England and Chelsea attacker Cole Palmer was heartbroken on Sunday when the Three Lions lost the Euro 2024 final against Spain.
Palmer’s goal in the second half had given England some hope that they would be able to break their 58-year-old trophy drought but a late winner from Mikel Oyarzabal stopped them from winning the trophy that they desperately needed.
The Chelsea attacker failed to start a single match in the tournament as Southgate used the prolific attacker from the bench.
Despite scoring 27 goals for Chelsea last season, he was not used properly by the England boss and that has initiated criticism from the fans and ex-players.
The youngster was still full of praise for Southgate after the match and told his teammates to focus on the positives.
In his post-match press conference, the England star told ITV, as reported by the Daily Mail:
‘We got to another final, there are positives to take,’
‘Obviously everyone wanted to go a step further, and we’re disappointed that we didn’t… [but] the World Cup’s in two years’ time, we need to remember this feeling and hopefully push on and try and win it.’
‘Spain have been brilliant all tournament, everyone has seen what they can do, so they’re a great team, congratulations to them,” he said, before conceding: “It hurts… I’m gutted.’
The young attacker praised his manager for taking the team to back to back finals despite not winning either of them.
‘Gareth’s been amazing for the group. He’s got the team to back-to-back finals, so it’s been good’ Palmer said.
Cole Palmer was underused by Gareth Southgate
It remains to be seen what the future holds for Southgate after yet another defeat in a big competition.
The talent he had at his disposal, he has failed to do justice to that.
The criticism on the 53-year-old has not stopped and many fans feel it is time for him to move on as the Three Lions need a more attack minded manager to make full use of the talent England have.
Southgate’s selection and tactics have been widely questioned after England’s second ‘golden generation’ failed to deliver a trophy.