Bowen urges fans to stick with England side for Euro 2024 success

It feels like there's a lot of negativity around in the media and, and, and maybe with some of the England fans as well after those first two performances. Is that a bit harsh when you've you're still unbeaten? And I wonder what the move's like in the camp. Yeah, no mood's mood's really high. And you know, you're trying not to get get involved in the outside world because you know, what we've got is a real tight group, a real togetherness. And like you said, we're we're sat here with four points and it's probably the standards that we've set that, you know, it's, it's not two wins, but it's still four points. We're still top of the group and we're still in control of our own destiny and we go with Tuesday's game, win that and then, you know, we're we're going into the to the knockouts, but you know, there's a lot to get to get to that win. You know, they're they're really good sides, A lot of respect to them. And I think every game is so different. You know, it's my first tournament, but you know, the teams that you come up against all pose different threats and you know, Serbia were very, you know, direct had a lot of crosses in the box and Denmark were a lot more technical, I thought. But again, it's I guess that's tournament football and the teams were really good opposition. So we know Tuesday would be a difficult game. But we know what we have to do and you know, we're calm about it. You know, we're not sat here with two games, two losses, bottom of the group. We're, like I said, still in a really good position. So looking forward to the game Tuesday. I think the manager said that the squad generally has some fitness issues and and two vital players in Duke Bellingham and Harry Kane seem to be struggling a little bit. How worried should we be about where those two are at right now? No, I wouldn't, I wouldn't be worried. You know, you're coming off the back of a really big season. The games that we've had are quite, I think it was four days after the Serbia game that we played the other night as well. So it's it's I think it's challenging for everyone. I think everyone was, you know, out on their feet, especially after the second game as well, that quick turn around of the games. And like I said, that's when it's important that everyone's ready for their opportunity because you never know. It's when it's going to come and, you know, everyone's in a in a good place. You know, they're just running a lot. So probably, probably tired, but no, everyone's in a good place and I feel like everyone's ready when needed. Just looking at the other games out here, there's a lot of high intensity pressing from the teams that are doing well. Can you sort of explain how England press because it has been a bit of a debate? Yeah, no, I think it's, you know, the games that we've had, especially the first game, Serbia were, you know, like I said before, very direct went forward and we knew that, you know, if we maybe stepped on a bit too much, you know, the second balls we leave ourselves open, you know, in the middle of the pitch. So, you know, I think it's finding the right balance. And I think in games we've done, Deck done one the other day when he won the ball back on the edge of the box. And it's just finding the right moments and the right the right balance to go because like I said, it's challenging to press for 90 minutes. I don't think any team can do that. But it's picking the moments. And as soon as you win the ball back a couple of times high up the pitch, the opposition will then, you know, they might go longer or, you know, they might think again about trying to play out from the back When you get that success from it, but you know, not all the time you're not going to get success, but it's about sticking with it. And you know, when we do win the ball back in the dangerous positions like we've done the other night. Hi Jared Fay from Talk Sport. You OK? Good, Thank you. Good suggestions from both Declan Rice and Gareth Southgate that maybe some of the players are almost trying too hard and care too much. Do do you see that? I think it's difficult to say care too much because, you know, you're playing for a country at A tournament. Of course you want to put everything into the game. But, you know, I think it's important to find that balance of, yes, you want to be hyped up for the game, but not too much where your emotions can kind of boil over. And then, you know, not the other end of the spectrum where, you know, you're too calm and and too chilled on the pitch. So I think it's about finding finding that balance in terms of being calm, being ready. And I think we've got that in the changing room a lot. And, you know, I think the first game was, you know, we put everything into that to win that game. I think we spoke about in the build up of that, winning that first game, getting off to a good start and now we wanted to to win the second game as well. Of course we did. But in the end, we we, we took the point and like I said, it's it's all for all for Tuesday. Now we're in a really good position. And you know, I've been a a fan of England. This is my first major tournament. I remember watching the last Euros in the World Cup. We were sat with four points after two games. So you know, it's not it's the same position as as before. It's, you know, calm, calm minds around the camp. You know, players have been here longer than than some players know what it takes and I think the main message is, you know, we're we're calm, we're ready and we look forward to the challenge on Tuesday. What's your message to the fans, 'cause there does seem to be a bit of a split. Obviously the performances haven't been how you would have wanted them and everybody has come out and said we can do better than this. The split between the fans who are being reasonable, saying top of the group and four points and the others saying this is not good enough. What what message do you have for them? No, listen, I, I, I get it as well, you know, because you want to you want to win the games and you want to be in the best position possible. But you know, sometimes it's it's not as easy as that. And you know, the support here is like I, like I said before, it's my first tournament. So it's my first time seeing, you know, England at a major tournament with the fans and the following that it is. And, you know, for me, it's, you know, one of the best. And yes, we're disappointed that we haven't won the game. But I think like I said before, those are the standards that we've set. We want to win these games. We want to win as many games as possible. But you know, it's not given to you as easy as that. There's always a process that goes into the game, you know, the build up, get into the game and then dealing with the game when we get there. So I think it's probably just a mix of that. We've set such high standards that, you know, it's not we don't expect to win every game. So I think that's, you know, a bit of an arrogance, but you know, we're always confident in our own ability to win. But our message will be fans with keep sticking with it, keep showing the support that you have done 'cause for me to experience it has been, you know, incredible. So for me is stick with it and we'll see you on Tuesday. Just one final question, just wondering from a psychological point of view, the mentality has been brought into question a a couple of times, especially with a lot of the younger players. And I understand that there is no specific psychologist in in camp. So how do you make sure, you know, what do you do at West Ham versus what you do at in England? Do you need somebody to to bring that balance that you talked about? No, because I think the balance that we've got, like I said, there's some players, myself included, it's their first major tournament. Then you've got players that have done five or six. So you know, it's a real, real good balance. And you know, you go through challenges every week at your club level. Yes, it's, you know, you know, for your country and it may be different, but for me it's, you know, still the same challenges with opposition to build up to games, the pressure of it. But I think player, we've been playing long enough now to understand what it takes and what it takes to play for your country and represent your country at a major tournament. So for me, the the guys that have been here a longer time have been really supportive of that. And you know, if you ever need a conversation and, you know, you can always have a quick conversation. But yeah, like I said, we've been players playing at the, you know, the highest level, so you know what it takes to win. You know, I feel like we're a team of winners and we we want a winner and really want to achieve something. So like I said, it's finding that balance of having players that have experienced it to maybe help the players that, you know, haven't experienced it before. But I think it's a really good balance balance to have as well. The managers talked about some of the players who haven't been to a tournament before maybe being surprised by just the level of scrutiny around the team. It's obviously, as you say, your first tournament. I mean, how have you found it? Like I said before, I don't, I try not to get caught up in the outside world and try. And you know, that's the same at my club level as well. I think there's scrutiny at club level as well when when you play. And I think as a player, if you want to be a winner, if you want to achieve things, I think you have to shut yourself away from that and focus what you have in the group. And I think that's that's the main message is, you know, for us as players is we know what we have as a, as a group. And of course, football is a game of opinions and we know there's going to be highs, there's going to be lows, but you know, it's about sticking together for every single moment. There's going to be disappointment along the way. But like I said at the start, you know, we're calm, we've got a real good togetherness. And for me, it's just I'm focused on every day on the training pitch, learning. And then when it comes to a game day, if I can get onto the pitch, it's about trying to make an impact and playing the football that I know I can do. So for me, that's my mindset of dealing with the scrutiny. If you say so, you sort of come off social media completely, do you? No, I'm not off Sorry, I haven't deleted my socials, but I'm on there. But it's, you know, I've got friends, I've got family on there. You know, of course it's, I think you can get caught up if you want to look for things, you can look for things. But for me, I don't want to look for things. So I'm not going to look for things. Do you sort of encourage some of the other players to maybe do the same? Just like, just ignore it for a month. Yeah, but I think you don't know. I'm not. We're not sat next to each other on our phones. We've tried to be a little bit more sociable than than that. But I think every player's different. Every player's got a way of doing it. And of of course, if you know it's affecting them, then you can say, listen, there's no point looking at that. But like I said, you don't fully know if people are looking all day every day. You don't know that. But you know, if it was me saying to the lads, I'd said just try and stay away from it, stay on the right, the right mindset for what we want to achieve in this tournament. And how bad was the pitch the other day? I mean, without sort of making excuses, it looked pretty bad to play. Yeah. I thought I broke my ankle with the 1st 2 minutes when I came on. But yeah, it was definitely difficult. You know, it's not, not not an excuse in the slightest. But, you know, it's something that I think walks had a couple in the 1st 10 minutes where he kind of see the chunks of grounds coming up be like bad divots if you're at a bad golf shot. It was a bit like that. So yeah, it was it was difficult. And I think the roof was closed as well because of the weather, which made it, you know, a lot more hotter in there as as well. But those are the things that you have to, you know, that get forced to you sometimes you you know, you play the conditions of the pitchers. You know, it's still a great stadium, great pitch. Just the other day it was probably cutting up a little bit more than what we've probably experienced from from the first game before that. But yeah, I wouldn't, I wouldn't want to use that as a, you know, an excuse for the for the game. What happened with your ankle? Was it did you turn on it? And you thought, yeah, I just probably running a bit too fast for my brain and tried to turn around and just kind of got my foot stuck. And I thought, oh, no, I'm in trouble here. But luckily got got away with it. But it was just one of those pictures that, you know, you can kind of get your get your foot caught in the in the ground and it'll come up against you. But luckily I survived psychologically. That must be quiet difficult, though. You just come on and then within two minutes you think, hang on this surface, can't trust it, you know? Yeah, no, it definitely makes you think, you know, you're not sprinting. You're going to slow down a little bit before you get to the target where you are. But yeah, it was a certainly a welcome out of the game for me to to Sprint after the ball and yeah, nearly twist my ankle out of place. But not like I said, all good. Thank you, Jerry Lawson and Eric. Hi, Jared. I've got a mic. Am I? Good luck on Tuesday. We've seen Danny in the crowd giving you great support. Could you just talk about the support she gives you? And what what is it? What? What does she tell you? Does she give you any instructions or is it just a bit of love? And yeah, no, I mean, she's not telling me tactically what to do. She ain't got a clue. But no, Danny, my mum, my dad, my sister, my brother, MY2 mates have all have all been out here. And like I said, it's my first tournament, so for them to come and, you know, see me representing my country at a major tournament is for them probably the pinnacle. So yeah, Dan is, Dan has been great with, you know, travelling in and out, back home to Germany, back again, getting back late. Obviously. I'm sure everyone's heard the story of my dad in the camper van. So he's doing all the hours up the. I don't know if they're motorways in Germany. I don't know if that's the right word, but driving up there, the four of them, So all of them that have come out have been, Yeah, really supportive. But yeah, like I said, no tactical info from Danny. Has he turned up in the camper van at the hotel? What? My hotel, Your hotel? No, I can't get close to that. No, he's just been, I don't know where he's been, to be honest. He just kind of parked it up somewhere. I said take the England flags down just in case it gets, you know, the windows might get put through if you, the wrong fans come across it. But no, it's definitely been, they've enjoyed it. It's been a long days for them. But with four of them, they can all kind of drive along the way and take turns in driving. I think my brother fell out by the time they were 5 minutes up the road. So you can imagine they've got I don't know how many hours and they've already fallen out. So. But no, it's like I said, it's for me representing my country at A tournament and for them to come and do it that way, the way they're doing it is really special for them as well. And what about father-in-law? He's not, he's not. He's not known for a man to to resist the tackle on his TV and the Hollywood career. Massive England fan. What advice has he given you about the tournament and specifically perhaps about Tuesday? No, no, again, no. No kind of advice. You know, that's not the kind of route that, you know, people close to me go down. It's just more, you know, enjoy it, do what you do, what you've been doing and play with a smile on your face. And that's been the same thing. Always gives me a message of good luck before a game, which is really nice. And I don't know if he's coming out to the games or not. I'm not sure what his schedule's doing. Hopefully he's not on the pitch. I see him 2 foot someone the other day in Soccer Aid, but nine like I said, nothing in terms of advice and you know how to not how to play football, but you know, in terms of the game, it's just more good luck and enjoy the game and that's, you know, him and my whole family as well. Thanks very much. Thank you. Thanks Jerry passed across to Eric and then we'll go Pierre. Hi, Jared. Eric Petersburg, Germany. So how important would it be for England to finish top of the group to avoid a possible clash against Germany in the round of 16? It'd be good for the the spectators, I'm sure. But now we know what, what we have to do. We, you know, we're kind of in control of the destiny of the group. And, you know, every game that we play, we want to win. It's not about, you know, trying to avoid teams, you know, to be the best and to be winners you have to you have to beat the best. So, you know, for us it's wanting to win every game. So the game Tuesday we go there wanting to win that game. Of course, you know, I don't think it would be every in our mindset, you know, say we're playing for a draw for us. We're, like I said before, a group of of winners. I truly believe that. And we go to Tuesday with the mindset to win the game and, you know, then the knockout stage football take care of itself. Who you play against. Can you say something about the atmosphere here in Germany? So are you satisfied? Yeah, no, very satisfied with the with the atmosphere. I think it's it's really good. You know, the Denmark game the other day or there, you know, red T-shirts behind the goal, it was some some spectacle and obviously the England fans as away travelling as well have been loud as anything. So yeah, it's been a really good atmosphere, as you know, at the stadiums.