Captain Steven Gerrard praises FA for work behind the scenes during England get togethers

England captain Steven Gerrard has hailed The Football Association as the organisation celebrates its 150th anniversary.

The Liverpool midfielder, 32, made his senior international debut against Ukraine in May 2000.

He has since gone on to appear in five major tournaments for his country and captained the Three Lions during their Euro 2012 campaign.

But Gerrard, who scored in his club's 5-0 win over Norwich on Saturday, was keen to stress the importance of the work The FA does behind the scenes during international get togethers.

He said: "The FA have done an unbelievable job. Us players get some treatment from The FA - everything is spot on, the organisation, the preparation - we're left with no excuses.

"I think England's underachievement over the years is down to the players - it's nothing to do with The FA because they go out of their way to make sure everything is spot on, so fair play to them."

England suffered a penalty shootout defeat to Italy at last summer's Euros - an all-too familiar occurrence for the Three Lions.

Speaking to Goals on Sunday, Gerrard said: "The lads were distraught when we went out to Italy. The journey home and doing the press conference the day after was absolutely torture.

"When you're a footballer you want to win every football match you play in, for club or country."

He added: "It's difficult to practise shootouts because to practise them on a training ground when nobody is there and then take one of those five penalties when millions and millions of people are watching back home is difficult and a completely different scenario.

"I think we need that little bit of luck and maybe we'll improve a little bit more."

Gerrard also had words of praise for England Manager Roy Hodgson, who is plotting the team's World Cup 2014 qualifying campaign.

He added: "I think Roy is enjoying the England job. He's doing a good job so far so hopefully he can bring a bit of success to England for us."

Next up for England is the visit of Brazil to Wembley on Wednesday 6 February. Next week we'll be running a competition to give away tickets via our official Twitter @FA.