Wayne Rooney has insisted England's players are thriving under new coach Fabio Capello and believes the Italian is getting the best out of the squad.

England go into their next two World Cup qualifiers, against Kazakhstan and Belarus, over the next week full of confidence having won 4-1 in Croatia.

It is already a far cry from Steve McClaren's reign, which resulted in the national team failing to qualify for Euro 2008. Capello has only been in charge for seven matches, but Rooney said: "I just feel Fabio's message is starting to get through. I don't know why but for three years we have probably not played as well as we wanted and not won as many games as we wanted.

"Something definitely was not right. Hopefully under Capello that will change. Meeting up this time is certainly different. Everyone is laughing and smiling and looking forward to the two games ahead."

Rooney also feels he is back to his best after making a sluggish start to the campaign. Both Capello and Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson expressed their concern that the striker was spending too much time trying to tackle.

He has since responded by scoring in his last three games for his club side as well as netting against Croatia.

Rooney added: "Maybe sometimes the criticism has been fair. I am self critical and watch all the games again.

"When I have not played well, I am disappointed and look for things to try to improve.

"As a centre-forward you do not want to be going too deep. But I also think it is natural to go looking for the ball if you are not getting it."