Bowen On England pressure and finding form ahead of must-win Slovenia game
Bowen On England pressure and finding form ahead of must-win Slovenia game
22/06/2024
Blankenhein, Germany
22/06/2024
Blankenhein, Germany
Category
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SportsTranscript
00:00Okay, good afternoon everyone and welcome to this press conference with Jarrod Bowen.
00:21As ever, if we can take a maximum of three questions each and we'll get around as many
00:24as we can.
00:25And once again, we'll have a little embargo section at the end.
00:27So Rob, get us underway.
00:28Hi Jarrod.
00:29Good to see you.
00:30Listen, you've featured in both of England's two opening games and when you look at the
00:35masses of wide attacking talent that there is in this squad, just how big a compliment
00:38is that for you?
00:39Yeah, it gives you a massive confidence boost as well.
00:43I think one of the main things, especially some of the experience that I just spoke about,
00:47is being ready for the opportunity because you never know when it's going to come.
00:51And for me, like I said, I think when we spoke before it was an honour to play for your country
00:56in the first place, but to do it at a major tournament as well is another thing.
01:01And the two games have been really good tests for me to come in and winning the first game
01:05to help defend the lead, try and make an impact.
01:09And I think that's the main thing you can do when coming off the bench, is bringing
01:12that energy that I know I can bring, that freshness, and also trying to make an impact
01:17in the later stages of the game.
01:19So for me, yeah, it's been a real confidence booster and to be in both of the games is
01:23a really proud moment for me as well.
01:25It feels like there's a lot of negativity around in the media and maybe with some of
01:29the England fans as well after those first two performances.
01:31Is that a bit harsh when you're still unbeaten?
01:34And I wonder what the mood's like in the camp?
01:36Yeah, no, the mood's really high and you're trying not to get involved in the outside
01:41world because what we've got is a real tight group, a real togetherness.
01:45And like you said, we're sat here with four points and it's probably the standards that
01:49we've set that it's not two wins, but it's still four points, we're still top of the
01:54group and we're still in control of our own destiny.
01:57And we go with Tuesday's game, win that, and then we're going into the knockouts.
02:02But there's a lot to get to that win, they're really good sides, a lot of respect to them.
02:09And I think every game is so different, it's my first tournament, but the teams that you
02:13come up against all pose different threats and Serbia were very direct, had a lot of
02:19crosses in the box, and Denmark were a lot more technical, I thought.
02:23But again, I guess that's tournament football, and the teams were really good opposition,
02:28so we know Tuesday will be a difficult game, but we know what we have to do and we're calm
02:32about it.
02:33We're not sat here with two games, two losses, bottom of the group, we're, like I said, still
02:37in a really good position, so looking forward to the game Tuesday, I think.
02:42The manager said that the squad generally has some fitness issues, and two vital players
02:47in Duke Bellingham and Harry Kane seem to be struggling a little bit.
02:51How worried should we be about where those two are at right now?
02:53No, I wouldn't be worried.
02:56You're coming off the back of a really big season.
03:00The games that we've had are quite, I think it was four days after the Serbia game that
03:04we played the other night as well.
03:07So I think it's challenging for everyone.
03:09I think everyone was out on their feet, especially after the second game as well, that quick
03:13turnaround of the games, and like I said, that's when it's important that everyone's
03:16ready for their opportunity, because you never know when it's going to come, and everyone's
03:20in a good place.
03:23They're just running a lot, so probably tired, but no, everyone's in a good place, and I
03:28feel like everyone's ready when needed.
03:31Jarrod Hite, Henry Winter, that was your 50th game for club and country the other night.
03:36You played more than 4,000 minutes this season, 69 hours.
03:40How have you kept so fresh physically and mentally?
03:43Probably the twins keeping me away from football, but no, I just enjoy playing football, know
03:49what works for my body in terms of recovery.
03:51I've probably been more disappointed this season, I've had a couple of little knocks
03:55that have stopped me for a couple of games, so I could have played more, and for me it's,
04:00of course playing football is difficult, but you're doing something that you love, so for
04:02me it's just, I want to play every game that I can.
04:06So getting myself ready, knowing what works for my body through my career that I've done,
04:11and yeah, just always been available for the games, but like I said, probably more disappointed
04:15that I've missed a couple through little injuries.
04:18Just looking at the other games out here, there's a lot of high-intensity pressing from
04:21the teams that are doing well.
04:23Can you sort of explain how England press, because it has been a bit of a debate?
04:27Yeah, no, I think it's, you know, the games that we've had, especially the first game,
04:34Serbia were, like I said before, very direct, went forward and we knew that if we maybe
04:39stepped on a bit too much, the second ball we'd leave ourselves open in the middle of
04:43the pitch, so I think it's finding the right balance, and I think in games we've done
04:48â Dec Dunne won the other day when he won the ball back on the edge of the box, and
04:51it's just finding the right moments and the right balance to go, because like I said,
04:56it's challenging to press for 90 minutes, I don't think any team can do that, but it's
05:00picking the moments, and as soon as you win the ball back a couple of times, high up the
05:04pitch, the opposition will then, you know, they might go longer, or they might think
05:08again about trying to play out from the back when you get that success from it, but not
05:12all the time you're not going to get success, but it's about sticking with it, and when
05:16we do win the ball back in the dangerous positions like we've done the other night.
05:20Hi Jarrod, Faye from Talk Sport, are you okay?
05:23Good, thank you.
05:24Good.
05:25Suggestions from both Declan Rice and Gareth Southgate that maybe some of the players are
05:29almost trying too hard and care too much, do you see that?
05:34I think it's difficult to say care too much, because you're playing for a country at a
05:38tournament, of course you want to put everything into the game, but I think it's important
05:41to find that balance of, yes you want to be hyped up for the game, but not too much where
05:45your emotions can boil over, and not the other end of the spectrum where you're too
05:50calm and too chilled on the pitch, so I think it's about finding that balance in terms of
05:56being calm, being ready, and I think we've got that in the changing room a lot, and I
06:01think the first game was, we put everything into that to win that game, I think we spoke
06:05about it in the build-up of that, winning that first game, getting off to a good start,
06:08and we wanted to win the second game as well, of course we did, but in the end we took the
06:14point, and like I said it's all for Tuesday now, we're in a really good position, I've
06:20been a fan of England, it's my first major tournament, I remember watching the last Euros
06:24and the World Cup, we were sat with four points after two games, so it's the same position
06:28as before, it's calm minds around the camp, players have been here longer than some players,
06:35know what it takes, and I think the main message is we're calm, we're ready, and we look forward
06:41to the challenge on Tuesday.
06:42What's your message to the fans, because there does seem to be a bit of a split, obviously
06:46the performances haven't been how you would have wanted them, and everybody has come out
06:49and said we can do better than this, there's a split between the fans who are being reasonable,
06:53saying top of the group and four points, and the others saying this is not good enough,
06:57but what message do you have for them?
06:58No listen, I get it as well, because you want to win the games and you want to be in the
07:03best position possible, but sometimes it's not as easy as that, and the support here
07:08is, like I said before, it's my first tournament, so it's my first time seeing England at a
07:13major tournament with the fans and the following that it is, and for me it's one of the best,
07:18and yes we're disappointed that we haven't won the game, but I think like I said before
07:22those are the standards that we've set, we want to win these games, we want to win as
07:24many games as possible, but it's not given to you as easy as that, there's always a process
07:30that goes into the game, the build-up, getting to the game and then dealing with the game
07:34when we get there, so I think it's probably just a mix of that we've set such high standards
07:40that we don't expect to win every game, because I think that's a bit of an arrogance, but
07:45we're always confident in our own ability to win, but our message to the fans is keep
07:50sticking with it, keep showing the support that you have done, because for me to experience
07:54it has been incredible, so for me it's stick with it and we'll see you on Tuesday.
08:00One final question, just wondering from a psychological point of view, the mentality
08:05has been brought into question a couple of times, especially with a lot of the younger
08:08players and I understand that there is no specific psychologist in camp, so how do you
08:14make sure, what do you do at West Ham versus what you do in England, do you need somebody
08:19to bring that balance that you talked about?
08:22No, because I think the balance that we've got, like I said there's some players, myself
08:26included, it's their first major tournament and you've got players that have done five
08:29or six, so it's a real good balance and you go through challenges every week at your club
08:34level, yes it's for your country and it may be different, but for me it's still the same
08:40challenges with opposition, to build up to games, the pressure of it, but I think we've
08:46been playing long enough now to understand what it takes and what it takes to play for
08:51your country and represent your country at a major tournament, so for me the guys that
08:56have been here a longer time have been really supportive of that and if you ever need a
09:01conversation you can always have a quick conversation, but like I said we've been players playing
09:06at the highest level, so you know what it takes to win, I feel like we're a team of
09:12winners and we want to win and we really want to achieve something, so like I said it's
09:17finding that balance of having players that have experienced it, to maybe help the players
09:22that haven't experienced it before, but I think it's a really good balance to have as
09:26well.
09:27Hi, I'm Davide with Gazetta in Italy, you mentioned this is your first tournament, I'm
09:33curious what have you learned so far about the experience, how much the experience is
09:39making you better?
09:40No, I've just enjoyed every minute of it and I'll continue to keep enjoying it, like I
09:45said before to play for your country, just getting one cut was something and then to
09:49do it in front of the England fans, England away, was really special, so for me it's learning
09:57every day, every day we're on the training pitch, like I said before every opposition
10:00has a different game plan, there's different challenges that go into the game, so for me
10:07it's of course I've enjoyed it, I think you've got to enjoy it with your first tournament,
10:10but you've also got to be ready when your opportunity comes, when you step foot on the
10:15pitch.
10:16Did you expect to have this massive pressure of trying to win over and over again and how
10:22are you handling it?
10:25I think as a player you want to win every game that you play, for me I've done that
10:29since I was four years old and I started playing football and I'm still the same person now,
10:33still got that winning mentality of wanting to win and when you play for your club level
10:37you want to win, you want to get as many points as possible in your domestic league, so for
10:42me I don't think it's pressure in that way, I think you want to take it on head first,
10:48you want to take that responsibility on, you want to take that honour to play for your
10:51country, so for me it's just taking it on.
10:54You obviously have a different role with England than with West Ham, you're a starter at West
10:58Ham back out so far here, how do you prepare for games if you do something differently?
11:03I just prepare exactly the same, I've always done it, even at West Ham when I haven't started
11:09the game I still prepare as if I'm playing the game, because if you do come on the pitch
11:14you have to be ready and you have to have your preparation exactly the same, so for
11:16me that's what has worked for me, so that's what I'll keep doing moving forward.
11:23Hi Gerard, the manager's talked about some of the players who haven't been to a tournament
11:31before maybe being surprised by just the level of scrutiny around the team, it's obviously
11:35as you say your first tournament, how have you found it?
11:39Like I said before I try not to get caught up in the outside world, that's the same at
11:44my club level as well, I think there's scrutiny at club level as well when you play and I
11:49think as a player if you want to be a winner, if you want to achieve things I think you
11:54have to shut yourself away from that and focus on what you have in the group and I think
11:58that's the main message for us as players, we know what we have as a group and of course
12:05football is a game of opinions, we know there's going to be highs, there's going to be lows
12:10but it's about sticking together for every single moment, there's going to be disappointment
12:15along the way but like I said at the start we're calm, we've got a real good togetherness
12:20and for me it's just I'm focused every day on the training pitch, learning and then when
12:27it comes to a game day if I can get on to the pitch it's about trying to make an impact
12:31and playing the football that I know I can do so for me that's my mindset of dealing
12:36with the scrutiny if you say.
12:37So you sort of come off social media completely do you?
12:40No I'm not off, I haven't deleted my socials but I'm on there but I've got friends, I've
12:44got family on there, of course I think you can get caught up, if you want to look for
12:49things you can look for things but for me I don't want to look for things so I'm not
12:53going to look for things.
12:54Do you sort of encourage some of the other players to maybe do the same, just ignore
12:57it for a month?
12:58Yeah but I think we're not sat next to each other on our phones, we try to be a little
13:02bit more sociable than that but I think every player's different, every player's got a way
13:08of doing it and of course if it's affecting them then you can say listen there's no point
13:12looking at that but like I said you don't fully know if people are looking all day every
13:18day you don't know that but if it was me saying to the lads I'd say just try and stay away
13:24from it, stay on the right mindset for what we want to achieve in this tournament.
13:29And how bad was the pitch the other day, I mean without sort of making excuses it looked
13:33pretty bad to play.
13:34Yeah I thought I broke my ankle the first two minutes when I came on but yeah it was
13:38definitely difficult, you know it's not an excuse in the slightest but it was something
13:43that I think Walks had a couple in the first ten minutes where you could kind of see the
13:48chunks of grounds coming up, a bit like bad divots if you're at a bad golf shot, it was
13:53a bit like that.
13:55So yeah it was difficult and I think the roof was closed as well because of the weather
14:00which made it a lot more hotter in there as well.
14:04But those are the things that get forced to you sometimes, you play the conditions of
14:09the pitches, it's still a great stadium, great pitch, just the other day it was probably
14:14cutting up a little bit more than what we've probably experienced from the first game before
14:19that.
14:20But yeah I wouldn't want to use that as an excuse for the game.
14:24What happened with your ankle, did you turn on it?
14:26Yeah I just, probably running a bit too fast with my brain and tried to turn around and
14:31just kind of got my foot stuck and I thought oh no I'm in trouble here but luckily got
14:35away with it.
14:36But it was just one of those pitches that you can kind of get your foot caught in the
14:41grounds and it'll come up against you but luckily I survived.
14:44Psychologically that must be quite difficult though, you just come on and then within two
14:47minutes you think, hang on this surface, I can't trust it.
14:50Yeah no it definitely makes you think, you're not sprinting, you're going to slow down a
14:54little bit before you get to the target where you are but yeah it was certainly a welcomer
14:59to the game for me to sprint after the ball and yeah nearly twist my ankle out of place
15:05but like I said all good.
15:07Thank you.
15:08Thanks James.
15:09Gerry Lawson, then Eric.
15:10Hi Jared, I've got a mic in my gate, good luck on Tuesday, we've seen Danny in the crowd
15:16giving you great support.
15:17Could you just talk about the support she gives you and what does she tell you, does
15:22she give you any instructions or is it just a bit of love?
15:26Yeah no I mean she's not telling me tactically what to do, she hasn't got a clue but no Danny,
15:31my mum, my dad, my sister, my brother, my two mates have all been out here and like
15:36I said it's my first tournament so for them to come and see me representing my country
15:41at a major tournament is for them probably the pinnacle.
15:47Danny's been great with travelling in and out, back home to Germany, back again, getting
15:53back late, I'm sure everyone's heard the story of my dad in the camper van so he's doing
15:59all the hours up the, I don't know if they're motorways in Germany, I don't know if that's
16:03the right word, but driving up there, the four of them, so all of them that have come
16:07out have been really supportive but yeah like I said no tactical info from Danny.
16:11Has he turned up in the camper van at the hotel?
16:15What my hotel?
16:16No I can't get close to that, no he's just been, I don't know where he's been to be honest,
16:21he just kind of parks it up somewhere, I said take the England flags down just in case the
16:25windows might get put through if the wrong fans come across it, but no it's definitely
16:30been, they've enjoyed it, it's been long days for them but with four of them they can all
16:34kind of drive along the way and take turns in driving.
16:38I think my brother fell out by the time they were five minutes up the road so you can imagine
16:43they've got, I don't know how many hours and they've already fallen out so, but no like
16:48I said it's for me representing my country at a tournament and for them to come and do
16:53it that way, the way they're doing it is really special for them as well.
16:57And what about father-in-law, he's not known for a man to resist a tackle on his TV and
17:03Hollywood career, massive England fan, what advice has he given you about the tournament
17:08and specifically perhaps about Tuesday?
17:11No, again no kind of advice, that's not the kind of route that people close to me go down,
17:17it's just more enjoy it, do what you've been doing and play with a smile on your face and
17:23that's been the same thing, always gives me a message of good luck before a game which
17:27is really nice and I don't know if he's coming out to the games or not, I'm not sure what
17:31his schedule's doing, hopefully he's not on the pitch, I see him two-foot someone the
17:36other day in Soccer Aid, but no, like I said nothing in terms of advice, not how to play
17:43football but in terms of the game, it's just more good luck and enjoy the game and that's
17:48him and my whole family as well.
17:50Thanks very much.
17:51Thanks Eric, best of luck to Eric and then we'll go to Pierre.
17:55Hi Jarrod, Eric does build Germany, so how important will it be for England to finish
18:00top of the group to avoid a possible clash against Germany in the round of 16?
18:06It'll be good for the spectators I'm sure, but no we know what we have to do, we're kind
18:12of in control of the destiny of the group and every game that we play we want to win,
18:17it's not about trying to avoid teams, to be the best and to be winners you have to beat
18:22the best, so for us it's wanting to win every game, so the game Tuesday we go there wanting
18:26to win that game of course, I don't think it would be ever in our mindset to say we're
18:31playing for a draw, for us we're like I said before a group of winners, I truly believe
18:37that, and we go to Tuesday with a mindset to win the game and then the knockout stage
18:43football takes care of itself who you play against.
18:45Can you say something about the atmosphere here in Germany, are you satisfied with it?
18:50Yeah, very satisfied with the atmosphere, I think it's really good, the Denmark game
18:56the other day all their red t-shirts behind the goal, it was some spectacle, and obviously
19:01the England fans away travelling as well have been loud as anything, so yeah it's been a
19:06really good atmosphere at the stadiums.
19:09Hello, I'm Pierre from French Football Equipe, just one question about your hotel, do you
19:18enjoy it?
19:19It looks a bit isolated and I was wondering to what extent does it help you to be far
19:24from the external noise and to focus on competition?
19:27Yeah, really important and that's what I think the managers try to do, try and keep it homely
19:34and then when it's down to the training pitches it's about this is work time and I kind of
19:38have that split of this is for your relaxation and chill out time and then when it's down
19:44to the training pitches it's work time, so that's been working really well for us and
19:48yeah it's been a lovely stay so far.
19:51I think there's one more in the live section at the back there.
19:53Hi, Jaro, from Spain, are you watching the rest of the tournament, which teams do you
20:01think are doing better, especially what do you think about the Spanish team and if Jude
20:07has told you something about it?
20:09Thank you.
20:10I thought you'd ask about Spain because they're doing so well, but no there's been lots of
20:15really good sides that have started really well, I think Germany and their country as
20:20well have started really well, there's a couple of underdogs that I've been really
20:24impressed with, Turkey played the other day and I thought that was Turkey against Georgia
20:28was just all out war and I thought it was brilliant to watch, so no there's been lots
20:33of teams that have started really well, but it's still early days, we're two days in,
20:38two games in sorry, so lots more opportunities for games to come up, but yeah of course Spain
20:44are doing well, I'm sure that's why you asked the question.