The England camp in recent years has seemed a great place to be, and that’s been the basis of the team’s success under Gareth Southgate.
It’s really reflected in the interviews and the content we get from the team. Today we’ve had another snippet from the camp – with Kyle Walker and John Stones revealing what they call Chelsea man Cole Palmer.
“Me and John [Stones] call him the sloth because he just moves so slow, but his body movement just takes you everywhere,” Walker explained to the England Youtube channel.
“The Sloth” is a pretty funny nickname, and pretty fitting. Without being harsh, he’s not the quickest upstairs either, so it’s fitting on a few levels. It’s not quite as cool as “Cold” Palmer though, of course.
A unique style of player
Palmer is indeed a fascinating player in that regard. He is indeed very slow for a modern day Premier League winger, both in terms of acceleration and top speed. He’s also not a tiny little agile player with a low centre of gravity who can swerve suddenly.
Yet he’s still able to beat people with ease, purely through his technique and his elegant disguise in his movements. Every time you think his lack of speed is going to get him into trouble, it actually ends up drawing in a defender who underestimates him, and soon find themselves left on their backside.
That’s partly why his sub appearances at the Euros for England have been so effective. He’s coming into games against slowing and tiring opposition, and his freshness really adds to his existing ability to beat a player.
There aren’t many people who know him better than Walker and Stones, they’ve trained against him for years at Man City, and now with England.
