Chelsea star Cole Palmer has been speaking following England’s 0-0 draw with Slovenia on Tuesday.
England have managed to top their group at Euro 2024 and make it to the knockout round of the competition.
However, Gareth Southgate’s men have been far from convincing in the tournament so far.
They won just one of their three group stage games and have only managed to score two goals.
Little blame can be put on Palmer, though, with the attacker having barely featured in Germany.
Cole Palmer’s honest assessment of England
While England have managed to get the job done, Palmer feels that the team should be playing much better.
Speaking to the Evening Standard and the rest of the English media after Tuesday night’s game, the 22-year-old said: “We know we can play better, everyone knows that.
“There’s no hiding it. Our aim was to qualify and finish top of the group and we’ve done that.
“We have levels to go. We’ve qualified from the group and it’s about kicking on now.”
Is Cole Palmer right?
This is an England team possessing Harry Kane, Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden and Bukayo Saka.
On paper, you will probably not find a better attack in Germany right now.
Palmer himself is obviously an exceptional attacker as well. His numbers from last season prove that.
For example, in 33 Premier League games for Chelsea, Palmer was able to come up with 33 goal contributions.
Southgate, then, has attacking quality everywhere: on the pitch and on the bench.
For the Three Lions to be performing how they have been is disappointing. It will now be interesting to see if Southgate changes things in the round of 16.
If he decides to, one change has to be the introduction of Palmer. After what the former Manchester City man managed to accomplish at Chelsea during the 2023/24 campaign, he deserves a shot in the team, even if it is an the expense of someone like Saka or Foden.
