Gareth Barry has rubbished the theory England players care less about losing for their country than their clubs ahead of the crucial World Cup qualifiers with Andorra and Croatia.
Barry made his claims in the aftermath of Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher's remarks that it hurt him more to be beaten with the Reds than when wearing the Three Lions.
And the Aston Villa midfielder is aware the Fabio Capello era now starts for real after a series of friendly internationals and admitted: "This is when we will be judged."
Barry said: "I am a professional person. I play every game to win and give 100% and there will be no difference at all from losing a game for my club and losing a game for my country.
"Any defeat hurts. There is a lot of pain when you are on the losing side. There is no difference in terms of who it is for. That is speaking for myself. I am not going to comment on Jamie.
"People try to compare the way you play for your club and the way you play for England and, of course, you are not always going to perform to the best of your ability in every game.
"But the players always give 100%. Some of the games don't always go as well for England as at club level - and vice versa."
Barry is aware that England have to satisfy the demands of their fans who jeered and booed them relentlessly during the first half of the meeting with Andorra in Barcelona 18 months ago.
"Everyone knows the fans expect the national team to do well, which is acceptable, but teams across the world are getting better," Barry explained.
"As time has gone on, we have found it tougher and tougher competing with them. But it is a new start now and we are looking to being where we should be, competing in the big tournaments.
"We've had a series of friendly internationals but this is where we will be judged."
Barry continued: "I was a substitute for the last game with Andorra in Barcelona and I found the atmosphere quite strange. There was a lot of pressure on the team at that moment.
"From sitting on the bench, there were boos coming early in the game. So many fans had travelled over that day and they were expecting us to get out of the blocks straight away.
"That is football and the pressure that comes with it. Us as players know that, and the players who were there that night will learn from that experience and hopefully we can get off to a better start.
"We know we've got to go over there and do the job and hopefully get some confidence for the game in Croatia next week."
Barry admitted the England players are ready to start playing competitive games again for the first time since the 3-2 home defeat by Croatia ended their hopes of qualifying for the Euro 2008 finals.
He added: "You can tell around the set-up that the lads are anxious to get going now. We've had five friendlies. There are lessons to be learnt there, but everyone knows this is where it all starts.
"It has been important we have had more time in building up to this match. We have gone through things more thoroughly which is going to help us.
"We've had a chance to look at previous games and what went right and wrong in those. There are lessons to be learnt and over the last two or three days the manager has put his points across and what he wants us to be doing going into the game.
"Is there a fear of failure in England camp? I don't think so. There is always that bit of worry. Any professional is wrong to go out without a little bit of fear.
"I think the camp is so positive that no-one is thinking about failure at this moment in time and that is very important."
