At full-time as the England players took an impromptu lap of honour in front of an enthusiastic north-east crowd, it was hard not to think again of the merits of taking international games around the country. If only the national team were not so wedded – emotionally and financially – to boring old Wembley.
On a late spring night with Neil Diamond’s ‘Sweet Caroline’ making a comeback to remind us of those exciting days of Euro 2020, there was a feelgood feeling about Gareth Southgate’s England that was not really in keeping with much of their actual football.
Some late energy and two goals at the death put a shine on an England performance that had been tepid for long periods. Southgate’s team improved as the night went on against opposition ranked at 74, one place behind Northern Ireland.
As Bosnia tired and England made big substitutions, this became an open game and the home team benefited from that. Conor Gallagher improved and had a good night on the whole in the centre of midfield.
Jarrod Bowen, hitherto invisible, started to enjoy himself too while Cole Palmer converted a typical nerveless penalty and Crystal Palace midfielder Adam Wharton had half an hour as a substitute during which he showed us exactly what Southgate had meant when he told us on Sunday how quickly and enthusiastically he likes to play the ball forwards.
Eberechi Eze staked his claim for inclusion in England’s Euro 2024 squad as he impressed
Eze’s performance will have given England manager Gareth Southgate a lot to think about
A bunch of positives there, then, and also three goals to fulfil a Newcastle crowd bolstered by enthusiastic families who simply do not get to see this kind of thing as often as they should. It had been nineteen years since England had played here and that just feels very wrong indeed.
But what of earlier in the night? What about the 45 minutes of this game that saw England play with all the energy and go-forward of a team emerging for pre-season rather than one supposed to be gearing up for what has been billed as one of the defining summers of their careers?
Southgate, of course, is currently carrying a squad of 33 players. That will be trimmed to 26 on Saturday, once his team have faced Iceland at Wembley the day before. This means a number of his players have some auditioning to do. Here, too many of what was a scratch team played as though they didn’t believe they were really in Southgate’s plans and that was disappointing.
It’s not always easy in these games. Bosnia were limited opposition, both in ability and outlook. It can be hard to impress when only one team has really come to play and engage.
But amid all the tepidness of the opening half, Crystal Palace’s versatile forward Eberechi Eze did stand out. It’s easy to do that when everybody is playing well. Attacking players often impress when given a platform. It’s harder when the game is flat and slow, however, and Eze’s eye-catching and determined contribution during that part of the night will have given Southgate most to think about ahead of Friday’s second game.
Eze, impressive for Palace over two or three seasons now, is a little unfortunate in that England are so well-stocked in wide positions. We know Bukayo Saka, Phil Foden and Jarrod Bowen will go to Germany next week, for example. And then there is Jack Grealish and James Maddison.
But the 25-year-old offered a dynamism and directness here that made him stand out. He got the crowd out of their seats with a number of darting runs. At times he injected life in to a game and an England performance when there was otherwise non.
Southgate, for all that he can be characterised by some as a negative coach, often talks about his fondness of players whose first instinct is to play forwards and Eze here placed a series of ticks in that particular box. Wharton did that, too, when he came on with half an hour left, albeit from a different position and in a different way.
With his directness and pace, Eze showed that he can provide England with a different option
On a night when others didn’t give the best account of themselves Eze managed to thrive
Another Palace player, midfielder Adam Wharton, impressed on his England debut
England’s depth in forward positions is quite something. In what was clearly a pre-planned move, Southgate made four substitutions on the hour and Harry Kane, Maddison and Grealish all came on at the same time. And that was without Saka and Foden who were not in the party for this game.
It was unfortunate for Eze that he was one of the players who made way at that point. England enjoyed themselves a little in the final half an hour and the Palace player would doubtless have benefited from the space that opened up.
Nevertheless, Southgate will have known exactly what he saw here. He saw a player keen to grab an opportunity, keen to take hold of a game and shape it. This Newcastle crowd enjoyed England’s visit. Eze, a boy moulded and finessed in the football cages of Greenwich in South London, revelled in the opportunity also.