Cole Palmer cameo a chink of light amid England gloom

COLOGNE – As the final whistle blew in Cologne on June 25, half the fans of the England team who topped their Euro 2024 group on five points had already left, while those backing the Slovenia side who scraped through in third were going ballistic along with their players.

Welcome to the world of England football, where a win and two draws and “controlling our own destiny”, according to proud captain Harry Kane, drew jeers and boos – and rightfully so.

The players went through a somewhat desultory “lap of honour”, making sure they stayed out of range of a handful of plastic beer glasses lobbed their way by disgruntled fans.

Meanwhile, Slovenia celebrated going through to the knockout stage of a major tournament for the first time following the 0-0 stalemate with England.

They finished identical with Denmark on points (three), goal difference (zero), goals scored (two), head-to-head record (1-1 draw) and disciplinary record (six yellow cards) in Group C, but safe as one of the best third-placed teams.

The Danes advanced as runners-up due to a higher European qualification ranking.

England manager Gareth Southgate, responsible for three lacklustre performances, said that he will bear the brunt of the criticism but made a plea for the fans to support his players.

“I’m not going to back away from it. The most important thing is the supporters stay with the team,” he insisted.

“I understand the narrative towards me and that’s better for the team than it being towards them. But it is creating an unusual environment to operate in. I’ve not seen any other team qualify and receive similar.”

The Three Lions were already guaranteed progress but there were no excuses for another laboured display, barely troubling Slovenia goalkeeper Jan Oblak all night.

They had 72 per cent possession and completed 694 passes compared to 208 from Slovenia, but very few of them caused their opponents any real concern.

With some of the best players from the best teams in the strongest leagues in the world, they struggled to string three passes together as they finished their three games against lower-ranked opponents with a tally of two goals.

They might point to the likes of the Netherlands, Italy, France and Belgium, who have also had problems getting past so-called lesser teams, but none of those teams have looked so consistently flat and disjointed.

Summing up a forgettable group stage was the fact that Cole Palmer, thrown on as a late substitute, was probably England’s best attacking force across three games, despite playing only 19 minutes.

The Chelsea midfielder immediately injected pace, energy and a willingness to try things, lifting the England fans back into full voice, even if it was temporary.

Southgate’s midfield conundrum remains unsolved though. He replaced Trent Alexander-Arnold – who was played out of position in the first place – with Conor Gallagher, but he was ineffective and removed at half-time for Kobbie Mainoo.

Before the game, former England midfielder Paul Scholes had questioned the choice and he turned out to be right, raising further questions about whether Southgate does know his best team.

Kane again appeared heavy-legged and Bukayo Saka, Phil Foden and Jude Bellingham also looked shadows of the players who were on fire for their clubs a few weeks ago.

Southgate, as always, found only the positives – in public at least.

“I thought we were much improved with the ball. We have created some good openings,” he said.

“We are not quite getting that break in front of goal. But we tried to win the game by the changes we made. We put attacking players on the pitch.”

Despite the gloom, England are unbeaten in their last 14 Euro group-stage matches and, though they could face a tough last-16 game against the Netherlands, their path to a second successive final looks a little less challenging after Austria surprisingly finished above France in their group.

“If you look at previous tournaments we have played our best football in the knockout rounds – look at the last Euro against Germany, Ukraine and Denmark, so for sure there is more to come,” Kane said.

“We can improve, we know that, but you have to enjoy these moments when you finish top.” AFP, REUTERS