Scotland's interim coach Scott Johnson has stirred the pot with tongue-in-cheek comments about England's injury problems, saying: "That just leaves you with another 40,000 players to pick from, it's a sad story."
Johnson, who also referred to Scotland as "the poor little boy on the block", went on to say that his men are ready to upset the English in their Calcutta Cup showdown at Twickenham on February 2.
Farrell gave the Australian's comments short shrift though and said witheringly: "It is funny, isn't it? Very funny. Hilarious.
"We are saying plenty of things behind closed doors!" explained Farrell, who was also keen to stress that England aren't taking the Scots lightly.
"The last four games (between England and Scotland) have been won by an average of four points. That is the drop of a ball. It is because of the rivalry, the history. It's a big game for all concerned.
"Talking to a few of the Scots, they feel they let Andy Robinson down and so they have a point to prove to themselves.
"We have to get good at being consistent and not worrying about Scotland. Obviously they come into it but we feel we have got a few things going, we know what starts to make us tick.
"We have been very hard to beat. The scorelines have always been close when we have lost but consistently winning with a top performance is what we are after.
"We will be going all out to do that against Scotland. We still have to find that consistency and top-level performance."
England's injury concerns centre upon Manu Tuilagi, who is battling to overcome an ankle injury which ruled him out of Leicester's Heineken Cup win against Toulouse.
Key role
The England management are prepared to give Tuilagi until Tuesday to prove his fitness, such is his importance to the side - as evidenced with his key role in the victory over New Zealand.
Tuilagi scored one try and created two others in England's record 38-21 triumph on December 1 and Farrell said: "He has done unbelievably well for us.
"The physios are definitely not writing him off. They think he has a fighting chance but it would be unfair to leave it until the end of next week."
England spent Thursday working on different midfield combinations, with Jonathan Joseph or Billy Twelvetrees the likely alternatives for Tuilagi.
Farrell's call for consistency referred to England's desire to build on their victory over the All Blacks, which changed the public perception of the team after two frustrating defeats.
On Wednesday night, Ashes-winning captain Andrew Strauss and Jessica Ennis' coach Toni Minichiello addressed the England squad on dealing with expectation and emotion in order to deliver a top-class performance.
"It was really interesting," Farrell said.
"They have both been brilliant at dealing with expectation. We want to be world class going up to the World Cup, we want to be dealing with expectations. You don't want to hide away from it.
"The best thing about the New Zealand win was having no fear and still performing. That tells me these boys can deal with all sorts of predicaments."
Full-back rivals Alex Goode and Ben Foden have both been released to play for Saracens and Northampton respectively this weekend before returning to the England camp next week.
Source : http://www1.skysports.com/rugby-union/news/12321/8431947/England-coach-Andy-Farrell-keeps-cool-ahead-of-Calcutta-Cup-clash-with-Scotland
