England hooker Steve Thompson says the side has high standards to meet and has yet to reach them but believes there is no point playing your best at the this stage of the tournament.
Thompson (33) won a World Cup with England in Australia in 2003. He said there were parallels with that tournament and in what has happened with England so far in New Zealand this year.
"In 2003 we had exactly the same thing after the Samoan game. We came close to losing that one and we had to move on," he said.
"We've got to make sure we keep improving. Johnno [Martin Johnson] is the head coach and he has to go up there and say standards are not good enough.
And that is what he has done and all the players know that and we have said that ourselves. We've got high standards and we have got to get up to them again." The England team went through a review earlier this week. Thompson said though he had been through worse, everyone was honest.
"But this is what this group of players is about. The policy is stabbing in the belly, not in the back.
"Now we move forward and it's over, it's done.
"In tournaments there are ups and downs but we have got to make sure we keep on an upward peak as such. That is what it is all about in tournaments. There is no point playing your best game in the second game of the tournament. It about making sure you win those games. We are two from two and winning."
England scraped to a 13-9 win over Argentina and then was patchy in getting past Georgia 41-10 on Sunday.
But they were victories, which Thompson emphasised.
"It is all about winning games. Sometimes when you are winning games ugly and being harsh on yourself then that is the best place to be.'
"If you are playing games and just scraping wins or losing and playing to the best of your ability then that is when you have to worry. But we are not like that. We can improve a lot.
"The mood in the meeting was frustration, and a sense of perspective about where we are. Let's get ourselves better than we are and move forward in this tournament," he said.
"Sometimes everyone needs to give each other a pat on the back or a kick up the backside.
"Stop yourself being comfortable . . . it is like a relationship. Sometime you get a little bit stale. Sometimes you have to have a little bit of an argument and you have a make-up afterwards."
England trained in the sunshine yesterday in a public session at Carisbrook, attended by about 400 fans. The players signed autographs afterwards.