Jamie Carragher was probably braced for a heap of scorn, at the very least some stick on the radio phone-ins. His revelation in his autobiography that he consoled himself after England defeats by thinking, “At least it wasn't Liverpool,” was, his publishers must have hoped, likely to cause a bit of a storm.

Instead, we had Mark Perryman, from the England Fans' Group, saying that he “understood where someone like Carragher is coming from” and a bit of grumbling from Stan Collymore.

Admittedly we might all have been a bit distracted by the crazy goings-on at Manchester City and Newcastle United, but this was a remarkably meek reaction to a player disclosing that, less than an hour after a fateful penalty in a World Cup quarter-final, he was texting mates: “I would rather miss for England than LFC.”

The lack of outrage presumably tells us that Carragher was not slapping a shocking revelation on the table, but telling us what we already know: England is not the be-all and end-all, even for the most committed professionals. “Carra” was passing on the truth, however uncomfortable.

Perhaps it is more true now than ever given that England are rebuilding from the bottom, having failed to qualify for the Euro 2008 finals. It would be unfair to generalise and there is little doubt that David Beckham is desperate to extend his international career, John Terry to make his mark as captain and Jermain Defoe eager to seize his opportunity, but when the players drove up to the team hotel this week, we know that they also harboured anxiety and thoughts of, “Here we go again.”

In the midst of what was meant to be a bullish address yesterday, Terry admitted that a bad pass for England inhibited even the most experienced internationals the way that it would never do playing for Chelsea. There must come a time when such tensions wear down even the stoutest of patriots. Even the irrepressible Jimmy Bullard seemed a bit flat at this week's press conference. “You are all too worried about your marks in the newspaper,” Fabio Capello told his squad last month.

Referring to Carragher's comments yesterday, the England manager said: “If they do not have the heart for the national team, stay home.” Stay home is precisely what Carragher elected to do, standing down from international duty before he was 30.

Paul Scholes bowed out four years ago and is determined to stay retired, even though Capello has asked him more than once to return. There is at least one member of the present squad who has seriously considered bowing out, but has changed his mind as long as he is in the starting XI.

The worry is that more may follow unless England's fortunes pick up, given the contrast between the adulation (and victories) that many of these players enjoy for their clubs and the expectation that weighs them down in an international shirt.

“When England play Croatia next week, I would think that the result would mean more to the Croatians than the England players - apart maybe from people like Jimmy Bullard and Theo Walcott, whose careers are being boosted,” Perryman said. And he is cheerleader for the England cause.

In Carragher's case, there is the Scouse factor. Civic pride in Liverpool has always been stronger than national loyalties. For the United players at the height of the club's dominance, and therefore unpopularity, there used to be the alienation of coming down to the old Wembley and being derided from the terraces as “Manc scum”. The worst of that has passed, but individual players, including Owen Hargreaves and Frank Lampard, have suffered as England's fortunes have dipped in recent seasons.

They would love to be successful in the national shirt, but, with ambitions of lifting a trophy looking more unrealistic than ever, how much joy do they take from playing for their country?

Yesterday Capello grabbed his sweatshirt and pointed to the Three Lions badge on his chest. “Pride in this,” he said. It was not the time to comment on the irony of this gesture being made by an Italian hired gun.