A game of hints and suggestions gave Gareth Southgate a few clues and plenty of encouragement thirteen days into England’s Euro campaign, but few concrete solutions.
The most intriguing part of the evening was the performance of Liverpool full-back Trent Alexander-Arnold, who finally got the chance to play in central midfield alongside Conor Gallagher and ultimately put in a man-of-the-match performance.
Like the majority of his teammates, Alexander-Arnold had a quiet first half, but the range of his passing was often breathtaking and he became increasingly influential. Time and time again, he played passes that unlocked Bosnia-Herzegovina’s defense.
A few minutes from time, Alexander-Arnold scored England’s second goal with a sublime volley to cap off a performance that claimed a starting place alongside Declan Rice in the match against Serbia in Gelsenkirchen on Sunday 16 June.
Much depends on where Southgate decides to play Jude Bellingham, who was absent last night after playing his part in winning the Champions League with Real Madrid at Wembley on Saturday.
Trent Alexander-Arnold made his case to be in Gareth Southgate’s starting XI at the European Championships later this month
The Liverpool star’s precise volley doubled England’s lead against Bosnia late at St James’ Park
Cole Palmer marked his full England debut in style with his first goal for the Three Lions
Harry Kane came off the bench to score England’s third goal and his 63rd for the Three Lions
If Bellingham starts for England in the tenth role he excelled in for Madrid, then there would be a strong argument for deploying a player with Alexander-Arnold’s passing range alongside Rice for the England back-four.
Eberechi Eze and Cole Palmer also impressed in the first half, but this was an England starting line-up with only two or three players – Jordan Pickford, Kieran Trippier and Alexander-Arnold – among those likely to start against Serbia.
Palmer completed the scoring for England with a penalty and a late goal from substitute Harry Kane.
England perhaps took the greatest satisfaction from the fact that none of their players were injured. That’s something to fear at this stage in the build-up to a major tournament, but other than that the result probably did more to boost Bosnia-Herzegovina’s confidence than England’s.
The visitors had lost their last four matches before this encounter, including a 4-1 thrashing against Luxembourg last November. For a team ranked below Northern Ireland, Uzbekistan and Jordan, this was something of a triumph.
The Saudi Arabian national team might have made St James’ Park its second home after the Gulf state bought Newcastle United, and there was plenty of regional loyalty, but it had been 19 years since England last played here, in a World Cup qualifier against Azerbaijan in 2005. .
England won that match ahead of a previous major tournament in Germany and last night a packed crowd pretended to make up for lost time before kick-off with a deafening roar at the end of the national anthems to greet an inexperienced England side. with six players with fewer than 10 international matches in the starting team.
Eberechi Eze staked his claim in the final 26-man squad and was England’s best player in the first half
England were missing a number of key players for the match. Pictured: (L-R) Anthony Gordon, Harry Maguire, Luke Shaw and Bukayo Saka
Gareth Southgate started with an experimental lineup for the friendly against the European side
Alexander-Arnold was on the ball straight away and delivered a delicate pass over the visiting defense into the path of Ollie Watkins, who cleared it away from him. Jordan Pickford set pulses racing in a different way, picking out a Bosnia-Herzegovina midfielder with his first pass.
Alexander-Arnold started well. He floated another ball wide to Eberechi Eze and then zipped a pass into the feet of Cole Palmer, who controlled the ball, turned and played it into Watkins, who got his shot away but couldn’t find the target.
The match then fell flat for twenty minutes and did not emerge from its stupor until Eze electrified the match with a ringing run from just inside the opposition half to the edge of the area, which ended with an Ezri Konsa shot that was saved by Nikola. Vasilj.
England were hardly irresistible, but they looked most threatening when Eze or Palmer had the ball. Too often they looked like a team exhausted at the end of another long season.
Five minutes before half time they were even lucky not to fall behind. Marc Guehi gave the ball away deep in the England half and when it fell to Haris Hajradinovic, his shot on goal was deflected wide of Alexander-Arnold’s ball.
The Liverpool man started the second half as he had started the first, curling a delightful ball over the Bosnia and Herzegovina backline into the path of Watkins. Watkins reached for it and swung his right foot at it, but couldn’t make contact.
Ezri Konsa was brought down in the penalty area shortly before the end, resulting in a penalty for the home team
Referee Rohit Saggi pointed to the spot after reviewing the melee in the penalty area, causing Konsa to hit the turf
Palmer maintained his perfect record from the penalty spot this season with the effort
The game was now flowing more fluidly and Jarrod Bowen raced away down the right and cut home a cross for Palmer, who turned inside only to see his shot from close range blocked by a defender. England had picked up the pace.
It felt like a breakthrough was on the horizon and 10 minutes after the break Konsa was dragged to the ground in a corner. After a VAR check, the Norwegian referee awarded a penalty and although the goalkeeper got a hand on it, Palmer coolly fired it into the bottom corner.
It was Palmer’s first goal for England and his last action of the match. The penalty was followed by a wave of substitutions. Kane, James Maddison, Jack Grealish, Jarrad Branthwaite and Adam Wharton all came on.
Kane’s presence inevitably increased the urgency of the attack. The England captain followed his usual shoot-on-sight policy, forcing a couple of saves from Vasilj as England looked for a second goal.
Alexander-Arnold unlocked the visitors’ defense with another raking crossfield pass that Grealish fed, but Grealish’s pass to Maddison was slightly overmatched and it cost England the chance for a second goal. Maddison could only direct a weak shot on target.
Kane showed no signs of easing up after a phenomenal debut season with Bayern Munich at club level
Southgate, who made his debut against Crystal Palace youngster Adam Wharton (right), has just one match left to assess his squad before whittling it down to 26 for the European Championship
Alexander-Arnold got the reward his play deserved five minutes from time when Grealish floated a ball through the area and the Liverpool player whipped it across goal with a sumptuous technique, allowing the ball to escape Vasilj’s right hand and into the far corner nestled.
Gallagher might have scored a third when he broke through, but his shot was well saved. England would not be denied, however, and a curling goalmouth ended with Kane forcing the ball over the line to add a pleasing gloss to the score.