Gareth Southgate clarifies why Cole Palmer was called up ahead of Raheem Sterling
Gareth Southgate, the manager of the England national team, has disclosed that he chose to include Chelsea’s Cole Palmer in the squad over his teammate Raheem Sterling.
This decision was made with the specific intention of observing the young player’s performance in the No.10 position.
In their latest squad, the Three Lions have introduced a trio of players without international experience, namely Cole Palmer, Rico Lewis, and Ezri Konsa.
This experimental selection stems from the unavailability of several more established players due to injuries. England is facing a particular shortage in the advanced central midfield position, as both Jude Bellingham and James Maddison had to withdraw.
Maddison sustained ankle ligament damage during Tottenham’s 4-1 defeat to Chelsea, while Bellingham is dealing with a shoulder problem that ruled him out of Real Madrid’s recent victory over Valencia.
Despite Raheem Sterling’s consistent presence in the England squad under Southgate for many years and his current good form, it appeared that he might be an obvious choice to bolster the team’s attacking prowess.
Surprisingly, Southgate chose to include the uncapped Cole Palmer instead. Southgate sees potential in Palmer to contribute in a central role, even though the player has primarily operated on the wing for Chelsea.
This decision signifies a tactical choice by the manager to explore Palmer’s capabilities in a different position within the team.
“In terms of Cole, the key was [we] lost Maddison and Jude so we wanted somebody who could play as a 10,” explained Southgate, who has not selected Sterling for the last five England camps since the World Cup last year.
“Of course, he’s playing wider at the moment for his club, but we hadn’t lost a winger as such, we’d lost two attacking midfield players.
“So we’ve got a couple of players now who can fulfil that sort of role for these games.
“Raheem was excellent at the weekend against [Manchester] City, as was Cole. But the position was the reason for [calling up] Cole really.”
Gareth Southgate faces a challenge in the left-back position as he lacks an established and natural player for the role in his squad. This gap arises due to injuries to Luke Shaw and Ben Chilwell.
Despite the absence of traditional left-back options, Southgate considers Rico Lewis as a potential candidate for the position, although he envisions Lewis’s long-term future in central midfield.
This decision underscores Southgate’s willingness to adapt and explore versatile players to address positional gaps within the team.
“With Rico, at the moment we just see a very good footballer,’ continued Southgate.
“So I think he’s probably happiest as an eight, talking to him, but he’s obviously played either full-back position. Quite often at Man City, that’s the full-back going into midfield.
“So he’s a young player we thought it would be good to have some time with us and we’d be able to get a feel of his attributes and we’d be able to work with him closely.”
Gareth Southgate clarifies why Cole Palmer was called up ahead of Raheem Sterling
