Eberechi Eze Shines Bright for England Amid End-of-Season Slump
The beer mugs have not yet been flung. Tabloid editors haven't determined which root vegetable would look best on his face. Helicopters are not yet being dispatched to capture aerial footage of his home. We're surely at least two defeats away from our first World War II-themed front page.
However, in retrospect, this was the week Thomas Tuchel ultimately became England's manager. That night, he felt the weight of the hairshirt. I finally saw the depth and horror of a work where all setbacks are humiliations, where the default temperature is always set to "scorn," and where every decision is a betrayal of someone, somewhere.
Okay, fair enough. Ahead of this camp, the chances of England finishing with a negative goal difference against Andorra and Senegal were likely to be very long. England has neither attacked nor defended well and has appeared to be precisely what they are: a squad of fatigued players drained by a long season in the world's most physically demanding league.
Trevoh Chalobah and Levi Colwill were an unusual centre-half pairing, given that both are currently preparing for a gruelling Club World Cup campaign. Kyle Walker planned an 8 pm start time rather than a 7.45 pm kickoff. Bukayo Saka accomplished four-fifths of very little.
So, can we learn anything from a game that started five minutes late and had such an end-of-term vibe that you half-expected to see people signing each other's shirts with felt-tip pens? Well, we did. Among the loose ends and loose passes, we witnessed Eberechi Eze's best performance in an England shirt.
Eze received 90 minutes for the first time in his 11 caps, which was a statement in itself. As Tuchel went through his substitutes, Eze kept looking over to the touchline, half expecting to see his number. Harry Kane and Anthony Gordon took off. Gallagher went off. Saka and Declan Rice went off. Finally, in the 88th minute, Ivan Toney appeared at the side of the pitch. The board moved up. It was Myles Lewis-Skelly.
Why did Tuchel want to see more of Eze? Why does he call Eze "Ebs" and Morgan Gibbs-White "Morgan Gibbs-White"? We got our response when Kane was replaced, and England was striker-less for the first time since their catastrophic home defeat to Greece in October 2024. Unleashed in a fluid central role, Eze, flanked by Gibbs-White and Morgan Rogers, was at the heart of England's most significant stretch of the game.
There had already been some hopeful peeks. England started with a box midfield in possession, with Kane and Eze offering to receive while the two wingers stayed high and spread the play. Out of possession, Eze spearheaded the press together with Kane; Eze won the ball from Lamine Camara for England's first goal.
However, it wasn't until about an hour that Eze fully came alive. Within seconds of getting up top, he was hauling down a long ball and playing an incredible backheel to Gibbs-White. A few minutes later, with England behind 2-1, he did it again, and Gibbs-White should have done better with his shot. Later, a low pass across the penalty area called for a touch.
Tuchel regards Eze as a No 10 rather than a wide option or even an alternative No 9 in Kane's absence. His primary competition will likely be Cole Palmer, another player who appeared to be out of gas against Andorra at the weekend. Palmer is undoubtedly the best short passer, originator, and set-piece taker. Eze, on the other hand, is a more consistent off-the-ball presence, a more versatile player, and a speedier and more direct runner.
In any case, this is a more difficult decision than it would have been six months ago. Eze has one more advantage: the wind at his back and the faith of his coach. His first England goal against Latvia appears to have sparked him into a fantastic late-season run of form that included seven goals in six games, the winner of an FA Cup final, and a maiden European campaign next season if Crystal Palace can handle Uefa's dual ownership regulations.
The noise will decrease. Senegal and Nottingham will feel like distant memories by the time Tuchel gathers his team for their next camp. But if Eze goes on to play a key role in England's World Cup squad, Tuchel may realize that a night of booing and incoherence was not wholly futile.