Gareth Southgate named just one change to the England side that lost in the European Championship final against Hungary yesterday evening.
Kieran Trippier dropped out of the starting XI with Jack Grealish taking his place as the Three Lions shifted to a back four.
It meant Kalvin Phillips lined up alongside Declan Rice in the heart of midfield. The duo were particularly impressive for England during the summer and the Leeds United midfielder saw his performances rewarded with the gong for England's Player of the Year.
England remain unbeaten in their quest for World Cup qualification and naturally, fans have one eye on the winter tournament set to be hosted in Qatar next year.
The Three Lions are expected to qualify from their group with ease and ITV's pundits Roy Keane and Emma Hayes were discussing what England need to do to win next year's competition.
The duo also discussed the midfield pairing of Phillips and Rice and whether England need to move away from two holding midfielders.
Roy Keane
"Of course that’s the challenge [becoming winners] facing Gareth for next year when they’re looking at the World Cup, clearly they’re going to qualify.
"You still have to be looking for improvements in your team and if you’re being critical of England you’d look at the lads in the middle of the park, Rice and Phillips, have they got that creativity?
"But in fairness, they had really good tournaments [at EURO 2020] and you have to look at the positives. With the attacking players England still had high up the pitch, I think they sacrificed that to go with them two lads," Keane said as he backtracked on his initial assessment.
"I think that’ll come with experience [composure in possession] especially the two lads in the middle.
"But higher up the pitch, it’s decision making - and that’s the hardest part of football - sometimes the easiest part of football is sitting in and being hard to break down like England were, it’s just when you’re in possession, what do you do with it?
"Again, the two lads in particular will come with experience, one of the strong parts of the Italian team was the midfield and so they were up against it and again it’s fine margins."
Emma Hayes
"Well two things, Italy were unbeaten in three years, top team deserving winners. And England were beaten by two set-pieces, the equaliser was a corner where England were exposed and being taken to penalties.
"I think for an average age of 25, this team is where it should be at this point. If you were Germany or France would you trade at this point to be in England position?
"I’m sure they would, good step and build towards World Cup because I think that’s when England will be at their peak with these players.
"I think when you play against a back five and when England were pinned in a back five, it’s difficult to get players out and Italy did an incredible job with Emerson on the right side.
"Our centre midfielders aren’t like Jorginho, they’re ball carriers. He’s an interceptor and one of the best at it, is [Kalvin] Phillips."
