England's Mark Guehi on his personal development ahead of Slovakia

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to Blankenheim for this media conference with Mark Gay. As ever, if we can keep it to three questions per person in the first instance and we'll have a short embargo section at the end as well. I think as ever, Rob Dorsett, you want to get us underway? Hey Mark, good to see you. Thank you. I know the plan. Players tend not to listen to us lot in the media while the tournament's going on, but that's a bit of a shame in your case because the vast majority of us in this room and and the fans have been saying that we think you're you've been England's best and most consistent player so far. How nice is that to hear? How much are you enjoying the tournament? Good afternoon, everyone. Yeah, it's nice to hear. It's nice to hear. I don't think I'm I want to say I'm the best player. I think there's been quite a few really good performances in my opinion. But yeah, I think I'm just really enjoying the tournament, enjoying being here, you know, just really grateful when you see the way the defence, the defensive unit is performing. One goal conceded in three. I think you've restricted chances. Is it a bit strange from your perspective to hear a lot of the criticism and and some of the booing from the fans? I don't think the the team's too too focused on that to be honest. I think we're just appreciative of those that have actually just come and supported the team in general to be honest, because I think the camp's very calm camp, quite relaxed and focused camp at the moment. But yeah, I think everyone's just just really focused on the next task at hand to be honest. Gareth has told the newspapers that he thinks he's maybe the reason for some of that negativity around the place with with some of the England support in particular. I wonder if I have if that's tough for you to hear because this is a manager who's given you your opportunity, brought you to your first major tournament. How important has he been for you? How important do you think he's been for England generally? He's been fantastic. I think if you look at his record speaks for itself. Everyone's behind the manager. That's that's for sure. We've got a really close, tight knit group just focused on, you know, the next game and, you know, I think everyone's just really appreciated with the manager especially, especially me, you know, him giving me my debut for England, him showing so, so much confidence in me. I'm I'm really grateful and I'm I'm sure the rest of the team is as well. Hi Mark. Alright, OK, good, thanks. What's it been like playing with John Stones and has Harry McGuire or anyone been in contact about your performances so far? No, I haven't spoke to Harry, but I think me being here, Harry's played a big part in that. You know, his constant consistent performances for our other other tournaments, his help with me on the training pitches before, you know, it's been amazing and can't speak highly enough of him and John playing with John's dreams, to be honest, he's top professional, makes my life so much easier and I'm just following in his footsteps. So you know, it's been it's fantastic watching those players over the last few years. Has that helped you do you think step into the important role you have now? Yeah, 100%. Like I said before, just seeing them to, you know, the the highest level, playing consistently, playing really well, never letting their country down, I think is, you know, it's paved the way for me and I think for so many of us to come for comfort in the future as well. Just to follow up on the the kind of expectation there is from fans on on the team. Are you feeling that as players and you think it will go up as you're on the perceived favourable side of the draw? About the draw, I think everyone's seen in this competition that I don't think there is a favourable side of the draw. You know, every team, every opponent that you come up against is really tough to play against. But I, I think we just need to to to remain calm. And that's, I think that's the environment that we set ourselves. We, we put pressure on ourselves, but it's a very calm and focused environment, I'd have to say. So we just need to continue focus on the one thing at a time, really. Can we go Faye and then to Henry? So sure, Alex, first one. Hi Mike, nice to see you. Hi. England's defence is the most successful defence in in the tournament so far. How proud are you of that, bearing in mind that was the focus coming into the tournament, that it was perhaps England's weakest link? I'd say I'm content because the job's not finished. It's important that we, I'd say, carry on building and that's testament to the entire team because we're not out there just playing by ourselves. You know, it's the pressure from the front, it's the midfielders helping us, constant communication. So I think if we carry on building, we'll be fine. It is that something that maybe that the fans and and critics outside maybe need to remember that actually defenses tend to win tournaments and and not necessarily the best attacking side. Yeah, I think, you know, it's it's a it's a collective, you know, being able to defend really well. And if we're going to go far in this tournament, you know, the defense needs to be really strong. So I think, you know, the critics are. I'm not aware of anything anyone says anyway. So, you know, I think as long as you carry on moving forward in the right direction, we'll we'll be OK. Just finally, how much has training stepped up now you're heading into the last 16? It has a lot, even from just the last game, the intensity's gone up. We put a lot of pressure on ourselves to keep high standards and I think it has to just remain at that level for winner Cara moving throughout this competition. Thanks very much. Thanks. Hi, Mark, you, you captain England on the seventeens on the 20 ones and you were palace captain at at 21. What what what are your strengths? You're just a natural leader. Is it communication? I said this in an in another interview. I think my strengths are, you know, to be continued. I don't actually really know. I'm, I'd say I'm continuously like developing everything at the moment, trying to just get better in every single department of my game, whether that is communication or whether that is distribution or defending. So I think hopefully in the future there's there's a few more bits to come from myself. You told the BBC that Tiago Silva and TDA Drogba were, were sort of role models for you. What what, what were their strengths that appealed to you? I'd say resilience, both in their stories growing up, both in what they had to endure in their careers. In any professional career, it's really difficult to make it to the top. And for both of them. I think that's for me one thing that stands out for sure. Given England's issues that left back. Were you surprised that Tariq is not here? I would have loved T to be. I thought he's had a, you know, he's had an amazing season, very consistent in his performances. Obviously. It's a shame, but I'm sure if he carries on, as we've seen with so many England players, that you definitely are able to get your chance. Thanks, Henry. Jack Pitbrock. Hi Mark, you talked about John Stones earlier. Obviously him and Karl Walker have been playing tournament football for England for about 10 years now. Have they given you any particular pointers on how to get yourself through a tournament like this? Just to be yourself, you know, I've relied, I'd say on on them as well as the whole team, to be honest. We rely on each other. But they've just told me just to be myself, to carry on doing what I'm doing, you know, and just to just to support one another. I think that's this is mostly the important thing. And what's it like playing with Kyle Walker? Top unbelievable player. His career shows what he's already done in the game. But his tenacity, his leadership on the pitch really shows, especially in tough moments. So yeah, he's an amazing player. The other day on TV he got called a cheat code because of how quick he is in helping in helping you guys defend against the counter attack. Is that something that that you appreciate? Yeah, I think his pace definitely helps a lot in any situation. But it's not just that. His reading the game is fantastic. You know, he's not just a one trip pony. He's not someone that should just rely on on his pace, but his intelligence to the game's position, like I said. So he's a fantastic player and even better person for sure. Thanks Chef. Any question back to Rob. Mark, how, how much do you know about Slovakia? Because we thought for a long period it might be the Netherlands. You were playing in the last 16. Turns it out that it's Slovakia. Have you started looking at them specifically yet? We haven't done any team analysis on them, but we all watch the games and we know they're really good sides. Obviously coming. I think it was third in the group. They they qualified. But yeah, they've got some really good players in their team. Lebot Cobian won the obvious one from Napoli. But a lot of good players, you know, I think it's just going to be another tough, tough opponent, tough challenge to deal with. But it's important that we just have to be ready for those challenges and and match whatever intensity they're going to bring. And I totally appreciate what you're saying about every team being a tough challenge and and reputations haven't really counted for a lot in this tournament so far. But you can understand the fans get quite excited when they see that France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium are all on the other side of the draw. You can't meet them until much later in the tournament. Yeah. Does that build confidence? I think what builds confidence is togetherness, performances, the fact that we haven't lost the game yet, which is really important. I think all the other things you can't really control. I think it's important that we just control what we can control, and that's remaining calm, focused and dealing with whatever, you know, obstacles in front of us. And the manager has spent his his entire England career really trying to build a togetherness and and an atmosphere around the England camp, which is great for you guys to go out and do your best. Is that still there? Do you still sense that? Is there still a positivity in in in the camp that because it's your first experience, of course, of a major tournament? Yeah, I think you can see it every single day in the togetherness. We show them where, you know, playing darts or playing paddle or whatever activity it is. And it shows out on the pitch, you know, going through tough moments on the pitch. It all shows, I think, credit, like you said, to the manager, credit to to the senior players that have been there for so long that allow players like me that haven't had that experience at at this level to come in and just feel like themselves. So yeah, togetherness is definitely there. I'm just going to ask one more about Anthony Gordon's chin. It came as a bit of a shock to us when we were doing live training earlier and we saw this big gash on his chin and he's got it over his arms as well. What happened? Yeah, he fell off his bike. Yeah. Boys went out on a bike ride. I actually wasn't there. I heard about him. And so I was actually talking to him and wasn't really paying attention to him while I was talking to him. Turned around last saw, you know, the massive gash on shin. But yeah, he's OK, he's good. But he just fell off his back. He's has it been a bit of a joke in camp? A little bit, a little bit BA. He's he's doing well. He's doing well now. I think that's part of the live section. And actually, you'll be hearing from Anthony Gordon tomorrow, so you can ask more on that. We'll move on to the embargoed section. Yeah.