- Roy Keane revealed he is ‘always excited to watch’ one of England’s stars
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Roy Keane has named the one England player he is ‘always excited to watch’ after Gareth Southgate‘s men were held to a disappointing 0-0 draw by Slovenia on Tuesday night.
The result was enough to seal top spot in Group C for England, but they struggled to break down their stubborn opponents in Cologne.
On a night of few positives, Keane picked out a Three Lions star he believes has the ‘X-factor’.
‘The one I’m always excited to watch is [Cole] Palmer, he always has that X-factor,’ Keane told ITV.
‘I know we were wondering why he didn’t come on in that first or second game, but every time he gets the ball it looks like something is going to happen. There was certainly a bit more flow to their game the last 15 or 20 minutes.
‘They need to show more quality in the attacking areas, but I do love Palmer, I think he’s amazing.’
Palmer did not feature in England’s opening two games of the tournament, but finally got his opportunity for the final group game when he replaced Bukayo Saka with 20 minutes to go.
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He looked to get involved in the game straight away, and tested goalkeeper Jan Oblak with a late effort.
Keane praised Palmer for asking different questions of defenders, and suggested the Chelsea man will have given Southgate plenty to think about heading into England’s last-16 match on Sunday.
‘Would you want to mark Palmer?’ Keane asked. ‘You wouldn’t want to play against him. He’s so unpredictable, he can beat a man, go left or right. A lot of brilliant players affect the game, when he came on, you knew he was going to affect the game.
‘Every time he got it, we were looking at him. I’m hard to impress and I’m thinking “something is going to happen”. Every time he gets the ball you think something is going to happen.
‘He will think he should be in that starting XI. He won’t think “I’m learning and I’m glad to be here”. He will be looking at Gareth, like the big personalities do, thinking “get me out there”.