It was not always a performance to leave the rest of Europe quaking in their boots. But as warm-up friendlies go, it eventually did the job for England even if took an hour and a VAR decision to get them going. Cole Palmer marked his first start for England with the all-important goal and his trademark celebration, rubbing his arms to warm himself because he was ice cold from the penalty spot.
After his outstanding and prolific season for Chelsea , Palmer might have given Gareth Southgate real food for thought. Palmer looks nailed-on to make the final 26-man squad but is in good enough form to apply some pressure to the starting line-up. Trent Alexander-Arnold got a spectacular second and, after a hit and miss first half, might just have passed his midfield audition.
Then Harry Kane rounded it off with a late third to make the scoreline look like something of a hammering when it felt more like a training exercise at times. As the game opened up, Alexander-Arnold sprayed the ball around and looks an option in deep midfield alongside Declan Rice by the time the tournament starts. But, in truth, we did not learn too much else other than this was the more experimental of the two warm-up friendlies while Iceland at Wembley on Friday night should provide a bigger send-off.
England boss Southgate might have hoped for a bit more from his players in what was a dull first half, although realistically this was a long way from the team which will start against Serbia in their opening Gro.