Kobbie Mainoo ‘ready’ for England’s Euro 2024 debut as he praises ‘electric’ Cole Palmer

Kobbie Mainoo insists he and Cole Palmer are ready to play key roles for England in the Euro 2024 knockout stages.

Both players made an impressive impact off the bench in Tuesday night’s frustrating match against Slovenia that closed Group C, with Manchester United youngster Mainoo after being sent on at half-time in place of Conor Gallagher – whose position replaced after the failure of Trent Alexander – Arnold’s midfield experiment lasted 45 minutes in Cologne – and Chelsea player of the season Palmer after having his first taste of the tournament on the bench in place of Bukayo Saka for the last 20 minutes.

There will now be a huge clamor for both players – particularly Mainoo – to be placed in the starting line-up for completely disappointing England’s next assignment, a last-16 tie against as-yet-unnamed opponents in Gelsenkirchen Sunday night.

And Mainoo insists he and Palmer are ready to fulfill the role that under-fire Gareth Southgate asks of them at the European Championship in future.

“Me and Cole are ready,” he told ITV. “Ready whenever we are called upon, like the rest of the guys. We train hard and when we get the chance we try to impress so we can start and try to help the team as much as possible.

“I love football and I love playing, everyone who is on the bench wants to get on the pitch.”

Speaking specifically about Palmer’s brilliant appearance, Mainoo said: “Everyone knows he’s electric. We have seen in the Premier League what he can do and he continues to do so. I’m sure he will continue to do this in the next few rounds as well.

“One of the best in training every day, he never takes his foot off the gas and he’s always trying to score goals, always trying to improve. Like the rest of the guys too.

While England – already assured of progress after Monday night’s results – were highly flattered to deceive once again against Slovenia, the point was still enough to see them top Group C after their closest rivals, Denmark, drew 0-0 against Serbia in Munich.

Such a result allowed the Three Lions – who finished with four points after also drawing the Danes and beating Serbia – to avoid a tough last-16 clash against Germany in Dortmund on Saturday evening, as They also landed in a separate half of the round of 16. draw as the hosts and other tournament contenders France, Spain and Portugal.

Captain Harry Kane and John Stones were among the players to admit England absolutely needed to step up, although both were at least happy to see them achieve their goal of winning the group.

“The aim was to take the lead and control our destiny and that’s what we did,” Kane told ITV. “It was a difficult match, we played much better than the other two matches.

“All these matches are going to be difficult. The last piece of quality, finish or succeed. We created a few half chances and had one towards the end.

“The boys who came in did very well and that’s what we need.

“These matches are really difficult. We’ve been here before and we step it up in the round of 16. A difficult challenge to overcome, but we have more than enough capacity to continue attacking.

Stones said: “The goal was to dominate the group and we did that. It’s not going to be easy when we have a target on our back to beat us.

“It was an improvement on other games, we tried to be smoother. I believe this is another step in the right direction. I can understand the fans’ frustration because we didn’t score, but we left everything behind.

“Thanks to them (Palmer and Anthony Gordon) they made an impact, especially Cole who had some great chances for us.

“It’s not the result we wanted, but I’m very happy to be at the top of the group. I firmly believe that we have to beat whoever is in front of us, no matter who we face. We must intervene when it counts.