Jarrod Bowen has laughed off Gary Lineker’s assessment of England’s performance against Denmark as "s***" and believes Gareth Southgate's men will prove the doubters wrong.
“I didn’t know it was as strong as that,” smiled Bowen. “I thought his podcast might be a little bit more PG - but I wasn’t aware of that. They (Lineker and fellow pundits such as Alan Shearer) are more than entitled to speak about the games. They’ve played for their country, they’ve played at a high level.
“But there’s a lot of noise, a lot of uproar, as if we’re sitting here with two defeats and are bottom of the table. The reality is we’re top of the table with lots of confidence going into the last group game where we know we need to win.”
And Bowen, who came on for the last 20 minutes of the 1-1 draw with the Danes, also came to the defence of Harry Kane, who came in for particularly strong criticism from Lineker and Shearer. Bowen said: “We all know Harry’s quality, how many goals he has scored. He hit the bar against Serbia and scored again the other night.
“And it’s not just that. As a captain, as a person, as a leader, he’s one that has been at the highest level for so many years and scored so many goals. On the pitch, he is incredible and off the pitch, as a person and a leader, I can’t tell you how good he is.”
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Bowen also made a late appearance in the win over Serbia in England’s opening game but the West Ham attacker feared his Euro 2024 might be over soon after entering the fray against Denmark on a poor pitch in Frankfurt last Thursday.
Jarrod Bowen of England during the UEFA Euro 2024 match between Denmark and England (Bagu Blanco)He explained: “I thought I had broken my ankle in the first two minutes when I came on. It was definitely difficult. It’s not an excuse in the slightest but I think Walks (Kyle) had a couple in the first 10 minutes and you could see the chunks of ground coming up a bit like a bad divot if you hit a bad golf shot.
“I was probably running a bit too fast for my brain, turned around and got my foot stuck and I thought, ‘Oh no, I’m in trouble here’, but luckily I got away with it.”
Under David Moyes at West Ham, Bowen is accustomed to accusations that his team is too negative but, along with the rest of Southgate’s squad, he claims to be ignoring outside analysis of England’s performances so far.
Bowen went on: “You control what you want to see because it can affect your mood and put a negative spin on it when you’re actually sitting here after two games, undefeated and in a really good position. We know what we have and what we can do going forward. We know we can be better.
“But I think with a good side, if you’re not playing well you don’t lose the game. At West Ham, when we’ve had sticky spells when we’re not playing well, it’s about can we not lose the game. That’s the sign of a really good side because then once it all clicks you can go on to another level again.”
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