Why has Southgate not used Palmer or Gordon at Euro 2024? (2024)

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Where are Cole Palmer and Anthony Gordon? Of the seven attacking midfielders Gareth Southgate named in his Euro 2024 squad, only two have watched exclusively from the sidelines.

A pair who, last season, recorded 65 goal contributions between them. Palmer was Chelsea’s player of the year, Gordon the same at Newcastle.

Palmer arrived here fit and in form. Gordon a little less so given an end-of-season ankle knock, but it was his only injury of the entire campaign. If anything, he is said to have benefited from the rest.

So, why has Southgate not yet used either player, be it from the start or in the role of ‘finisher’, as the manager calls his substitutes? That was, we are told, the question being asked during the 1-1 draw with Denmark in the section of Deutsche Bank Park reserved for families and connections of the players.

England, by the admission of Southgate, have a problem with the ‘balance’ of the team. That is because Kieran Trippier is a right back at left back - unavoidable due to Luke Shaw’s injury - and Phil Fodendoes not want to play on the left wing, evidenced by what felt like a cry for help when he went in search of the ball and dribbled by opponents from every position bar the one in which he started.

Gordon, among that septet of players who can play in the three positions behind Harry Kane, is the only one who wants to start left and stay left. If England want to utilise the full pitch instead of the two-thirds in which they are currently tripping over each other, the solution is obvious. Play Gordon. At the very least bring him on when Plan A fails, as it has done before half-time in both matches so far.

At present, England’s XI has too many who are unfit, fatigued or out of position. It feels like a patchwork quilt of a team and they are smothering each other. By stretching the playing area, Gordon would give the likes of Foden and Jude Bellingham room to breathe.

Crucially, he presses, too. Foden cannot press from the left if he is not there, which he routinely isn’t. Meanwhile, on the opposite flank, Bukayo Saka is managing a lack of sharpness. He is playing in bursts, in moments, but off the ball his usual intensity is not there.

The replacement for the Arsenal winger in both games has been Jarrod Bowen. Why not Palmer, a player who out-scored and out-assisted Bowen last season? You would assume there was strategy to the changes, if not for the absence of strategy elsewhere.

Rather, it feels like England’s bumpy landing here in Germany is because there was turbulence behind the scenes all along. Maybe that warm-up defeat by Iceland was more informative than we ever imagined. Kane admitting to players not knowing when and how to press this week was astonishing, while Trippier fears their constant surrendering of the ball will be punished more against better teams.

And who knows what Palmer and Gordon think? You would hazard a guess at frustration and confusion, especially when Southgate’s bold decision to change the front three after 69 minutes against Denmark did not involve either of them. In fact, I can’t even recall seeing the pair be sent to warm up. They would have been bubbling inside, however, watching what played out.

In fairness to Bowen and Eberechi Eze, they were sent on to clean a s***show, and they too left the field stained by association with a performance as grubby as England have produced at a major tournament under Southgate.

So, where to now? Southgate should start by looking at two players who, inadvertently, he would have motivated this week. By keeping Palmer and Gordon in reserve, he can be sure they will be anything but reserved if given the chance to show why they can do it better.

The bar is not particularly high for improvement, but those two set a standard in the season gone that very few in the squad were able to clear over the course of a full campaign. It is what makes Southgate’s reluctance to use them all the more baffling. He cannot, you suspect, ignore them any longer.

GermanyCole PalmerGareth Southgate