The sight of Angel Gomes strutting his stuff on the Wembley turf was a slightly curious one: he was dwarfed by those around him, yet his influence was larger than most.
His first start for England was an assured one, and there is clear precedent for 5ft 6in midfielders imposing themselves as the metronomic figure that makes the national team sing. Paul Scholes, a Manchester United star when Gomes was progressing through their academy, was precisely the same height.
One lax header, allowing Finland a rare counter, was his only misstep. By the end of England’s 2-0 win, Gomes had completed 116 of his 124 passes, the first player to complete more than 100 on their first start for the Three Lions. No team-mate attempted or completed more.
His brief was a similarly selfless one to that which he carries out in Ligue 1 for Lille, collecting from the two centre-backs, pivoting and sliding shrewd but simple passes into team-mates.
The emergence of Gomes, who left United for France in 2020 in search of game-time, will have caught many off guard, but Lee Carsley is not one of them. England’s interim head coach made Gomes the conductor of his orchestra as his Under-21s won the Euros last summer. Now, in the space of a week, the 24-year-old has surely played his way into the senior team’s plans.
The question of who should partner Declan Rice in England’s midfield is much-asked but still unanswered. Gareth Southgate tried three different men there during the Euro 2024 group stage before settling on Kobbie Mainoo. At 19, he is a spectacular talent but struggled in England’s 2-0 win over Ireland on Saturday and offers different attributes from the cadence of Gomes.
Crystal Palace’s Adam Wharton, 20, was left out this month but will come back and is a long-term contender. Conor Gallagher, is the most experienced option and yet more of a midfield engine room than tempo-setter.
Finland are no Spain, of course, and wresting control of the biggest matches remains a hurdle to overcome. At times, Southgate looked to be easing the possession problem, but it is still so often why England fall short. Carsley sees Gomes as a potential antidote.
“He sees different things,” Carsley said. “The performance you’ve seen today we’ve seen over the last three or four years.”
The interim boss revealed this week that he handed Gomes his senior debut off the bench in Dublin because England had lost control. “He gets the ball, slows things down and gets you playing again,” he said. “He’s not massively physical, but technically he can control a game. If we’re going to win a major tournament, we need players who are multifunctional — and he’s in that bracket.
“Angel would be a good example of a child star that was always the best player and a No10 in all of his academy teams, right the way up. Then you get to the harsh reality of football. Him then going to have to forge a career is testament to him, because it’s not easy to go abroad.”
While England are blessed with a generation of untold depth in attacking positions, the same cannot be said further back. Through that lens, then, Rice’s partnership with Gomes feels the most satisfying revelation from the first chapter of Carsley’s England.
