England made it two wins in two games both by two goals in the Nations League as two Newcastle United players watched on from the bench.
Anthony Gordon played another 65 minutes for the Three Lions tonight as Lee Carsley made four changes to the line up that beat Ireland on Saturday.
Going up against Finland was the perfect opportunity for Carsley to experiment and hand out a couple of debuts, although he opted for just the one from the start, the diminutive Angel Gomes handed his first cap for England.
That meant Tino Livramento had to watch on from the bench, hoping to be called upon at some point.
That moment never came which begs the question, why bother calling him up if you were never going to use him? I get that the obvious answer is to get him acclimated to the England setup and all that jazz, but he's represented his country at U21 level, it's not exactly alien to him.
Tino could have stayed behind at Newcastle and worked with Eddie Howe on solidifying his place as first-choice right-back.
It just seems like a waste of Tino's time, much like going to Euro 2024 was a waste of time for Anthony Gordon.
Gordon looks to be a much more prominent feature in Lee Carsley's England side having started both Nations League games and looking very decent while out on the pitch. Although he was hooked on 77 minutes against Ireland and 65 minutes tonight without managing to rack up an assist or a goal, although not for the lack of trying.
The main thing for us Newcastle fans is that all three England boys, Gordon, Livramento and Nick Pope, are returning to Benton unscathed and Gordon is looking better and better with each game.
In fact, the difference between Gordon and his replacement tonight Eberechi Eze was night and day. Gordon looked much sharper than Eze who failed to do anything right in the 25 minutes he was on the pitch.
PL | GD | PTS | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
Liverpool
|
14 | 18 | 35 |
2 |
Chelsea
|
15 | 17 | 31 |
3 |
Arsenal
|
15 | 14 | 29 |
4 |
Manchester City
|
15 | 6 | 27 |
5 |
Nottingham Forest
|
15 | 1 | 25 |
6 |
Aston Villa
|
15 | 0 | 25 |
7 |
Brighton
|
15 | 3 | 24 |
8 |
Bournemouth
|
15 | 3 | 24 |
9 |
Brentford
|
15 | 3 | 23 |
10 |
Fulham
|
15 | 2 | 23 |
11 |
Tottenham Hotspur
|
15 | 12 | 20 |
12 |
Newcastle United
|
15 | -2 | 20 |
13 |
Manchester United
|
15 | 1 | 19 |
14 |
West Ham United
|
15 | -8 | 18 |
15 |
Everton
|
14 | -7 | 14 |
16 |
Leicester
|
15 | -9 | 14 |
17 |
Crystal Palace
|
15 | -6 | 13 |
18 |
Ipswich
|
15 | -13 | 9 |
19 |
Wolves
|
15 | -15 | 9 |
20 |
Southampton
|
15 | -20 | 5 |