McClaren's team launch their European Championship qualifying campaign against a country ranked 132nd in the world at Old Trafford on Saturday.

England started the McClaren era with a crushing 4-0 friendly win over European champions Greece earlier this month, a result which pleased Gerrard. But the Liverpool midfielder was disappointed the team failed to score in the second half after finding the net four times before the interval.

Gerrard is demanding England are much more ruthless against Andorra when the two countries meet for the first time at the weekend.

The tiny nation in the Pyrenees have recorded just three victories in their short 10-year history and lost all 28 matches in the qualifiers for Euro 2000, World Cup 2002 and Euro 2004.

"We should beat Andorra quite comfortably," said Gerrard, the England vice-captain. "We must show them respect and it would not be right for me to say we should beat them by a certain scoreline.

"But we've got to be ruthless. We have a lot of confidence after scoring four against the European champions. But if we're winning by three or four goals in the first half then we have to keep going after the break and try and score more.

"We must show people we mean business and finish them off."

Gerrard is determined England learn from their failure at this summer's World Cup under Sven Goran Eriksson and insists the team owe it to the fans to qualify for Euro 2008 without any scares.

They are favourites to progress in a group which also includes Macedonia, Estonia, Israel, Croatia and Russia.

"We must use the hurt and failure of the World Cup to drive us on," added Gerrard. "We struggled with some of our performances at the World Cup, but we now have a new coach and we are looking forward, not back."

Gerrard is backing his Liverpool teammate Peter Crouch to continue his eye-catching goal form for his country. The 6ft 7in striker has won over supporters who doubted his ability on the world stage by netting eight times in 12 internationals.

"I'm delighted for Peter," said Gerrard. "He is a player I appreciate playing with. I got a lot of my goals last season as a result of Peter. He's had to deal with a lot of criticism, but he has proved himself."