England U21s 4-2 Portugal U21s: Lee Carsley’s side set down marker for Euros defence as Ethan Nwaneri makes dream debut

For England Under-21s and boss Lee Carsley the time for experimenting is now over. The next time this group come together to play in front of a crowd they will be in Slovakia kickstarting their defence of the European Championship.

This has been a useful camp for Carsley and his staff, one that ended with a satisfying 4-2 win over Portugal, with two looks at how a back three works for this group.

They’ve managed to get a look at youngsters like Jobe Bellingham and Archie Gray, while Ethan Nwaneri, a goalscorer on the night, was handed his full debut. It remains to be seen how much longer he’ll be at this level with the senior team watching closely.

Carsley made 11 changes to the side that started in Lorient with Jarrad Branthwaite captaining as part of a new-look back three that also featured Charlie Cresswell and Gray.

And it was England’s defence that was first called into action with Tiago Tomas and Fabio Silva both forcing smart saves out of James Beadle inside five minutes.

Once England settled this looked like a shape that can be of use for Carsley moving forward, should he opt to be bold and stick with it come the summer.

The Arsenal forward is being closely watched by the senior team after a breakthrough season

England boss Lee Carsley, pictured right with Portugal counterpart Rui Jorge will have plenty of takeaways from the 4-2 win ahead of his side’s defence of the European Championship

Middlesbrough starlet Hayden Hackney drives in to open the scoring for Lee Carsley’s side

Jaden Philogene (right) is congratulated by Liam Delap after completing the scoring

Seven minutes in they were ahead when a clumsy flick on the edge of his own box by Eduardo Quaresma fell to Hayden Hackney who shifted the ball on to his right foot before fizzing into the corner.

Three minutes later those spinning Portuguese heads were reeling once more when they foolishly stepped off Nwaneri, allowing him to feint to his right before cutting in and finishing with aplomb.

That was supposed to be the green light for England to take the game away from Portugal, only they didn’t and they were perhaps fortunate to be ahead going into the break.

Silva halved the deficit 23 minutes in when Rodrigo Pinheiro’s right-wing cross was missed by everybody in white and it should have been 2-2 when Gustavo Sa rounded Beadle only to fire onto the post. A missed handball call on Hackney did little to calm the visitors’ frustrations, too.

Unlike in France this was not the humdinger that the score may suggest, despite Omari Hutchinson and Jaden Philogene scoring either side of a Carlos Borges finish, and perhaps Carsley won’t mind that. For it is consistency and control that will see them defend the Euros, not chaos.