Eberechi Eze couldn’t take his chances in England’s disappointing 2-0 win over Andorra – and Roy Keane has sent him a message about expectations after he joined Arsenal
09:19, 07 Sep 2025Updated 10:12, 07 Sep 2025
Roy Keane has given his take on Eberechi Eze(Image: ITV)
Roy Keane has warned Eberechi Eze that “okay” performances are no longer acceptable now he’s playing at the highest level. He believes Eze needs to up his game after joining Arsenal in a £67.5million transfer and starting for England on Saturday.
The playmaker earned his dream move to boyhood club Arsenal last month thanks to impressive performances for Crystal Palace. He was the most expensive signing of an ambitious summer transfer window at Arsenal, who spent a combined £260m on new players.
There will be a weight of expectation on his shoulders in Mikel Arteta’s side and Eze was subjected to a similar situation with England on Saturday. The Three Lions laboured to a 2-0 win over Andorra at Villa Park in an uninspiring performance which saw Eze miss the mark.
The 27-year-old saw two attempts saved by the Andorra goalkeeper and blazed another good chance over the crossbar. Having been given the No.10 shirt and a free role against limited opponents, he may have been disappointed not to find the back of the net.
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“In some instances he stayed still and got on the ball, he had that opportunity in the first half where he did that and took the shot,” Ian Wright said on ITV. “He’ll be disappointed he didn’t do better with that, but as long as he is staying in that area, I am really happy.”
But Keane had a typically less forgiving take. He replied: “The worry for me when we talk about players like this… I think he done okay. But the manager will be saying ‘okay is not good enough. We need to be setting higher standards than that’.”
Thomas Tuchel seemed to agree with the former Manchester United captain when he gave his assessment of the performance. “We missed the little moments to accelerate the game,” the England boss said.
Eberechi Eze couldn’t take his chances against Andorra(Image: Eddie Keogh/The FA via Getty Images)
“Maybe Ebs didn’t have his very best day in the no10 position. He trained so well in the decision making but struggled a little bit. The last pass from Noni [Madueke] was not clinical enough, [Marcus] Rashford had some good moments but was not clinical and couldn’t finish them. We should have scored the second goal earlier.”
England opened the scoring when Madueke’s cross was glanced into his own net by Christian Garcia in the 25th minute. But it took them until midway through the second half to double their lead, with Declan Rice heading in Reece James’ deep cross.
Debutant Elliot Anderson spurned the best chance of the second half when denied by the goalkeeper from Harry Kane ’s square pass that was slightly behind him. Tuchel will be looking for a better performance when England play Serbia in another World Cup qualifier on Tuesday in Belgrade.
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