Consolation prize is Eze proved he was here to stay

IN HIS £100,000-a-week gig, Thomas Tuchel has got three months to reflect on two matches that will probably not live in the memory of your average football watcher for much longer than three minutes.

- By Andy Dunn

If that.

The friendly with Senegal was livelier than the shambles of the Andorra match in Barcelona but as a staging post en route to the World Cup finals next summer, England’s performance hardly produced any serious nuggets of significance.

But there was one. Confirmation - not needed by many, to be fair - that Eberechi Eze, winning his 12th cap just shy of his 27th birthday, should now be considered a key member of this England squad.

He’s always had skill, but he showed an aspect to his game that has generally gone unnoticed. He put in the hard-pressing so treasured by elite managers, his unlikely capture of possession deep in Senegalese territory leading to the early Harry Kane opener.