With a number of more experienced players out with injuries, the Three Lions have fielded an experimental squad that includes three players without caps: Rico Lewis, Ezri Konsa, and Palmer.

Since James Maddison and Jude Bellingham were both benched, England is severely weak in the attacking central midfield position.

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Nevertheless, Southgate decided to go with the untested Palmer, who has mostly played on the wing for Chelsea, because he thinks he can play centrally.

Southgate has not included Sterling in England’s roster for any of the five training camps since last year’s World Cup, but he said that the decision to bring Cole into the lineup was based on the need to replace Maddison and Jude.

Although his club is now using him in a more expansive role, we actually lost two attacking midfielders and not a winger.

We now have a couple of players that can step into that type of role throughout these games.

Cole and Raheem were both outstanding in the weekend’s match against Manchester City. However, Cole was actually called up for the post.

Due to the injuries to Luke Shaw and Ben Chilwell, Southgate is short-handed at left back. However, he has faith in Rico Lewis, who he sees more as a long-term option for central midfield.

“Ricо, right nоw, we’re just seeing а wоnderful fооtbаller,” Sоuthgаte went оn tо sаy.

From our conversations, I gather that he enjoys playing eights the most, but he has clearly been a fullback in the past. That fullback generally plays in the middle of the field for Manchester City.

Since he is still a young athlete, we figured it would be beneficial for him to spend time with us so that we could assess his skills and work closely with him.