England player ratings vs Finland: Cole Palmer fluffs chance, Gomes shines, Walker doesn’t

Cole Palmer was a must-start for these two games but he wasn’t great again, no thanks to the handicap behind him. Angel Gomes’ assist was brilliant. Not much else was.

DEAN HENDERSON
We remain very concerned about England goalkeepers and that has absolutely nothing to do with Henderson’s performance here. He did nothing wrong.

KYLE WALKER
Recalled to the squad having been left out of the first round of Nations League fixtures and Lee Carsley may well have been right the first time. He’s fine, but we know what he’s about and it’s not passing the ball into No.10s in tight spaces, which is England now.

Palmer suffered through Walker’s technical deficiencies on that side and with neither short passing ability nor crosses for Harry Kane in his armoury, Walker’s more of a hindrance than a help on the front foot, which has long been the case but worth it thanks to defensive excellence that now also appears to be on the wane with much of Finland’s threat coming down his side.

JOHN STONES
England were ropey at the back again and a centre-back with 81 caps and 13 major trophies for his club has to take his fair share of the blame. He’s started just one of Manchester City’s Premier League games this term and there was evidence again, despite having more protection in front of him, that he’s now very much a getatable part of the England defence having seemingly lost a yard in his head as well as his legs, perhaps through that lack of game time.

It looked as though he was marking space – presumably by design – for Finland’s goal, but it’s not a great look when he’s heading thin air two yards behind the goalscorer, who jogged past him to win the header.

Finnish miss in the second half.

TRENT ALEXANDER-ARNOLD
Clearly a very square peg in a round hole as his deficiencies when defending at right-back were even more evident at left-back, falling asleep to lose markers for Finland’s two biggest chances, and he dived in a couple of times when switched to his more natural position to serve as a reminder that he’s always going to have defensive lapses no matter where he plays.

That’s absolutely fine when he whips a dipping free-kick into the top corner.