THE Three Lions are heading to the Euros with a snore rather than a roar.
Jon Dagur Thorsteinsson’s early strike gave Iceland a shock 1-0 Wembley win in England’s final warm-up game.
And on the night John Stones gave Gareth Southgate another injury scare in defence, perhaps only two men can truly be happy with their last performance ahead of the tournament in Germany.
Here’s how the Lions rated as centre-back Marc Guehi and midfielder Kobbie Mainoo did their best to play their way into the line-up for the Eros opener against Serbia on June 16.
Aaron Ramsdale – 5
The Arsenal goalkeeper will surely have been disappointed to be beaten at his near post for the opening goal.
Apart from a couple of decent saves in the second half, he had little else to do and so little opportunity to prove that he would be a reliable back-up to Jordan Pickford.
Kyle Walker – 5
This was hardly the performance Gareth Southgate will have wanted or expected from the man who was supposed to be his most in-form defender.
Walker was caught up field and unable to recover in time to prevent the goal. He also delivered little going forward.
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John Stones – 5
The Manchester City man never looked totally right after twisting his ankle nastily early on and so it proved. Allowed Jon Dagur Thorsteinsson to cut inside and open the scoring. Taken off at half time in another unwelcome development for Southgate.
Marc Guehi – 7
The Crystal Palace centre half gave the most reassuring performance of all the starting defenders. He was good in the air, showed good anticipation and was composed on the ball. Guehi looked comfortable until he was smashed in the side of the head by the ball.
Kieran Trippier – 6
England’s first-choice left back by default was pretty good defensively but showed again how not having a left-footed player in the position restricts the team’s attacking impact.
His understanding with Newcastle team-mate Gordon was good, however.
Kobbie Mainoo – 7
The Manchester United wonderkid looked anything but an inexperienced teenager, particularly in the first half.
Mainoo was quietly impressive, doing the simple things well and remaining disciplined in his positioning. His attacking output was a little disappointing.
Declan Rice – 6
The Arsenal midfielder was as whole-hearted as ever, yet lacked the level of dynamism required to lift the team all on his own.
Rice did his defensive work soundly but had less impact at the other end, apart from one lovely pass to Cole Palmer and looked frustrated at times.
Cole Palmer – 6
The 22 year old showed why he scored and created so many goals for Chelsea but was let down by team-mates and by his own delivery and finishing.
Kane should have converted his lovely cross and he should have made more of two good chances early in the second half.
Phil Foden – 6
Everyone clamouring for the City star to be given a more central role got their wish.
Foden clearly enjoyed being the centre of attention in the No 10 position but for all his energy, he too often lacked end product, including an off-target shot early in the second half.
Anthony Gordon – 6
The Newcastle winger was thrilling and frustrating in almost equal measure.
He did some great approach work and was a regular outlet down the left. But all too often he wasted decent opportunities to find a final ball or test the Iceland goalkeeper.
Harry Kane – 5
The England captain’s horrible shinned volley summed up England’s lack of killer instinct in the final third.
Kane’s movement looked a bit laboured at times, which makes rumours of a back problem more worrying. It was his least effective game for some time.
SUBSTITUTES
Ezri Konsa (for Stones, half time) – 5
The Aston Villa defender looked solid until he and Guehi held a high line and Iceland almost scored a second goal. That seemed to unnerve him for a while and it wasn’t the last time it happened.
Trent Alexander-Arnold (for Walker, 64) – 6
The Liverpool star recovered well when yet another ball over the top caught out the England defence. He showed his potency with the dead ball and almost grabbed a stoppage-time leveller.
Joe Gomez (for Trippier, 64) – 6
The Liverpool man is yet another right-footed defender but did little wrong in his time on the pitch and actually crossed with his left foot once.
Ivan Toney (for Kane, 64) – 6
The striker was unfortunate to come on when Iceland were the better team, but he did some useful defending in his own box as well as sending a header over the bar at the other end
Bukayo Saka (for Gordon, 64) – 5
The Arsenal winger won a free kick in a dangerous position and had one tame shot, but otherwise made little impact, raising questions again about his level of fitness after a groin injury.
Eberechi Eze (for Palmer, 77) – 5
The Crystal Palace star was not given long to try to turn the game and was unable to do so as a worrying night at Wembley petered out into disappointing defeat.
NOT USED: Dean Henderson, Jordan Pickford, James Trafford, Jarell Quansah, Conor Gallagher, Ollie Watkins, Jarrod Bowen, Adam Wharton.
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