England's Mark Guehi on his personal development ahead of Slovakia
27/06/2024
Blankenhain, Germany
27/06/2024
Blankenhain, Germany
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00:00Good afternoon everyone and welcome to Blankenhain for this media conference with Mark Gay.
00:04As ever if we can keep it to three questions per person in the first instance and we'll have a
00:09short embargo section at the end as well. I think as ever Rob Dorsett you want to get us underway?
00:14Hi Mark good to see you. I know the players tend not to listen to us a lot in the media
00:19while the tournament's going on but that's a bit of a shame in your case because the vast
00:22majority of us in this room and the fans have been saying that we think you've been England's
00:26best and most consistent player so far. How nice is that to hear? How much are you enjoying the
00:31tournament? Good afternoon everyone. It's nice to hear. I don't think I'm
00:40I wouldn't say I'm the best player. I think there's been quite a few really good performances
00:44in my opinion but yeah I think I'm just really enjoying the tournament, enjoying being here
00:50you know just really grateful. When you see the way the defensive unit is performing
00:55one goal conceded in three I think you've restricted chances. Is it a bit strange from
00:59your perspective to hear a lot of the criticism and some of the booing from the fans?
01:05I don't think the team's too focused on that to be honest. I think
01:09we're just appreciative of those that have actually just come and supported the team
01:13in general to be honest. Like I said I think the camp's a very calm camp, quite relaxed and
01:18focused camp at the moment but yeah I think everyone's just just really focused on the
01:22next task at hand to be honest. Gareth has told the newspapers that he thinks he's maybe the
01:27reason for some of that negativity around the place with some of England's support in particular.
01:32I wonder if that's tough for you to hear because this is a manager who's given you your
01:38opportunity, brought you to your first major tournament. How important has he been for you?
01:41How important do you think he's been for England generally? He's been fantastic. I think if you
01:45look at his record, he speaks for himself. Everyone's behind the manager that's for sure.
01:52We've got a really close, tight-knit group just focused on the next game and I think
01:59everyone's just really appreciative of the manager, especially me. Him giving me my debut
02:04for England, him showing so much confidence in me. I'm really grateful and I'm sure the rest of
02:09the team is as well. What's it been like playing with John Stones and has Harry Maguire or anyone
02:18been in contact about your performances so far? No, I haven't spoke to Harry but I think me being here,
02:27Harry's played a big part in that. His consistent performances for our other
02:34tournaments, his help with me on the training pitches before, it's been amazing. I can't speak
02:42highly enough of him and John. Playing with John's a dream to be honest. He's a top professional,
02:47makes my life so much easier and I'm just following in his footsteps. It's been fantastic.
02:52Watching those players over the last few years, has that helped you step into the important role
02:57you have now? Yeah, 100%. Like I said before, just seeing them to the highest level playing
03:04consistently, playing really well, never letting their country down, I think it's paved the way
03:10for me and I think for so many others to come through in the future as well. Just to follow up
03:16on the kind of expectation there is from fans on the team, are you feeling that as players and do
03:22you think it will go up as you're on the perceived favourable side of the draw?
03:29About the draw, I think everyone's seen in this competition that I don't think there is a
03:32favourable side of the draw. Every team, every opponent that you come up against is really tough
03:37to play against but I think we just need to remain calm and I think that's the environment that we
03:44set ourselves. We put pressure on ourselves but it's a very calm and focused environment,
03:48I'd have to say, so we just need to continue focusing on one thing at a time really.
03:58England's defence is the most successful defence in the tournament so far, how proud are you of
04:04that, bearing in mind that was the focus coming into the tournament, that it was perhaps England's
04:08weakest link? I'd say I'm content because the job's not finished. It's important that we
04:16I'd say carry on building and that's testament to the entire team because we're not out there
04:22just playing by ourselves, it's the pressure from the front, it's the midfielders helping us,
04:27constant communication, so I think if we carry on building we'll be fine.
04:31Is that something that maybe the fans and critics outside maybe need to remember that actually
04:37defences tend to win tournaments and not necessarily the best attacking side?
04:43Yeah, I think it's a collective, being able to defend really well and if we're going to
04:50go far in this tournament your defence needs to be really strong, so I think the critics,
04:56I'm not aware of anything anyone says anyway, so I think as long as you carry on moving
05:03forward in the right direction we'll be okay. Just finally, how much has training stepped up
05:08now you're heading into the last 16? It has a lot, even from just the last game,
05:13the intensity has gone up, we put a lot of pressure on ourselves to keep high standards
05:18and I think it has to just remain at that level if we're going to carry on moving throughout
05:21this competition. Thanks very much. Hi Mark, you captained England at under 17s, under 21s and you
05:28were Palace captain at 21, what are your strengths? Are you just a natural leader, is it communication?
05:35I said this in another interview, I think my strengths are to be continued, I don't actually
05:43really know, I'd say I'm continuously developing everything at the moment, trying to just get
05:50better in every single department of my game, whether that is communication, whether that is
05:54distribution or defending, so I think hopefully in the future there's a few more bits to come
06:00from myself. You told the BBC that Thiago Silva and Didier Drogba were sort of role models for
06:06you, what were their strengths that appealed to you? I'd say resilience, both in their stories
06:13growing up, both in what they had to endure in their careers, in any professional career it's
06:18really difficult to make it to the top and for both of them I think that's for me one thing that
06:23stands out for sure. And given England's issues at left back, were you surprised that Tarek
06:28is not here? I would have loved T to be, I thought he's had an amazing season,
06:33very consistent in his performances, obviously it's a shame but I'm sure if he carries on
06:40as we've seen with so many England players that you definitely are able to get your chance.
06:44Thanks Henry, Jack Pitbrook. Hi Mark, you talked about John Stones earlier, obviously him and
06:50Karl Walker have been playing tournament football for England for about 10 years now,
06:54have they given you any particular pointers on how to get yourself through a tournament like this?
06:58Just to be yourself, I've relied I'd say on them as well as the whole team to be honest,
07:07we rely on each other but they've just told me just to be myself, to carry on doing what I'm doing
07:12and just to support one another I think that's mostly the important thing.
07:17And what's it like playing with Kyle Walker? Top, unbelievable player, his career shows what he's
07:24already done in the game but his tenacity, his leadership on the pitch really shows especially
07:29in tough moments so yeah he's an amazing player. The other day on TV he got called a cheat code
07:34because of how quick he is in helping you guys defend against the counter-attack,
07:38is that something that you appreciate? Yeah I think his pace definitely helps a lot in any
07:43situation but it's not just that, his reading of the game is fantastic, he's not just a one-trick
07:50pony, he's not someone I should just rely on in his pace but he's intelligent to the game,
07:54his position like I've said, so yeah he's a fantastic player and an even better person for sure.
08:02Mark, how much do you know about Slovakia? Because we thought for a long period it might be the
08:06Netherlands you were playing in the last 16, turns out it's Slovakia. Have you started looking at
08:10them specifically yet? We haven't done any team analysis on them but we all watch the games and
08:16we know they're a really good side, obviously coming I think it was third in the group they
08:20qualified but yeah they've got some really good players in their team, Lobotka being one,
08:26the obvious one from Napoli but a lot of good players. I think it's just going to be another
08:31tough opponent, tough challenge to deal with but it's important that we just have to be
08:36ready for those challenges and match whatever intensity they're going to bring.
08:40And I totally appreciate what you're saying about every team being a tough challenge and
08:44reputations haven't really counted for a lot in this tournament so far but you can understand
08:48the fans get quite excited when they see that France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium are all on the
08:54other side of the draw, you can't meet them until much later in the tournament. Does that build
08:59confidence? I think what builds confidence is togetherness, performances, the fact that we
09:06haven't lost a game yet which is really important, I think all the other things you can't really
09:10control, I think it's important that we just control what we can control and that's remaining
09:14calm, focused and dealing with whatever obstacles in front of us. And the manager has spent
09:21his entire England career really trying to build a togetherness and an atmosphere around the
09:25England camp which is great for you guys to go out and do your best, is that still there? Do you
09:29still sense that? Is there still a positivity in the camp because it's your first experience
09:34of course of a major tournament? Yeah I think you can see it every single day in the togetherness
09:38we show and we're playing darts or playing paddle or whatever activity it is and it shows
09:44out on the pitch, going through tough moments on the pitch, it all shows. I think credit like
09:49you say to the manager, credit to the senior players that have been there for so long that
09:53allow players like me that haven't had that experience at this level to come in and just
09:58feel like themselves. So yeah togetherness is definitely there. I'm just gonna ask one more
10:01about Anthony Gordon's chin. It came as a bit of a shock to us when we were doing live training
10:06earlier and we saw this big gash on his chin and he's got it all over his arms as well. What
10:10happened? Yeah he fell off his bike. Yeah boys went out on a bike ride. I actually wasn't there,
10:19I heard about it and so I was actually talking to him and wasn't really paying attention to him
10:24while I was talking to him, turned around and I saw you know the massive gash on his chin. But
10:29yeah he's okay, he's good but he just fell off his bike. Has it been a bit of a joke in camp?
10:34A little bit, a little bit. But yeah he's doing well, he's doing well now.
10:39I think that's part of the live section and actually you'll be hearing from Anthony Gordon
10:43tomorrow so you can ask more on that. We'll move on to the embargoed section.