Cole Palmer was the winner on a dreadful night for England… he’ll have one established star sweating over a starting place against Serbia, writes IAN LADYMAN

It was entirely appropriate that, as the final whistle blew on a gloomy evening for England, Trent Alexander Arnold turned to shoot the ball into an empty net in frustration and missed. This was a humiliating 95 minutes at Wembley for Gareth Southgate and his team, a night in which virtually nothing went right. It was in reality a defeat against a team ranked 72nd in the world that could have been tougher than it was.

What is Southgate doing about it? Well, he doesn’t panic for starters. This was a friendly match and there is a reason why teams play this before the tournaments start. These games are experimental and he must hope that this achievement does not prove to be ominous in terms of what lies ahead. If that’s the case, England might as well stay at home.

Beyond that, all Southgate can do is desperately search for positives. As he comes to terms with a terrible night for his back four and his backup goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale, he will at some point allow himself to look further upfield and at least find some encouraging questions to answer.

This was a night that will fuel Southgate’s critics. England will now head into the opening match of Euro 2024 against Serbia this Sunday, with those seeing Southgate as a coach holding back a talented group being heard a little more clearly than ever before. Bad results can cause that.

His team had one shot on target here. They played enterprising enough football in the first half, but Southgate’s changes made them worse, not better, in the second half. In the second period they played mostly blind alley football.

But despite a dismal performance, Gareth Southgate must try to look for positives

But in the middle of it all was Cole Palmer, the England side’s best over the course of two games against Bosnia and Iceland over the past five days. As England prepare to fly out on Monday, the young Chelsea forward has now reached the point where his football is asking if Southgate dares to leave him out.

Deep down, we’ve been thinking for a while that we know England’s top four for the opening match. Bukayo Saka, Jude Bellingham and Phil Foden from right to left with Harry Kane as number nine.

That remains the favorite and most likely combination. Southgate has chosen this side based on form, but in tournaments the England manager is strong in terms of familiarity, loyalty and experience.

Nevertheless, Saka’s half-hour here as a substitute was his first football since suffering a groin injury almost a month ago. Given the impressive nature of Palmer’s football in his absence, it’s fair to suggest that the debate over which of them starts next weekend is at least a live one.

Southgate won’t worry about it. Decent problem to have. Proven quality against a player who quickly gallops up the inside. And after a night in which the inconvenience of an Icelandic goal snowballed into something approaching a disastrous embarrassment for England, it is nowhere near the top of his priority list.

Cole Palmer’s recent performances in an England shirt are cause for optimism, to say the least

The Chelsea star’s form of late has seen him make a serious case against Serbia

Despite England’s wealth of talent, a well-disciplined Iceland proved impossible to break down

Nevertheless, the attacking options available to England over the next month are now very clear and it is remarkable to think that this time last year Palmer was a starter for Manchester City with just three Premier League starts to his name.

His rise at Chelsea and now at international level has been as unexpected as it has been sustainable.

The first surprise – in August and September – was that Palmer was such a natural Premier League player. The second – which became clear over time – was that he could maintain a consistent level. That was something that really should have been threatened by his relative youth, but also by the general chaos of Chelsea’s season.

But Palmer has already established himself as one of those players who doesn’t get too bogged down by stress or pressure, or by convention and perceived wisdom. He belongs to a new generation of English attacking players who simply run onto the pitch and play what is in front of him.

Here, for almost the entire time he was on the field, what was in front of him was a wall of electric blue. Iceland looked stunning in their striking kit and also scored a beautiful goal. Those of us who question England’s reliability when they don’t have the ball watched that particular play with our fingers in front of our eyes and it was not an isolated moment.

Harry Kane uncharacteristically squandered the hosts’ best chance to level at Wembley

The most striking indictment of England’s performance was that the game fell apart as the game progressed

Palmer was one of England’s better players in a poor first half against Bosnia and was worthy of a similar comment here. His outstanding contribution was an angled cross towards Kane.

The England captain made a perfect run off a defender’s shoulder and Palmer’s perfect pass found him. That was where the good news ended as Kane inexplicably smashed the ball over the crossbar from six yards out.

We expected England to win this match and the fact that they didn’t is a real concern. They got worse, not better, as they chased the game.

Saka, for what it’s worth, didn’t really impact matters during his half-hour as substitute and when Southgate manages to shake the rubble of this jumbled mess out of his head and look ahead to Germany, he make a decision to cross his front four.