'Relaxed' England enjoy a beer

"For the first time since the manager has taken over, he let us have a beer," he said. "Usually everyone goes straight back to their room and stays there until breakfast the following morning.

"Seven or eight players sat there talking about the game. We had a beer each, nothing more than that, and went to bed.

"It was good to get things off our chest and express how we felt. The discussions between the players will stay private but it was really nice to unwind and get things off our chest."

It is from such gatherings, Terry believes, that team spirit is generated. "After games back at Chelsea you go into the players bar and you sit there," he said.

"You talk about the game and whether things have gone well or whatever. When things don't go too well it is important the lads stay together and the group stays together. That is what we had the other night. I will probably get in trouble now."

England defender John Terry said on Sunday that he believes clear- the-air talks were necessary to restore morale before Wednesday's vital game against Slovenia.

England must beat Slovenia in their Group C clash in Port Elizabeth to secure their passage to the last 16, and players and coach Fabio Capello met on Sunday evening to sort out what has gone wrong in the two draws with which they started the tournament.

"It's certainly worked in the past at Chelsea but I think it only works once or twice during a season," Terry said. "It's not good if it happens every day because that would piss people off.

"We have a responsibility to ourselves, to the manager and everyone else to voice that opinion and hope he takes it on board but it's the manager who has the final decision."

There have been various suggestions from players that they are chafing against Capello's hard-line style.

Asked whether Capello's constant shouting had ceased to have an effect, Terry's answer was evasive.

"Capello doesn't constantly shout," he said. "Just nine times out of ten.

"He really doesn't, even on the training ground he just stresses a point and goes over it and over it to really drum it into you. He is quite calm and when he's clam he's calm but when he's angry, he's really angry."

But Terry was in open disagreement with Capello over the manager's suggestion England's poor display was caused by fear.

"We can accept people saying we played bad or this, that and the other but we don't accept things like that," he said. "I don't feel that. I can see why people say it because at times we don't play as flowingly as we do at a club.

"And that frustrates people more than anything because even in training you see the ball being dipped about and sprayed about and stuff which we haven't shown."