How shocked England players reacted to scathing criticism from Gary Lineker

Jarrod Bowen mocked Gary Lineker’s crude four-letter description of England’s performance against Denmark as the upbeat striker urged fans to stick to the stuttering side.

After kicking off Euro 2024 with a hard-fought 1-0 win over Serbia, a disjointed performance in Thursday’s 1-1 draw against Denmark rang alarm bells and put pressure on the team.

Supporters booed at the final whistle in Frankfurt and pundits rallied against Gareth Southgate’s men, including former England striker Lineker as he branded the overall performance “s***” on his podcast .

Bowen steers clear of such talk but believes former players can say whatever they want, with Lineker’s brutal description of Thursday’s performance presented to him as preparations for Slovenia gather pace .

“I didn’t know it was as strong as that – I thought his podcast might be a little more PG!” » he said with a laugh in the Blankenhain press room.

“But I wasn’t aware of it. For me, on social media, I only saw it when I first came into the team and there were a lot of raised eyebrows. So for me it was a, “well, I’m not going to look at it anymore” thing.

“I didn’t know he said that, but again, they have more than a right to talk about the games.

“They played for their country, they played at a high level, so they debrief and talk about the matches. It’s a major competition for our country. Everyone is talking.

“Yes, we know we can reach many higher levels in terms of quality.

“But I think the sign of a really good team is when you don’t play as well as you think you do, you make sure you don’t lose the game. We’re sitting here with four points.

“There is a lot of noise, a lot of uproar, as if we are sitting here with two games, two defeats and one bottom of the table.

“But the reality is we are top of the table, with a lot of confidence going into the final group game where we know we have to win. We are looking forward to that challenge on Tuesday night.

Despite concerns over performances, England sit top of Group C ahead of Tuesday’s final group match against Slovenia in Cologne.

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“My message to the fans would be, ‘keep sticking with it, keep showing the support that you have’ because for me, experiencing that has been incredible,” Bowen said. “Hang in there and we’ll see you on Tuesday.”

The West Ham striker says Southgate’s message has been similar since the Denmark draw, maintaining a “calm mindset” and focusing on what needs to be tweaked.

Bowen is certain improvements will come and dismissed suggestions the England boss is tactically negative – an accusation his former West Ham boss David Moyes also faced.

“Both managers I’ve had have been very solid without the ball and I think that’s the best thing,” the striker said.

“If you don’t concede goals with the quality you have – and I’m talking about West Ham and here too – you know we can win games.

“When I was at West Ham and I heard that, it was frustrating for me because they are two great managers as well as people who have achieved so much.

“I feel like I’ve achieved a lot at West Ham and done well in England as well.

“Maybe frustrating is a bit too strong a word, but I always think if you keep the ball out of your goal you’ll have a lot more chances with the quality we have to win these games, so I don’t don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.

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