Cole Palmer and Kobbie Mainoo are England’s new stars at Euro 2024

For all of the criticism of England in the group stages at Euro 2024, Gareth Southgate’s side were already through to the last 16 before Tuesday’s game against Slovenia – and just needed to finish off the job of topping their group.

It wasn’t achieved in convincing fashion, but here are the facts: England were unbeaten and topped the group with five points and two clean sheets – and it’s quite handy that we have avoided France, Spain, Portugal and host nation Germany in the other half of the draw.

I’m writing this on Tuesday evening, after England’s final group game, and I don’t yet know who our opponents will be on Sunday in Gelsenkirchen. As things stand, the Netherlands are among the nations we could play next.

That would no doubt prompt a pre-match rerun of our famous 4-1 win at Wembley during Euro 96, against a Guus Hiddink team that included Dennis Bergkamp. Alan Shearer and Teddy Sheringham scored two each for England in one of our best ever tournament performances, under the watchful eye of Terry Venables, one of England’s greatest-ever managers.

Whoever our last 16 opponents on Sunday are, we will already know who the winner of that game will play in the quarter-finals before kick-off, with Switzerland taking on Italy - the reigning champions and England’s conquerors in the final last time round - in Saturday’s first round of 16 game.

Will it be a chance for revenge against Italy in the last eight? Possibly, but the aim is very much one game at a time and, whoever England face on Sunday, we will almost certainly need to see a better display than we did for the first hour or so against Slovenia to make it that far.

England improved following the introduction of Cole Palmer on Tuesday, and I’m with the many England supporters who would like to see him start on Sunday. We looked flat before his introduction – and we looked a much better side with Palmer in it.

If England are to progress to the later stages of the competition, Palmer has a chance of emerging as our star man – and I also think Kobbie Mainoo deserves a start in our next game. The performance of the England side that finished Tuesday’s game was a step up compared to the display from the side that started the game.

Group stages and knockout games are different types of football, with different objectives. Yes, we would have all liked to have seen better performances in our first three games, scored lots of goals and won every game, but we topped our group. Mission accomplished.

It’s do-or-die time from now on though and, on a positive note, England do tend to perform better by the time the knockout games come around. It was a similar story at Italia 90 and Euro 96 – and Southgate’s England have a decent enough track record in their previous tournaments and talented enough players at this tournament to suggest that we can reach the final again.

If we achieve that, it remains to be seen if we can then go one better than last time and overcome Germany, France, Spain or Portugal to win the competition. Oh, and there’s always the possibility of a dreaded penalty shoot out or two, of course.

I managed to watch most of England’s game against Slovenia following a coaching session on Tuesday evening - and there is no let up in my schedule for the remainder of the tournament.

Our June group sessions have proved very popular, with 75 children involved. We’re adding more group sessions in July, as well as an Attacking Masterclass – designed to help attack-minded midfielders and forwards create and convert more chances.

I will also have some very exciting news about The Dave Kitson Academy in the coming weeks. We had a fantastic meeting with Paul at Voco hotel this week – watch this space for some exciting announcements that will follow on from that.

It’s fair to say that it’s been a hectic week of coaching sessions and meetings – following on from another fantastic event last weekend at Burghfield FC, where Matt, one of Burghfield’s coaches, broke the record in our fastest shot competition by registering a power drive of 67mph on our speed gun. Congratulations Matt!

Please feel free to get in touch to register your interest in our July group sessions and our Attacking Masterclass sessions. They are available for boys and girls of all ages.

All you need to do if you are interested in signing your child up for my July group sessions, one to one sessions, small group sessions, team coaching sessions, football parties, one of my talks, or my new Attacking Masterclass sessions, is to send an email to mark@davekitsonacademy.co.uk – and we’ll be in touch with more information, and can answer any questions you might have.