Come this time next year, Steven Gerrard will have a pretty good idea of how his legacy in football is likely to shape up. At the age of 30 he might well be celebrating his first Premier League title and approaching a World Cup finals with England at the very peak of his career. Then again, he has been let down before.

The Football Writers' Association player of the year has just about everything a modern footballer could want: the reputation, the status and most of the important medals but there is still that hint of melancholy about Gerrard come the end of every season.

This week at England's Hertfordshire hotel, he picked over another season at Liverpool that did not deliver the Premier League and he looked forward to a World Cup finals when he could at last deliver on the biggest stage of all.

Gerrard has never been slow to point out where his club require strengthening and he seems to get ever more outspoken the closer he feels that time is running out.

"I think if you look at the squad in general, Manchester United won the league this year because they had that little bit of spark coming off the bench, that little bit more strength in depth. If we can add two or three more to the quality we've already got in the squad then I feel it's if we are on a par with them,” he said.

"Judging our season as a failure is a bit strong but you know you've got to be realistic and look at the bigger picture. We've finished the season without a trophy, which hurts.

“But from a Liverpool point of view there's certainly been a lot of progress made. We're getting really close to being champions so our next two or three signings are vital to push on and try and go one better than this year. But I'm certainly not sitting here proud of not winning a trophy."

As for England, Gerrard has nominally been stationed on the left side of midfield but in reality he is one of a pair — with Wayne Rooney — playing behind Emile Heskey (against Slovakia on 28 March) and Peter Crouch (against Ukraine four days' later). "I feel more confident, I feel in this position I can express myself," he said. "It's been working well of late, the relationship with Wayne, and the team's been playing well. If the team's playing well and I'm doing okay, I'm happy.

"It's difficult to say how far off we are but it is clear Spain are the benchmark for this team and they have to be massive favourites for South Africa given how well they've been playing of late and how well they played against us [in the 2-0 win in Seville in February]. "It's easy to comment on players like Xavi [Hernandez] and [Andres] Iniesta — they're world class. If they're on they games they can be difficult to play against, even unplayable.

Should these two matches yield the full six points then it will be difficult to stop the England hype from frothing out of control. Nevertheless, 11 days in the austere Fabio Capello bootcamp is enough to dampen any player's enthusiasm for Il Capo.

"I think he [Capello] can make the difference," Gerrard said. "He could be the key to the side having a successful World Cup. He is one of a handful of managers who are the best. Managers who are that good can make the difference."