Kobbie Mainoo insists that both he and Cole Palmer are ready to play key roles for England during the knockout stages of Euro 2024.
Both players had an impressive impact off the bench in Tuesday night’s frustrating stalemate with Slovenia that wrapped up Group C, Manchester United youngster Mainoo after being sent on at half-time in place of Conor Gallagher - whose job filling in following the failed Trent Alexander-Arnold midfield experiment lasted all of 45 minutes in Cologne - and Chelsea’s Player of the Season Palmer after earning his first taste of the tournament off the bench in place of Bukayo Saka for the final 20 minutes.
There will now be huge clamour for both players - particularly Mainoo - to be placed into the starting lineup for thoroughly underwhelming England’s next assignment, a last-16 tie against as-yet unknown opponents in Gelsenkirchen on Sunday evening.
And Mainoo insists that both he and Palmer are prepared to fulfil whatever role the under-fire Gareth Southgate demands of them at the European Championship moving forward.
“Me and Cole, we’re ready,” he told ITV. “Ready for whenever we’re called upon, like the rest of the lads are. We train hard and then when we get our chances we try and impress so we can start and try and help the team as much as possible.
“I love football and I love playing, anyone who is on the bench wants to come on the pitch.”
Discussing Palmer’s bright cameo specifically, Mainoo said: “Everyone knows he’s electric. We’ve seen in the Premier League what he can do and he’s continuing that. I’m sure he will continue to do it in the next rounds as well.
“One of the best in training every day, he never lets off the gas and he’s always trying to score goals, always trying to get better. Like the rest of the lads are as well.”
While England - already guaranteed to progress after Monday night’s results - strongly flattered to deceive once again against Slovenia, the point was still enough to see them top Group C after closest rivals Denmark drew 0-0 with Serbia in Munich.
Such a result saw the Three Lions - who finished on four points after also drawing with the Danes and beating Serbia - avoid a tough last-16 showdown with Germany in Dortmund on Saturday night, while they have also landed in a separate half of the knockout draw than the hosts plus fellow tournament contenders France, Spain and Portugal.
Captain Harry Kane and John Stones were among the players to admit that England definitely need to step it up moving forward, though both were at least happy to see them achieve their target of winning the group.
“The aim was to come top of the group to control our destiny and that's what we did,” Kane told ITV. “It was a tough game, we played a lot better than the other two games.
“All these games are going to be difficult. The final bit of quality, finish or pass. We created some half-chances and had one towards the end.
“The boys that came on did really well and that's what we need.
“These games are really tough. We've been here before and we step it up in the knockouts. Difficult challenge ahead but we have more than enough ability to keep pushing.”
Stones said: “The objective was to top the group and we've done that. It's not going to be easy when we've got a target on our back to beat us.
“It was an improvement from the other games, we tried to be more free-flowing. I believe it's another step in the right direction. I can understand fans’ frustration with us not scoring but we left it all out there.
“Credit to them (Palmer and Anthony Gordon), they made an impact, especially Cole who had some great chances for us.
“Not the result we wanted but I'm so pleased with topping the group. I'm a big believer in that we have got to beat whoever is in front of us, no matter who we play. We've got to step up when it counts.”
