quotes the Liverpool midfielder as saying..
"That creates a false pressure and unfair pressure because it's a very tough tournament to go in to. This time around people will be more realistic.
"I think the important thing is now that people don't get carried away and start putting us with teams like Spain and thinking that everyone is fine and we are a fantastic team."
Gerrard added that although England have a "good team", they have to improve.
"I think we are a good team," he said. "I think we can still get better. I think we have got a good blend of youth and experience.
"Against Poland [in the] first half we were fantastic, but second half we showed we still have to improve to compete with the best."
Gerrard scored in the 88th minute at Wembley on Tuesday to help England register a 2-0 victory over Poland in their final World Cup qualifier.
