Anthony Gordon impressed for England in their 3-2 defeat to Spain at Wembley, scoring a fine equaliser, but ITV pundit Roy Keane insisted the Barcelona forward must now become a 'main man' for the Three Lions.
The 25-year-old, who left Newcastle United in a £69million move to Barcelona in the summer, was England's biggest threat during his 69 minutes on the pitch. He had 40 touches and showed his confidence with a sublime back-heel to Jude Bellingham and a lung-busting run from his own half before calmly stroking the ball past Unai Simon to haul England level.
Gordon's performance was a far cry from his final visit to London as a Newcastle player back in May, when he sat as an unused substitute as the final touches of his move to Barcelona went through. By then, he had already conducted a farewell interview at Newcastle and internally everybody knew he was leaving for Spain.
Keane's challenge to Gordon
Despite his goal against Spain, Gordon could not escape criticism from Roy Keane, who said last night that Gordon must step up even more and make himself 'a main man' in the Three Lions set-up.
"Anthony Gordon is certainly full of confidence," Keane said. "He is maturing, and his confidence must be sky-high. He was excellent tonight. What defines you as a top player, is your end product. The talent is all there, but he has to become a main man as a player."
Gordon was left to reflect on being substituted by Thomas Tuchel, saying: "I'm always disappointed when I come off only just because I want to score more goals and be part of every part of the game. I want to get more assists and excite people who are watching me. Tonight I felt like it was maybe the right decision because I felt a bit tired. I'd done a lot of long distance running at high speed so tonight I have no complaints with the manager taking me off."
Newcastle's rushed sale
Gordon is clearly a player at the next level, and ironically his goal demonstrated he would be pretty much perfect for Matthias Jaissle's vertical football tactics, but the timings of the head coach arriving and Gordon being sold were completely out of synch. Newcastle loaned out Nick Woltemade to Juventus because they did not believe he could latch on to passes and break at speed like Gordon did last night.
With the benefit of hindsight, you could say Newcastle were too hasty in rushing through the England forward's sale to Barca, although they needed to make a quick sale to satisfy UEFA's SCR regulations.
Pressure on Tuchel
Gordon had also been controversially hooked in Atlanta as England lost the World Cup semi-final to Argentina after leading 1-0 thanks to his goal. It feels like England are not quite there yet in terms of an argument of being an elite world force, and this was further evidence as the pressure grows on Thomas Tuchel.
Tuchel got annoyed in his press conference when asked about England's record against the top sides and said: "When we win nobody brings it up, when we lose one people come up with statistics."
When the emotion dies down after the 3-2 defeat to Spain, Tuchel needs a result against Czechia and Gordon needs a big performance in Prague, but both are achievable.
