Gary Lineker responds to BBC controversy with England stars unhappy at Euro 2024 criticism - 'All you can do'
Gary Lineker has defended the BBC's coverage of England and insists his heavy criticism of the side isn't personal.
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Gary Lineker has defended the BBC's coverage of England and insists his heavy criticism of the side isn't personal.
The 63-year-old blasted the Three Lions after their 1-1 draw with Denmark on Thursday, dubbing their performance 's**t' after Harry Kane's early goal was chalked off by Morten Hjulmand.
Jarrod Bowen has since hit back at Lineker, expressing a belief his comments would be 'more PG'.
Given how England are undefeated at the competition, some feel Lineker - as well as fellow BBC pundits Micah Richards and Alan Shearer - are being overly negative.
Gary Lineker has defended the BBC's coverage of England and insists his heavy criticism of the side isn't personal.
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Yet Lineker has defended himself and insists none of the criticism is 'personal', while also saying he's 'telling the truth'.
“All you can do is call it how you see it and tell the truth," he said on The Rest is Football podcast.
"It doesn’t have to be personal. There are no personal attacks on anyone’s character, nobody has accused anyone of not trying because we know the players will be devastated by it."
In addition to responding to Lineker, Bowen was keen to remind everyone that England are top of their Euro 2024 group despite the scrutiny over their performances.
“I didn’t know it was as strong as that. I thought his podcast might be a little bit more ‘PG’,” he said.
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“For myself on socials, I only saw when I first got into the squad and there were a lot of eyebrows raised.
"For me that was one thing to go ‘Right, I’m not going to have a look any more’.
“They’re more than entitled to speak about the games. They’ve played for their country, they’ve played at a high level.
"It’s a major competition for our country. It’s got everyone speaking.
“We’re sat here with four points. There’s a lot of noise, a lot of uproar, as if we’re sat here with two defeats and bottom of the table.
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"But 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.”
England star Jordan Pickford also says everyone is behind Southgate and eager for the Three Lions to go all the way.
He also downplayed their draw with Denmark and said it will encourage higher standards for the group out in Germany.
“Everyone is behind the manager,” said Pickford.
“Everything we do in training and the meetings we have he delivers them brilliantly for us and gets us the right game plan.
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Gary Lineker's fellow BBC pundit Alan Shearer has also criticised England amid their unconvincing displays at Euro 2024
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"We weren’t perfect against Denmark, but that is a good feeling because we know we can improve.
"We know we have more to give in each game so to be on four points with a lot of improvement to come isn’t a bad feeling.
“The manager always says that you are going to have a rollercoaster in tournament football, there will be high days and low days, but we got a point against Denmark, we are top of the group and there is no panic.
"We have to enjoy the pressure, enjoy the pressure of the games.”
England star Jarrod Bowen has hit out at Gary Lineker amid his criticism of the team at Euro 2024
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England will return to Euro 2024 action on Thursday.
Southgate's side will face Slovenia, who have two points to their name so far.
Slovenia have drawn 1-1 with both Serbia and Denmark. Whether England can beat them, and officially confirm their place in the knockout stages of the tournament, remains to be seen.