'Listen to England players when they talk about pressure'

It feels like everyone is talking about the mood inside the England camp right now.

Are the players feeling under pressure, and are the negative headlines about their performances so far affecting them before they play Slovenia on Tuesday?

From the outside, it's pretty intense - but it is just not like that on the inside when you are playing at a major tournament.

For starters, as I keep trying to stress, these guys play at the highest level all the time. They are used to scrutiny and people talking about them. There is always excitement, and there is always an over-exaggeration of things, good or bad.

So, there is no point them trying to block out the noise following their first two games at Euro 2024, because I just don't think that's possible these days - but I do think it's important they hear both sides of it.

I went to four major finals with England and played at three of them. Personally, I learned that the opinions of the people in my inner circle - and by that I mean my team-mates, the management, and my family and friends - are the ones that matter.

They were all incredibly important to how I felt during these situations, and the regular season too.

Everyone else? They were free to say whatever they wanted about me or the team. That's just life as a footballer, especially at the top, and you just have to accept it.

I was OK with it, and I'd imagine the boys now are pretty much the same. It certainly sounds like they are when I've heard them interviewed in the past couple of days.

I love how everyone is guessing about what is happening inside the camp when the players or Kelly Somers, who is the BBC reporter based there, are talking about it all the time.

The players are saying they are calm about everything, and Kelly has been speaking about how she is in and around it, and the atmosphere feels very relaxed.

So there is enough information there to actually get the real story of what is going on, but everyone wants to have an opinion about it instead.

When our players have been interviewed since the draw with Denmark, it is not as if they have come out saying "we were brilliant".

They have all been saying the same thing - that they know they can get better, but they are organised and focused and they are all behind each other.

That's exactly what I want them to be saying, but lots of people don't want to hear it.

I get that - it's a lot more fun speculating - but if you really want to know if the players are feeling the pressure, then just listen to them.

I have only just retired, so I am fresh out of the game and I still see the situation from their point of view, where I am pretty grounded and realistic about what I am expecting to feel, two games into this tournament.

In my BBC column before the Serbia game, I said we have to be OK about conceding goals without letting it affect our confidence - and exactly the same applies to us not playing as well as we can in our first two games.

The facts are we have got four points, we are top of our group and we are very close to qualifying for the last 16.

We also know there is a lot more to come from this team, but that is a positive, and I am certain we will see them improve as the tournament goes on.

I don’t buy into all the criticism the team are getting but I don't mind it because it shows people care, and I know they are frustrated because they are desperate for England to do well.

At the moment it's the frustrated people who are the noisiest, but that is not going to affect the environment inside the England camp. There are plenty of thing in place to make sure that remains positive, whatever is being said on the outside.

As I became a senior player, I got more and more involved in the leadership group in the England squad, which plays an important role when you are away for a long time at tournaments.

I was always getting put forward for things like that and it was a role I liked having. All sorts of personalities and mentalities make up any England squad and I wanted to help my team-mates because I wanted to get the best out of them.

Four or five of us would regularly speak to the manager and relay messages to and from other players about every aspect of the camp. Even the small things can make a big difference, and if you make a tiny bit of effort for someone who feels even slightly uncomfortable about something, it can go a long way.

Whether it is making arrangements around training or deciding where the squad will eat, these are the conversations you have to try to find different ways to help the players relax, without losing their focus.

So much changes during the course of a tournament, including players' emotions, but if everyone has got trust in each other then you can deal with anything together.

Things have become even more inclusive since Southgate took charge, and the support is always there if it is needed, which is another reason I am not worried about how the players are feeling now.

Joe Hart was speaking to BBC Sport's Chris Bevan in Berlin.