Ezri Konsa’s third position of the night was his first-choice role. He ended up at centre-back. He started off at right-back, while the two specialist right-backs in the England side, Kieran Trippier and Trent Alexander-Arnold, played on the left and in midfield respectively. When Konsa went forward at set-pieces, he earned a penalty that Cole Palmer scored, inadvertently denied Jarrod Bowen a goal and instead led to Harry Kane finding the net. And yet the most significant post of Konsa’s evening was another altogether, one where he is rarely seen: left-back.
Not because vast amounts happened to the Aston Villa defender in his 11-minute stint there. Simply the fact he moved there indicated an importance in Gareth Southgate’s planning.
With England’s lone bona fide left-back Luke Shaw injured and a doubt for Euro 2024, with Trippier looking the likeliest deputy, Konsa’s odd-job man status against Bosnia and Herzegovina was highly revealing. He could be an emergency left-back in Southgate’s planning. His chances of playing on the right are increased if Trippier and Alexander-Arnold are used elsewhere.
A newcomer has come to look very probable to take up a place in England’s eventual 26-man squad. Joe Gomez may have finished the game at left-back but despite rather more experience in a position he has played, and played well, for much of winter for Liverpool, he looks behind Konsa, another defensive jack of all trades.
“We weren’t intending to move him quite as much,” Southgate said. “We took Lewis [Dunk] off as a precaution and the best way was to put Ezri at centre-half, which I think is his strongest position anyway. That’s his third cap, he’s done very well in all three. That adaptability is helpful to us. He’s playing in a team that have had an extremely good season and he’s been a big part of that. He looks very confident in an England shirt.”
As Bosnia and Herzegovina were beaten, some of the clues lay not just in the performances, but the managerial choices.
With the absences of Jordan Henderson and Kalvin Phillips, Conor Gallagher had come to look a lock for the squad; there is a shortage of midfield workhorses. But his assignment in front of the back four at St James’ Park showed that, besides being a contender to partner Declan Rice, he looks first in line to deputise as the defensive midfielder if arguably England’s most indispensable player is absent.
“Conor Gallagher was an important performance for us, given how important Declan’s role is,” Southgate said. “We know what he can do without the ball but his work with the ball has improved. He played with real maturity.”
Then there was a midfield substitution. He had two uncapped alternatives in the 33-man training squad. Curtis Jones remained on the bench. On came Adam Wharton. “The biggest thing is to see a picture and play it forward early,” said Southgate. “That sounds really simple but that hasn’t been so simple over seven or eight years.” He had a similar decision to make in defence: of two uncapped centre-backs, it was Jarrad Branthwaite who got a debut, Jarell Quansah who must wait.
With one friendly to go, against Iceland on Friday, it seems likely that the Liverpool duo of Jones and Quansah could be two of the seven players trimmed when Southgate has to reduce 33 to 26. Their Anfield teammate Gomez seems a doubt, too: if Konsa is going, he may need Shaw to miss out. For Branthwaite, meanwhile, the ability of both Konsa and Gomez to play centre-back could be a concern. That Lewis Dunk started, despite two dismal games in March against Brazil and Belgium, indicated he retains a place in his manager’s plans.
Decisions come with difficulties for Southgate. “It is always going to be subjective and we have to balance what we need in every area of the pitch as well so that is the added complication,” he said. “It is not just getting the best individuals in. There is a positional element to that.”
The positions where he has most competition for places lie behind the striker, where Ollie Watkins looks Harry Kane’s understudy. There was a rationale to choosing Bowen, Palmer and Eberechi Eze ahead of James Maddison and Jack Grealish, giving the chances to men who have had fewer to see what they can do.
But Eze was the first player Southgate praised. “He played with that freedom and swagger,” the England manager said. Grealish came off the bench to cross for Alexander-Arnold’s goal. He reported early for this training camp. But when Southgate excluded Marcus Rashford, he said other players had enjoyed better seasons. Others, Eze and Palmer included, have done better than Grealish, too. With Anthony Gordon and Phil Foden options on the left, Grealish looks imperilled.
Southgate can be excited by the new. And if the cull from 33 to 26 could confirm the rise of Konsa, Eze and Wharton, the recent evidence is that it may be a painful affair for Grealish and Maddison, as well as some of the rookies.
