KEIR RADNEDGE at WEMBLEY: England’s experimental young side turned up trumps for manager Gareth Southgate in holding world champions Germany to one of the more entertaining of goalless friendlies at Wembley.

German coach Joachim Low was generally satisfied with his team’s performance at the start of their preparation to try to retain the World Cup in Russia next year.

He may have been disappointed, however, by their failure to seize commanding advantage in the opening halfhour when they had a disorientated England repeatedly at their mercy.

The one-minute silence observed at Wembley

England debutant Tammy Abraham missed an open goal opportunity in the second minute but after that England were rescued by the sharp reflexes of goalkeeper Jordan Pickford plus the crossbar when a curling shot from Leroy Sane struck the underside of the crossbar and bounced out.

Low said: “It wasn’t as emotional and tight as some of the previous games between Germany and England. Both teams were well organised defensively. We had some good chances in the first half and also our defence was well organised around Mats Hummels.

“The game drifted away from us in the second half because we didn’t move the ball forward quickly enough. We need to be quicker in the transitions.

“Both of us managers used the second half to try some new players so the number if substitutions also affected the way the game went.  England have improved a lot since 2014. It was a great atmosphere. Obviously a few goals would have helped.”

Rested stars

Low was pleased with the performance of his new left wingback Marcel Halstenberg and explained that he had rested experienced midfielders Toni Kroos and Sami Khedira because “they have already played a lot of games.”

Germany play France in their next friendly while Southgate’s England – hopefully again with the excellent newcomer Ruben Loftus-Cheek in the attacking centre of midfield – will be playing Brazil on Tuesday.

Southgate said: “It was a brilliant experience for our players. We had a few shaky moments in the first half when it was bit end to end but we showed real composure with the ball. We had some top debuts and encouraging performances.

“Loftus-Cheek is a player I’ve watched do that [sort of performance]  from under-16 level. He’s not hugely confident at times and it took him 10 minutes to look around and think he can do this. But he has so many good attributes.

“I don’t think the wider public would be as aware of him as we are but we believe in him – and the otheers – and I’m not surprised with that they’ve done. I think the performance was really encouraging.”

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