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Jarrod Bowen laughed off Gary Lineker\u2019s coarse four-letter description of England\u2019s performance against Denmark as the optimistic forward urged fans to stick with the stuttering side.<\/p>\n
Having kicked off Euro 2024 with a hard-fought 1-0 win against Serbia, a disjointed display in Thursday\u2019s 1-1 draw with Denmark raised alarm and heaped pressure on the team.<\/p>\n
Fans booed at the final whistle in Frankfurt and pundits piled in on Gareth Southgate\u2019s men, including former England striker Lineker as he labelled the overall performance \u201cs***\u201d on his podcast.<\/p>\n
Bowen shuts himself off from such talk but believes ex-players can say what they like, with Lineker\u2019s blunt description of Thursday\u2019s performance put to him as preparations for Slovenia ramp up.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t know it was as strong as that \u2013 I thought his podcast might be a little bit more PG!\u201d he said to laughter in the press room in Blankenhain.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I wasn\u2019t aware of that. For myself on socials, I only saw when I first got into the squad and there were a lot of eyebrows raised. So, for me that was one thing to go, \u2018right, I\u2019m not going to have a look anymore\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t (know) he said that but again they\u2019re more than entitled to speak about the games.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve played for their country, they\u2019ve played at a high level, so they debrief and speak about the games. It\u2019s a major competition for our country. It\u2019s got everyone speaking.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, we know we can get to so many better levels in terms of quality.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I think the sign of a really good side is when you\u2019re not playing as well as you know you can be, you make sure you don\u2019t lose the game. We\u2019re sat here with four points.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of noise, a lot of uproar, as if we\u2019re sat here with two games, two defeats and bottom of the table.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut the reality is we\u2019re top of the table, lots of confidence going into the last group game where we know we need to win. We look forward to that challenge on Tuesday night.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite concerns over the performances, England sit top of Group C heading into Tuesday\u2019s final pool match against Slovenia in Cologne.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy message to the fans would be, \u2018keep sticking with it, keep showing the support you have\u2019 because for me to experience it has been incredible,\u201d Bowen said. \u201cStick with it and we\u2019ll see you on Tuesday.\u201d<\/p>\n
The West Ham forward says Southgate\u2019s messaging has been similar since the Denmark draw, maintaining a \u201ccalm mindset\u201d and focus on what needs tweaking.<\/p>\n
Bowen is certain improvements will come and dismissed suggestions the England boss is tactically negative \u2013 an accusation his former West Ham boss David Moyes also faced.<\/p>\n
\u201cBoth managers that I\u2019ve had have been really solid without the ball and I think that\u2019s the best thing,\u201d the forward said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you don\u2019t concede the goals with the quality that you have \u2013 and I\u2019m talking about West Ham and here as well \u2013 you know we can win the games.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I was at West Ham and I used to hear it, it was frustrating for me because they\u2019re two great managers as well as people and achieved so much.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like I\u2019ve achieved so much at West Ham and done quite well at England as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe frustrating is a bit too strong a word but I always thinks if you keep the ball out of your goal, you will have many more chances with the quality we have got going forward to win those games, so I don\u2019t think there\u2019s any harm in that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked if it is naive to say managers are negative and you should go all-out attack, Bowen added: \u201cYeah, when I was at West Ham it was always frustrating.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was kind of asking the question, \u2018do you want to try to win the game 6-5?\u2019 It might be good for spectators but for players it\u2019s not as nice.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always said it when David Moyes was manager as well, we were so good without the ball, and then the goals that we used to scored and the games we used to win from playing that way it worked so, for me, yeah, it\u2019s very naive I\u2019d say.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sign up to Miguel Delaney\u2019s Reading the Game newsletter sent straight to your inbox for freeSign up to Miguel\u2019s Delaney\u2019s free weekly newsletter Jarrod Bowen laughed off Gary Lineker\u2019s coarse four-letter description of England\u2019s performance against Denmark as the optimistic forward urged fans to stick with the stuttering side. Having kicked off Euro 2024 with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3343,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[173],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n