Gareth Southgate responds to Gary Lineker’s latest comments amid England ‘***’ storm as Three Lions boss insists he only heard ‘one word’ of what the presenter from the BBC said
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- Three Lions boss Gareth Southgate hit back at BBC presenter’s comment
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Gareth Southgate says Gary Lineker’s comments are “not important” to him after captain Harry Kane hit back at the Match of the Day host.
Lineker called England’s performance in last week’s 1-1 draw with Denmark “s***”, and Kane responded by accusing him of doing it to promote his podcast.
Southgate was asked about the furore on the eve of England’s final group game against Slovenia here in Cologne and said: “I didn’t hear what he said. I heard a word. This is the world we live in.
“I’m not aware of it. It’s not important to me at all. What is important for me is to guide this group of players with confidence on the field of the tournament.
“We are a high-performance team and we have expectations and we fully understand that everything we do will be scrutinized. I’m very comfortable living this life. I don’t need to engage in any external relations, because I am my own biggest critic and I think our players are too.
Gareth Southgate says Gary Lineker’s criticism of England is ‘not important’ to him
Lineker described England as “shit” on his podcast “The Rest is Football”, which he hosts and is owned by Goalhanger, his production company.
“There is nothing to be gained by us listening to outside criticism. We know what we did well and we are very honest about it. We know where we need to improve and we are extremely honest about it. This is how you coach a team and improve your performance.
“Outside noise should not affect us. Performance is what we need to focus on. The results so far have almost propelled us into the next round. We are looking to win the group and achieve a better performance. There are some fundamentals about how we’ve played for a long time that we need to come back to.
Declan Rice sat next to the manager at the RheinEnergieStadion. He said the team was aware of outside feedback but was trying to focus on the positives.
“The guys (reporters) here were fair in what they said,” Rice said.
Declan Rice (right) echoed his manager’s thoughts during Monday’s press conference.
“Expectations about what people are going to say will be negative. I came to defend our top players, and as players you read stuff. It’s better to read a lot more positive things than negative ones.
“As a player, when I was captain at West Ham, I like to encourage and tell people that they can be the best player on the pitch. The more you feel that as a player, the more confident you go into the game. the field, and you will see it tomorrow evening.
Meanwhile, Southgate has confirmed that Luke Shaw is the only player unavailable for the match as he continues to recover from a hamstring injury.
