Gareth Soutrhgate was pleased to see how an under-strength England solved the tactical problems posed by Bosnia Herzegovina but the start of the Three Lions Euro 2024 "send-off" was more about individual performances, and there were enough of them to cheer the manager.

England won 3-0, with a first England goal for Cole Palmer on his maiden start and a 63rd for Harry Kane, who came off the bench but not quite quickly enough to pinch the Chelsea man's glory. Inbetween came the goal of the night, half-volleyed in by Trent Alexander-Arnold from a dipping chipped cross by Jack Grealish.

All the goals came in the second half.

"I was pleased with the intensity of the game, firstly," said Southgate, who must cut his 33-man provisional squad to 26 in the hours after facing Iceland at Wembley on Friday. "It was an important game for all of the players in terms of the physical aspect.

"Also to play against a back five, that's something we could well face in the first couple of matches so we needed to find solutions to that. They had a threat on the counter-attack so we had to be vigilant in the way we played.

"At half-time we said we just had to be patient and try to get the ball into Cole in particular a little bit earlier but if you keep patient and you keep probing as you are with a bit more quality than you showed at times in the first half, the game will open up, as it did.

"I think in the end the scoreline reflected the performance, it was fair."

Crystal Palace's Eberechi Eze did his cause no harm as he kicked off an England game for the first time, dazzling on the right wing.

PLENTY TO PONDER: England manager Gareth Southgate

placeholder image — PLENTY TO PONDER: England manager Gareth Southgate

Adam Wharton and Jarrad Branthwaite's first tastes of international football came from the bench.

Conor Gallagher played in a deeper midfield position than he is used to with Chelsea and showed good energy and a clever understanding of when and when not to make his runs.

"Clearly I would imagine Eberechi has caught the eye with the way he started the game and the way he glides past people and the power he shows," said Southgate

"I thought Conor Gallagher was an important performance for us with how important Declan (Rice) is for us and Conor's work with the ball has improved, we know what he can do without the ball. He showed real maturity.

"Then a first goal for Cole Palmer and I thought Adam Wharton also showed what he's been doing at the end of the season and in training. He sees pictures early and can play forward. It was lovely he looked as comfortable as he did.

"(It was) a team that didn't have a lot of caps on the field when we started but I think it shows that people feel comfortable in an England shirt pretty quickly. That was lovely to see."

Southgate also revealed how Kane had wanted to spoil Palmer's big moment, one of five players ready to come on when England were awarded a penalty for a pull on Ezri Konsa.

"Kane was trying to get on to take it but it was never happening!" he revealed.

England's opening game of Euro 2024, where they will be amongst the favourites, is against Serbia on June 16.