The shock in England's ranks runs so deep that Fabio Capello is refusing to rule out resigning if his team fail to beat Slovenia in Port Elizabeth on Wednesday, and crash out of a World Cup at the group stage for the first time since 1958.

Capello's position would be untenable anyway, but it is a measure of the England manager's bafflement at the team's feeble performances in draws against the USA and Algeria that he already declines to defend his position. "We have time to answer this question," he said. "I think the fear of the World Cup is in the minds of the players. It's incredible. The performance on one side is good [in training] but on the other they are not the same players."

Fear of failure is not confined to England, according to Arsène Wenger. The Arsenal manager said: "The biggest teams who have the highest level of expectation cannot express that talent yet. One reason is caution, fear of failure, response to huge demands. Basically, the big teams with high expectations play these first-round games just to get through. I don't think consciously but more for fear of failure.

"England came here with an expectation from everybody to win the World Cup. It's not easy to deal with that. They want so much to do well that they think they cannot fail."

Three weeks ago Capello exploited a power vacuum at the Football Association to remove a clause in his contract, which gave both sides a two-week window to sever their deal. But he is now 90 minutes away from leaving the job more ignominiously than Sven-Goran Eriksson, whose teams reached two World Cup quarter-finals.

Tensions between the players and coaching staff are now in the open, with the manager's clumsy handling of the goalkeeping issue the main cause. Told that Capello had said his players are unable to cope with the "pressure of the World Cup", David James paused and said caustically: "Did he?"

Others are said to be unimpressed with Capello's selections. Joe Cole, for instance, has yet to make it on to the pitch. Graham Taylor, the former England manager, said on BBC Radio 5 live: "I do now believe there's a real danger of England going out. There's something not right behind the scenes. I don't know what it is. I have an idea: I don't believe the proper preparatory work is being done. Look at the body language: something is wrong."

England's followers, who booed the team at the final whistle on Friday, will not want Capello to carry all the blame. Wayne Rooney is among a core of underperforming senior players, though he compounded matters with his comments about the travelling support's boos as he left the pitch. The striker issued an apology tonight, saying: "I am as passionate about the England team as anyone. Last night, on reflection I said things in the heat of the moment that came out of frustration at both our performance and the result.

"The most important thing now is to regroup, be positive and work towards winning the game on Wednesday. To do this the players will need the support of the fans more than ever. For my part I apologise for any offence caused by my actions at the end of the game."

Asked what he can do to revive this campaign, Capello said: "This is a good question, because I speak a lot with the players, we train and everything is perfect, but when we play the players are not the same."

Rooney, he insisted, is not carrying an injury: "Yes, yes, completely fit. He trains, he's training on the pitch for more time than the other players, he's perfect. The [team's] problem is in the mind. I want to see the spirit. I didn't see the spirit of this side."

Sir Trevor Brooking, the FA's head of football development, warned before the game of a talent gap between the seniors and European Championship-winning Under-17s. "World Cup 2014 will be difficult for England. I don't think there are the obvious quality ones coming through who can replicate what we have currently unless we can fast-track one or two of the younger ones," Brooking said. "You wait five years for them [the U-17s] to come through."

England do not have five years. They have 90 minutes against Slovenia.